Equus, Actors Workshop Theatre, through May 22. This intelligent, feeling and crisp reading of the popular Peter Shaffer tale of a boy and his horse is a tight squeeze in a 44-seat storefront, but the confrontation between the Dionysian and the rational plays big. JA
Flyin' West, Court Theatre, through April 8. Pearl Cleage's drama about fiercely independent African-American female pioneers can be overly melodramatic, but the Wild West setting and spectacular acting from the ensemble make this one not to miss. SCM
The $30,000 Bequest, Organic Theater at the Ruth Page Center, through April 8. Part of a four-play repertory, this adaptation enhances the wry humor of Mark Twain's tale with dazzling story-theatre repartee and ragtime dancing to an ebullient Dixieland jazz score. MSB
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, LaSalle Bank Theatre, through April 7. No one bests Edward Albee's verbal lacerations. 'If you existed, I'd divorce you,' Martha ( Kathleen Turner ) tells George ( Bill Irwin ) in this emotionally eviscerating comedy. Then the fun really begins. CS
—By Abarbanel, Barnidge, Morgan and Sullivan