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Critics’ picks: Theater

David Costa

DANCING AT LUGHNASA Memory plays require a dreamy atmosphere delicately blended with a few sharply defined details. This lovely production (above) reaches that threshold and surpasses it, with an ensemble that embodies all of playwright Brian Friel’s tenderness for his fragile characters, living in an imaginary Irish village in the summer of 1936. Through June 23. Wellesley Summer Theatre Company. At Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre, Diana Chapman Walsh Alumnae Hall, Wellesley College. 781-283-2000, www.wellesleysummertheatre.com

TERRY BYRNE

RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN Playwright Gina Gionfriddo ranges across the topography of the women’s movement — and the life choices shaped by that movement — in this shrewd and incisive comedy, directed by Peter DuBois. Through June 30. Huntington Theatre Company. At Wimberly Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-266-0800, www.huntingtontheatre.org

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ON THE TOWN A production longer on wistful charm than effervescence, reflecting the innocence we associate with the 1940s but also flecked with traces of our contemporary ambivalence and our mistrust of happy endings. Directed by Spiro Veloudos. Through June 9. Lyric Stage Company. 617-585-5678, www.lyricstage.com

DON AUCOIN