MEN OF TORTUGA | Apollinaire Theatre Company presents the area premiere of Jason Wells's first play, which debuted in 2005 at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre. In Wells's "brutally hilarious satire, three power brokers scheme with a weapons specialist to eliminate their enemy. But when one of them takes a young idealist under his wing, his long-dormant conscience begins to reawaken, forcing the cabal to concoct even more outlandish scenarios of annihilation and ponder whether the ends justify their means." Danielle Fauteux Jacques directs. | Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St, Chelsea | 617.887.2336 | Through May 17 | Curtain 8 pm Fri-Sat | 3 pm Sun | $18 in advance; $20 at the door; $15 student rush
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 | Through May 23 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Sat | $15-$20; $10 seniors; free students with ID
A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN | This Merrimack Repertory Theatre revival of Eugene O'Neill's redemptive drama is a co-production with Norfolk's Virginia Stage Company and is directed by Edward Morgan, who describes the encounter between drunk, self-loathing Jamie Tyrone and earth mother Josie Hogan as "part rollicking Irish comedy; part lyrical, soulful drama." | Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 East Merrimack St, Lowell | 978.654.4MRT | Through May 17 | Curtain 8 pm Thurs-Fri | 4:30 + 8:30 pm Sat | 2 + 7 pm Sun | $26-$56; student, senior, discounts
A NIGHT AT THE ROCK OPERA | Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra, a Boston-based group "committed to bringing the best of classic rock to life for those who've never had a chance to hear it LIVE in 3-D," reprises its evening-long orgy of the Who, David Bowie, the Beatles, and Queen — and threatens to throw some Led Zeppelin into the mix. | Stuart St Playhouse, 200 Stuart St, Boston | 800.447.7400 | Through June 27 | Curtain 7:30 pm Sat | $39.50
ROMANCE | The American Repertory Theatre kicks off "Sex, Satire, Romance, and Ducks: A David Mamet Celebration" with the contrarian playwright, filmmaker, and TV producer's "courtroom farce that takes no prisoners in its quest for total political incorrectness." Scott Zigler is in charge of the mayhem as, in the shadow of a Mideast Peace Conference, "an elusive court case is persistently interrupted by domestic squabbles, ethnic slur slinging, and a hallucinating judge." Remo Airaldi, Thomas Derrah, Will LeBow, and The Wire's Jim True-Frost head the cast. | Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St, Cambridge | 617.547.8300 | Through June 7 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | 2 + 7:30 pm Sun | $25-$79; $10 discount seniors; $25 students; $15 students day of performance; 50 tickets @ $15, day of performance at noon, in person, at the box office
SHAPESHIFTER | Laura Kepley directs this Trinity Repertory Company world premiere of a new work by Laura Schellhardt. Storytelling is what sets off this "lyrical play about our hunger to change the ones we love and to change ourselves for them." | Trinity Repertory Company, 201 Washington St, Providence, Rhode Island | 401.351.4242 | Through May 31 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues-Fri + 2 pm [May 20] Wed | 2 pm [May 16] + 7:30 pm Sat | 2 + 7:30 pm Sun | $20-$60
SPRING AWAKENING | Unlike its predecessor, the over-hyped Rent, Spring Awakening the musical is the genuine item: a successful if jagged amalgam of theater and pop music built on Wedekind's sketchy tale of provincial German teens torn between the urgent whispers of their changing bodies and an insensitive adult society (represented by two actors in multiple roles) bent on keeping them biologically in the dark and obedient to the bullying, prudish moral order. Duncan Sheik's pulsing, Tony-winning songs do not so much move the story as unlock pent-up emotions either sweet and sultry or, in thrashing numbers like "The Bitch of Living" and "Totally Fucked," mad as hell and not going to take it any more. The show is further enhanced by Tony-winning director Michael Mayer's daringly raw and energetic staging and Bill T. Jones's Tony-winning choreography, less Broadway razzle-dazzle than heightened movement based on dreamy self-caress and bursts of agitated, geometric frenzy. | Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St, Boston | 800.982.ARTS | Through May 24 | Curtain 7:30 pm Tues-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | 2 + 7:30 pm Sun | $42.50-$92
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN | Stoneham Theatre presents Craig Warner's stage adaption of the Patricia Highsmith novel that inspired the 1951 Alfred Hitchcock film about two men who meet on a train and hatch a mutually beneficial double-murder plot. Weylin Symes directs. | Stoneham Theatre, 395 Main St, Stoneham | 781.279.2200 | Through May 24 | Curtain 7:30 pm Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 4 + 8 pm Sat | 2 pm Sun | $40; $35 seniors; $20 students
