BOSTON THEATER MARATHON | Now in its 11th year, the BTM proves it can go the distance by stretching out to two days, with the idea of eventually expanding to "multiple venues, hundreds of performers, and thousands of cultural tourists and Boston theater patrons — not unlike Edinburgh's famed festival." Wow! For now, however, Day One is a "warm-up lap," with three staged readings of new plays — one of them Theresa Rebeck's The Novelist, with Huntington Theatre artistic director Peter Dubois directing. Day Two will bring the usual extravaganza of 50 10-minute plays; if the one you're watching doesn't grab you, you don't have long to wait for another. | Boston Center for the Arts, Virginia Wimberly Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | May 16-17 | Curtain May 16: 11 am + 3 pm + 7 pm [limited to 100 seats]; May 17: noon–10 pm | $25 advance/$30 doors; "warm-up lap" freeCITY SPOTLIGHT | The third annual performance edition of this Citi Performing Arts Center initiative — which takes in high-school internships, community performance workshops, and intergenerational neighborhood ensembles — spotlights the talents of Charlestown, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury, and the South End. The special-guest artists will include the hip-hop-infused B Boy Tapper, R&B singer Lisa Bello, breakdancing troupe the Floorlords, rap-lyricist Mr. Harvey, the Hyde Square Task Force's Ritmo en Acción, musicians the John Family, and spoken-word artist Lady Enchantress. | Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont St, Boston | 866.348.9738 | May 16 | Curtain 7 pm | $5 general seating
DORA THE EXPLORER LIVE! SEARCH FOR THE CITY OF LOST TOYS | Nickelodeon and Broadway Across America team up to present this touring show based on the popular pre-schooler TV series about a pint-sized Latina explorer. Former Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater co-artistic director Gip Hoppe is at the helm of the musical adventure whose heroine "is to kids what the Rolling Stones are to parents — she's one of the biggest stars in the world." | Opera House, 539 Washington St, Boston | 800.982.2787 | May 7-10 | Curtain 10:30 am + 2 pm Thurs | 10:30 am + 7 pm Fri | 11 am + 2 pm + 5 pm Sat-Sun | $21-$43.50
ELLIOT NORTON AWARDS | Paparazzi alert: Al Pacino will be attending the 27th annual Elliot Norton Awards, to accept a special award that's being given to his friend the late Paul Benedict, with whom he acted in David Wheeler's Theatre of Boston Company back in the 1960s. Rick Lombardo, who's headed to San Jose (see "New Rep 25th-Anniversary Gala," below), will accept this year's Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. If you want to know whom the selection committee — Terry Byrne, Carolyn Clay, Iris Fanger, Louise Kennedy, Joyce Kulhawik, Sandy MacDonald, Robert Nesti, Ed Siegel, and Caldwell Titcomb — have chosen to receive the remaining awards, you'll have to show up. Further incentives: a musical performance by the touring company of Spring Awakening, a dessert reception after the ceremony, and free parking in the near-by Broadway Garage. | Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St, Cambridge | 617.496.2222 | May 11 | Curtain 7 pm | $15
GREY GARDENS | Artistic director Spiro Veloudos is at the helm of the Lyric Stage Company of Boston's New England premiere of the hit Broadway musical about Jackie O's eccentric relatives, Big and Little Edie Beale, who lived in symbiotic squalor in the filthy remains of a once-grand Long Island manse. They've been the subject of a famed documentary and an HBO movie; come hear them sing. Musical direction is by Jonathan Goldberg; Leigh Barrett plays one of the Edies. | Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon St, Boston | 617.585.5678 | May 8–June 6 | Curtain 2 pm [May 13, June 3] + 7:30 pm Wed | 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $25-$44
HOW TO EAT A LOBSTER | Karen Bray & Friends present this combination platter of dance, improvisation, theater, and comedy. | Green Street Studios, 185 Green St, Cambridge | 617.953.3937 | May 8-9 | Curtain 8 pm Fri-Sat | $20; $50 sponsorship; $10 students, seniors
LORD OF THE DANCE | Michael Flatley's celebration of Irish dance, which has been seen by 100 million persons worldwide, aims to add a few more Bostonians to the list. | Opera House 519 Washington St, Boston | 800.982.ARTS | May 15-17 | Curtain 8 pm Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | $30-$70
MISS MARGARIDA'S WAY | Theatre on Fire and Charlestown Working Theater take on Brazilian writer Roberto Athayde's 1973 work, an allegory about power and recession set in an eighth-grade biology class whose teacher is way out of control. The audience plays her students. Darren Evans directs. | Charlestown Working Theater, 442 Bunker Hill St, Charlestown | 866.811.4111 | May 8-23 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | $15-$20; $10 seniors; free students with ID
