Anna Deavere Smith as Stanley Sheinbaum, Los Angeles police commission chief. Photo by Ken Friedman

Diversity Lives — at the Shakespeare Theatre, where Patrick Stewart (Capt. Picard of "Star Trek: the Next Generation") plays a white Othello in an all-black society. This one will either be brilliant or a major embarrassment; there is no middle ground.

Emily Dickinson Lives — at Round House Theatre, where the brilliant Tana Hicken will perform the one-woman show "The Belle of Amherst." Hicken would be worth watching even if she were reading the operating rules for the latest Windows program.

Diversity Diversifies — at Woolly Mammoth, as Brian Freeman, who made outrageous comedy out of being black and gay with the group Pomo Afro Homos, launches his two-oppressed-social-groups show "Civil Sex."

Diversity With Attitude — at the National, as the young dance genius Savion Glover performs in his and George C. Wolfe's "Bring In 'da Noise, Bring In 'da Funk," a confrontational look at the history of African American music and performance.

A Surprise Package — at Arena Stage, an as-yet-untitled work about the presidency by brilliant chameleon/journalist Anna Deavere Smith ("Twilight, Los Angeles: 1992").

Flirting With Danger — at Fraudulent Productions, which is staging "The Fall of the House of Usher," a story that has never been successfully adapted to any medium. The folks at Fraudulent run a tiny theater and they have no money, but they are unafraid.

Dancing With Danger — at Arena, as Douglas C. Wager, whose "Long Day's Journey Into Night" was a stunner, tackles yet another, admittedly milder, O'Neill, "A Touch of the Poet."

Dueling Vanyas — at the Round House and Arena. First out of the gate is the Round House "Uncle Vanya," directed by Nick Olcott, who has previously distinguished himself in comedy; second is the Arena Stage version, directed by Zelda Fichandler, whose '80s production of another Chekhov play, "Three Sisters," was long on respect for the author and short on humor.

Sex and Blood — at Le Neon, which is staging Oscar Wilde's "Salome," an account of the biblical story that he originally wrote in French, and that scandalized Victorian society with its necrophiliac final moment.

Sex and Teenagers — at the Folger Shakespeare Library, as Joe Banno, who last season did a wild and witty production of Shakespeare's impossible-to-do "Cymbeline" for the Washington Shakespeare Company, directs "Romeo and Juliet." This is a play that never really works, but that's the kind that Banno thrives on.

Sex and Religion — at (where else?) Woolly Mammoth, which is producing the late Dennis Potter's "Brimstone and Treacle," which caused an uproar when it was first staged in London because of its mixture of carnality and Christianity.

Forget Sex, Go for Power — at the Studio Theatre, where Sarah Marshall will reprise her acclaimed '80s performance as a tyrannical schoolteacher in the social fable "Miss Margarida's Way."

No Sex Please, We're British Children — at Olney, which is doing Sir James Barrie's "Peter Pan," a chaste classic that nonetheless has elements of yearning, loss and shame usually found only in adult dramas.

We're British but Nonetheless Fun — at Interact Theatre, which comes up with a sequel to its popular "At the Old Bull & Bush" with "A Dickens of a Christmas at the Old Bull & Bush" at Arena's Old Vat Room.

We're British and Hilarious — at Olney, which is presenting "Noises Off," Michael Frayn's remarkable farce, which at its height recalls the magical slapstick of silent films.