Mark Cofta’s theater picks: Lightning Rod Special returns; Chekhov never left

Some of February's new plays run only one weekend, starting with The Big (February 3 to 5), a new farce written, directed by, and starring Quintessence Theatre Group member Lee Cortopassi, who was inspired by noir like Miller's Crossing and comedy like Wet Hot American Summer.

Two brief runs at FringeArts are notable premieres: Sans Everything (February 9 to 11) is a futuristic adventure by Lighting Rod Special, creators of the Fringe hit Underground Railroad Game, and Strange Attractor, imagining Shakespeare's As You Like It on a far-future space cruise ship. A Ride on the Irish Cream (February 16 to 18) is a new musical from New York cabaret icon Erin Markey, about a forbidden sexual awakening.

Homegrown playwrights

Delaware playwright David Robson's timely farce, After Birth of a Nation (February 10 to 18), imagines the events that may or may not have occurred when the White House hosted its first film, the KKK-glorifying epic Birth of a Nation, in 1915. City Theater Company produces the premiere in Wilmington, Delaware.

Azuka Theatre Company resident playwright Doug Williams's new play Shitheads (February 22 to March 12) is set in a lower Manhattan bike shop, where a new manager (played by Akeem Davis) tries to save the business. Azuka also premiered Williams's Moon Cave, and the playwrights’ collective Orbiter 3 produced his Breathe Smoke.

Seldom-seen classics

Shows by Tina Brock's Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium are always must-sees, because the absurdist specialists consistently present fascinating rarities. The Enchanted (February 7 to March 5) — a regional premiere, though written in 1933 — is Jean Giraudoux's magical meditation on life and death.

Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker (February 15 to March 12) may be best known as the play that inspired the musical Hello, Dolly! But this delightful romantic farce by the author of Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth is much more than a Broadway musical without the music, especially in director Abigail Adams's capable hands at People's Light.

Chekhov times two

EgoPo Classic Theatre continues its Russian Masters season with Anton Chekhov's The Seagull (February 1 to 19), directed with a Symbolist approach by Lane Savadove, featuring Melanie Julian and Anna Zaida Szapiro. Hedgerow Theatre revives Uncle Vanya (February 9 to March 5) in Annie Baker's new translation (here’s my review of her John, running through February 26 at the Arden). Hedgerow’s Uncle Vanya is directed by Kittson O'Neill, and stars Jennifer Summerfield, Penelope Reed, and Jared Reed.

At right: Andrew Carroll stars in EgoPo's Seagull. (Photo by Eric Baker.)