Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Steppenwolf, through July 27. A man dies in public and a young woman answers his cell phone setting off events that could inspire a sitcom. Sarah Ruhl’s play isn’t deep but it’s funny, stylish and brilliantly performed. JA
Die! Mommie, Die!, Hell in a Handbag at Bailiwick; through June 1. Charles Busch’s spoof of 1960s films with fading actresses ‘of a certain age’ is an outrageous scream of drag delight in the beautifully manicured hands of camp-masters Hell in a Handbag. SCM
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Gift Theatre, through May 18. Stephen Adly Guirgis’ dense saga boils down to a single, profound question: If God is all forgiving and unconditionally loving, why is Judas damned to an eternity of unbearable grief? Michael Patrick Thornton plays the damned with profound, provocative despair. CS
The Skriker, GreyZelda (sic) Theatre Group at Angel Island, through May 10. The Faerie Queens of yore get no respect nowadays, but Caryl Churchill’s shape-shifting Skriker is out to change all that in this seductively shivery GreyZelda production. MSB
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge, Morgan and Sullivan