August: Osage County, Steppenwolf, through Aug. 26. Tracy Letts’ lengthy new family saga—influenced by O’Neill and Chekhov—offers pointed comedy, a dark, fervent heart and the best ensemble acting you’ll see all year. Anne Shapiro directs a superb cast. JA
Memphis Soul: The Story of Stax Records, Black Ensemble Theatre, through Aug. 25. Lounge acts covered the Motown hits, but the Stax sound is what bands of all races and nations still strive to emulate 30 years later. This is your last chance to learn why. MSB
Missing Man, Live Bait Theater, through Aug. 24. Mary Scruggs’ Fillet of Solo show is a hilarious and touching look at the missing men in her life while she travels cross-country with motorcycling Vietnam veterans. SCM
Ragtime, Apollo Theater, open run. The forces that shaped early 20th-century America—technology, immigration and race—explode in Porchlight Music Theatre’s powerful staging of the epic yet personal and evocative musical from E. L. Doctorow’s novel. JA
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge, Morgan and Sullivan