Best women's-locker-room show

Okay, women no longer get naked in Durrell Hall, a 350-capacity theater hidden away on the first floor of the Cambridge Family YMCA. But they did strip down there for 22 years, when the inconspicuous spot served as a women's changing room/locker room/bathroom area until it ended up as a temporary storage area. Fortunately, when Y president and CEO Jeff Seifert assumed authority three years ago, he realized what a dreadful misuse of space its jewel-box setting was, and spearheaded efforts to refurbish the late-19th-century venue. Since its reopening last December, the performance space has hosted everything from live jazz to improvisational comedy to the Bread and Puppet Theatre, establishing itself as one the few places around town that's trying to provide an affordable stage for edgy, inventive, experimental pieces. The programming doesn't always conform to conventional genre tags -- like The Fire of Life, a first-run "ropera" ("rock opera") produced by the nascent Department of Energy Theater Company that fused themes like photosynthesis, thermodynamics, same-sex love, loss, and rock 'n' roll into a satirical song-and-dance spectacle. And in a city without an overabundance of experimental-art spaces, Durrell Hall is a welcome addition.

Durrell Hall, 820 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 661-9622; www.cambridgeymca.org.