Lumen Repertory Theatre’s The Pillowman is a gripping, gorgeously executed production elevated by mesmerizing performances, stunning technical design and confident direction that navigates the play’s tonal minefields with precision. Martin McDonagh’s dark psychological thriller asks important questions about storytelling, cruelty, state power and the moral responsibility of art, and Lumen Rep meets those questions with seriousness, precision and theatrical force. Those questions matter. They deserve to be asked. Unfortunately though, important stories are not always the same thing as entertaining theater. Where the evening falters, it’s not from a lack of craft in the production, but from a script that too often mistakes endurance for profundity.

Alhambra Theatre & Dining’s Morning After Grace is the kind of play that sneaks up on you. It opens with the recognizable mechanics of sitcom comedy — a disoriented morning after, mistaken assumptions and mounting embarrassment — but before long it reveals itself to be something richer, sadder and far more profound. Written by Carey Crim and directed by Tod Booth, this three-character dramedy finds humor in indignity, heartbreak in loneliness and, ultimately, grace in the stubborn human need to connect.

Alhambra Theatre & Dining’s Damn Yankees is pure old-school musical-comedy fun — nostalgic, high-energy and packed with standout performances that know exactly what show they’re in. Under Tod Booth’s direction, this revival leans into its midcentury charm without feeling dusty, delivering a production that is both lovingly retro and sharply alive in the moment.

Grab your fan, shapewear and TUMS — Menopause The Musical opened Friday night at the Alhambra Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida. Created in 2001 by Jeanie Linders in Orlando, Florida, Menopause the Musical has since become the longest-running musical production in Las Vegas history. A show created with Baby Boomers in mind, it puts a humorous spin on the traditional jukebox musical genre.

Players by the Sea’s production of Rent arrives with the pulse and grit that changed the trajectory of musical theater in 1996. Jonathan Larson’s story of struggling artists in New York’s East Village gave Broadway a jolt of raw sound and real life, pairing rock music with a candid look at poverty, queer identity, addiction, illness and chosen family. It helped pull musical theater into the modern era and gave a generation of performers and audiences a voice they recognized. This production honors that legacy while delivering a fresh reading shaped by a cast that understands the material and a director who refuses to let the show sit in nostalgia.

A sold-out Little Women: The Musical opened at Amelia Community Theatre on Saturday night and wastes no time upending expectations. After receiving her twenty-second rejection letter, this time from a publisher who deems her story “tasteless and vulgar,” Jo March vents her frustration to her friend Professor Bhaer. Intrigued, he asks what the story is about, and Jo perks up immediately. “Blood and guts stuff. It’s all the rage. The magazines and periodicals are full of it!”