SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
Opening: John Guare's 1990 play follows a con man who charms his way into the lives of wealthy New Yorkers. Darrail Hughes plays Paul in Austene Van's production at Theatre in the Round. Guare's play, which manipulates assumptions about race and privilege, is based on true events. (8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., ends Feb. 2, 245 Cedar Av. S., Mpls., $22, 612-333-3010 or www.theatreinthe round.org.)
Graydon Royce
FUDDY MEERS
Opening: A woman, Claire, wakes up each day and needs to relearn everything about her life. This blank slate of a person is kidnapped by a "limping, lisping" man who convinces Claire that her husband is trying to kill her. Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, perhaps best known for the much more serious "Rabbit Hole," turns in a crackling farce. Loudmouth Collective is producing the show in the Nimbus space. Natalie Novacek directs a cast including Noe Tallen, Leif Jurgensen, Matt Sciple and Karen Wiese-Thompson. (8 p.m. Fri.-Mon., ends Jan. 19, Nimbus, 1517 Central Av. NE., Mpls., $10-$15, 612-643-1231 or www. loudmouthcollective.com.)
G.R.
ORPHEUS DESCENDING
Opening: Six Elements Theatre is staging this Tennessee Williams drama about a spunky young man who charges into a small Mississippi town and creates something of a ruckus. He awakens a spark of passion in an older woman whose elderly husband is dying. This being Williams (and, for that matter, the retelling of a Greek myth), it all ends tragically. Jenna Papke directs. (7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat. and Mon., 2 p.m. Sun., ends Jan. 18, Open Eye Figure Theatre, 524 E. 24th St., Mpls., $15, www.brownpapertickets.com.)
G.R.
