This Week's New and Local

Play Productions and Readings
 

The Chameleon's Dish presents
Mrs. Hawking
by Phoebe Roberts

May 9
The Center for Digital Arts
274 Moody St., Waltham
directed by Phoebe Roberts

The year is 1880 in the reign of Queen Victoria. Young Mary Stone has just arrived alone and friendless in London, unsure of what to do with herself after a lifetime of keeping house for her late parents in India. She has no choice but to accept a position as a house girl for Mrs. Victoria Hawking, an aloof, mysterious society widow who seems to want nothing to do with her. But when she discovers Mrs. Hawking’s true business, as a secret champion to the otherwise helpless women of London, Mary is drawn into a world of new heroic purpose battling against devious blackmailers, rescuing kidnapped children, and struggling against a restive society. This Victorian action caper explores what would happen if Sherlock Holmes were more like a lady Batman! Mrs. Hawking is part of the 2015 Watch City Steampunk Festival. Tickets: Free.
 

Boston Playwrights' Theatre presents
Boston Theater Marathon XVII

May 10
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
527 Tremont St., Boston

Featuring 50 plays by 51 playwrights produced by 50 theatre companies, The Boston Theater Marathon (BTM) is an award-winning all-day marathon of new ten-minute plays. The plays are chosen from close to 400 entries from New England playwrights, and the selected plays are produced by New England theatre companies that donate their time to this event. Generously supported over the years by the Boston University Center for the Humanities and by individual donations, the BTM gives net proceeds to the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund, an organization helping area theatre artists and companies in crisis. Tickets: $25 in advance, $35 at the door. The all-day pass allows patrons to come and go as they please.
 

This Is Treatment
by Elizabeth Addison

May 9 - 10
Right Turn
299 Broadway, Arlington

This Is Treatment takes place at a long term, women's residential treatment facility for substance abuse. Set to a blues/rock/hip hop score, this new musical tells the story of several women and their struggle to get well. Besides drug addiction and recovery, the musical explores such topic as abuse, mental illness, relationships, fear, abandonment, trust and faith. It is a heartbreaking and heartwarming look at the resilience of the human spirit and its ability to persevere in the face of much adversity. It will have you on a roller coaster of emotions. It is a tear jerker of the best variety. This Is Treatment will leave you with a sense of empowerment and one of its catchy tunes stuck in your head. Experience this work in progress as it climbs its way to the top. Tickets: Free with a suggested $5 donation at the door.
 

TC Squared Theatre Company presents

The Next Stage:
A Showcase of New Work by Boston Playwrights

May 12
Boston Playwrights' Theatre
949 Commonwealth Ave., Boston

The Next Stage celebrates the development of the plays of seven TC2 Playwrights. This Playwrights' Lab consisted of two eight-week sessions, under the direction of our Dramaturg, Marty Kingsbury. The topics of the pieces are diverse and entertaining, the new writing is inspirational, and the acting and directing are strong. We welcome your feedback for this new enterprise. Thank you for your support! Tickets: $10 suggested donation at the door, RSVP required.
 

The Northampton Playwrights Lab presents

Play by Play

May 7 - 17
A.P.E. Gallery
126 Main St., Northampton

Northampton Playwrights Lab presents Play by Play, a festival of readings of five new full-length plays by Leanna James Blackwell, Stephanie Carlson, Meryl Cohn, Tanyss Rhea Martula, and Eric Henry Sanders. The Lab, originally founded by Meryl Cohn, is a development workshop and creative laboratory for professional playwrights with a 10-year history in Northampton. Play by Play, which features local professional actors and musicians, is a celebration of local talent and a new way to introduce theatre audiences to the innovative work being created by playwrights in the Valley. The festival will feature a different play each night. Each play is full-length, and a reception will follow each performance. Early arrival is recommended. Seating is limited and there are no reservations. Tickets: $5 - $10 suggested donation.
 

New Repertory Theatre presents
Scenes from an Adultery 

by Ronan Noone

April 25 - May 17

Charles Mosesian Theatre

Arsenal Center for the Arts

321 Arsenal St., Watertown

directed by Bridget Kathleen O'Leary

Local playwright Ronan Noone takes the traditional British drawing room comedy of manners and turns it on its side in the hilariously bawdy new play, Scenes from an Adultery. During one of their weekly sessions at the local pub, Gasper spills the news to Tony that a mutual friend might be having an affair. Tony’s wife Lisa is caught up in it but doesn’t know, Gasper’s on the case, and all Tony wants is to forget it all happened. Scenes from an Adultery examines our unions and what it takes for them to endure in this culture clash comedy of miscommunication, miscalculations, and the boundaries of true love and friendship. Tickets: $35 - $65 
 

Voices of We 
by Robbi D'Allessandro

April 25 - May 9

Boston Playwrights' Theatre

949 Commonwealth Ave, Boston

directed by Shana Gozansky

The Voices of We is a new full-length play that explores the challenges women face in today's sociopolitical and economic climate. The diverse characters in the Voices of We face the daunting challenges inherent in the fight against domestic violence, and struggles for reproductive rights, self-defined gender identity and sexual orientation, motherhood, positive body image, and more. All proceeds from the production will go to women’s organizations who, in part or whole, benefit women. To date, these organizations include, MassNOW, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, Our Bodies, Ourselves, The Cambridge Women's Center. Tickets: $20-$30.

Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans present