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-- P.M.
Friday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8 and Sunday at 2. 1333 H St. NE. 202-399-7993.
THE AGING OF THE PLUM
At GALA Theatre-Tivoli through Oct. 12
A portrait of an eccentric all-female household told in scenes whose lyrical dialogue hints at a magical reality evokes the childhood home of two sisters: the spunky Celina (Monalisa Arias) and the more timid Eleonora (Lorena Sabogal). The siblings grow up surrounded by distaff-side relations, including their woolly minded great-aunt, Adriática (Enriqueta Lara), who falls -- or does she fly? -- to her death from the plum tree in the garden. Certainly this production has its vivid and touching moments. In her pigtails and denim capri pants, Celina is engagingly tomboyish, crawling on all fours to stalk imaginary rats or licking a lollipop with reflective slyness. But the script is so lacking in dramatic momentum that this Spanish-language production (there are English surtitles) gently directed by Abel López reels under the influence of its own amused, bemused nostalgia.
-- C.W.
Friday and Saturday at 8, Sunday at 3, Thursday at 8. 3333 14th St. NW. 202-234-7174.
DR. COOK'S GARDEN
At Gunston Arts Center Theater II through Saturday
Things are just a tad too orderly in the peaceful little Vermont town where a young doctor named Jim arrives back home for a sentimental visit. The plot proceeds via long stretches of high-minded conversation until two extremely close colleagues, Jim and his mentor, the avuncular Doc Cook, wind up alone in an unlikely life-and-death struggle. Everybody seems to know everyone else in Greenfield, and the atmosphere is all smiles and affection. But playwright Ira Levin lets the cat out of the bag at the end of Act 1 (the first of three), and once the good Dr. Cook's dirty secret is out, it's tough for the actors to wring much more suspense out of the piece. J.B. Bissex gives a no-nonsense performance as the sympathetic young Jim. The order-obsessed Dr. Cook, on the other hand, is like a wan Dr. Evil in David Schmidt's cooing, smirking turn. As the show staggers toward its mushy finish you'd rather have something crazy and flamboyant to chase away the feeling that you've learned more about Ira Levin than you really need to know.
