The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme, GayCo Productions at Strawdog Theatre, through Dec. 5. Anyone steamed with the slow pace of gay-rights legislation by President Barack Obama’s administration will find GayCo’s smart and snappy revue of sketches and songs to be a laudable release valve of laughter. SCM
Becoming Ingrid, Rubicon Theatre Project at Stage Left, through Dec. 5. Liza Lentini’s play about how writers write may make real-life wordsmiths squirm in recognition, but both the author and the Rubicon Theatre Project criticize with a gentle compassion free of judgment. MSB
End Days, Next Theatre, through Nov. 29 Laura T. Fisher’s portrayal of a zealously uncompromising Evangelical Christian is a revelation of empathy—and the anchor of the fine ensemble cast in Deborah Zoe Laufer’s odd and oddly moving tale wherein Jesus, Elvis and Stephen Hawking help reunite a shattered family. CS
Souvenir, Northlight Theatre, through Dec. 20. In a more genteel age, legendary amateur soprano Florence Foster Jenkins made her own costumes for her yearly high society recitals for charity. That she could not sing a note never stopped her. This is her story. JA
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge,
Morgan and Sullivan