LITTLE BLACK DRESS | “What would you do for a string of pearls?” That’s the question Irish dramatist Ronan Noone (Brendan, The Atheist) poses in his new play, and by way of answering, we’re told, he “culls all the dark humor and pathos from the Kansas prairie, where every girl wants to be Grace Kelly.” The cast includes Jeremiah Kissel, Marianna Bassham, Karl Baker Olson, and Alex Pollock; Ari Edelson directs. | Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Comm Ave, Boston | 866.811.4111 | October 1-24 | Curtain 7:30 pm Wed [October 21] + Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | 2 pm Sun | $30; $25 seniors; $10 students
A LONG AND WINDING ROAD | Drawing on the songs of Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Webb, Paul Simon, Carole King, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Laura Nyro, Grammy winner Maureen McGovern reconnects with her boomer roots in this show based, we imagine, on her 2008 album of the same name. Philip Himberg directs. | Boston Center for the Arts, Virginia Wimberly Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston | 617.266.0800 | October 9–November 15 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues [no October 27] | 2 pm [October 28, November 4] + 7:30 pm [7 pm October 14] Wed | 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 2 pm [no October 31] + 8 pm Sat | 2 pm [no October 11 or November 8] + 7 pm [October 11, November 1 + 8] Sun | $20-$60
THE MOJO AND THE SAYSO | Up You Mighty Race Company opens its season with Brown University associate professor Aishah Rahman’s play about a man who’s coming to terms with the death of his 10-year-old son — who was shot in the back by a white police officer — by building a car in the middle of his living room, even as his wife takes refuge in the church and his stepson takes up arms. Akiba Abaka directs. | Boston Center for the Arts, Plaza Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | October 1-24 | Curtain 7:30 pm Wed-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $18-$38
OLEANNA | Contemporary Theatre of Boston takes on David Mamet’s 1992 play — which premiered right here in Cambridge — about a university student who after seeking personal instruction from a professor accuses him of sexual harassment and ruins his chances of getting tenure. So, who did what? Judith Kallora and Allan Mayo star; Chris Cavalier directs. | Boston Center for the Arts, Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | October 8-17 | Curtain 7:30 pm Wed-Thurs | 8 pm Fri-Sat | 4 pm Sun | $22.50-$25
SLEEP NO MORE | Sandwiched between Diane Paulus’s “Midsummer Night’s Disco,” The Donkey Show, and her gospel-infused riff on The Winter’s Tale, Best of Both Worlds, is this mix of Rear Window and the Scottish play that’s presented, under the auspices of the American Repertory Theater, by the London troupe Punchdrunk in its US debut. Set off-site at the Old Lincoln School in Brookline Village, the show allows its audience to wander through an evocative installation of cinematic scenes redolent of the works of Alfred Hitchcock but triggered by Shakespeare’s Macbeth. | Old Lincoln School, 194 Boylston St, Brookline Village 617.547.8300 | October 8–January 3 | Curtain 7 + 7:20 + 7:40 pm Tues-Thurs + Sun | 7:20 + 7:40 + 8 pm Fri-Sat | $35-$39
