The Chalk Garden, Northlight Theatre, through April 23. Can a flinty governess with a secret find sanctuary in an eccentric all-female English household? Razor-keen timing and original characterizations spellbind us in Enid Bagnold's classic comedy of suspense. MSB
Emma, Reverie Theatre at Breadline, through April 30. This romantic tale, adapted from Jane Austen, is cut from the same cloth as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. This version is a bit long, but is well-acted and stylish-on-a-budget nonetheless. JA
A Flea in Her Ear, Chicago Shakespeare, through April 23. Belle Époque Paris, sexual dalliance, the Frisky Puss Hotel, jealousy, mistaken identity, slamming doors ... French boulevard farce doesn't get much better than this handsome Gary Griffin production. JA
Voyeurs de Venus, Chicago Dramatists, through April 15. Scholarly research or self-indulgent exploitation? Lydia Diamond's play charts the ethical limits of academic fantasy-fulfillment as a modern African-American woman writes about an historical one. MSB
—By Abarbanel and Barnidge