Anyone who hasn’t experienced the electricity of live drama in an intimate space might do well to look in on Other Desert Cities at Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. I saw Jon Robin Baitz’s play in its original Lincoln Center Theatre production more than two years ago, and I still believe it’s the most powerful American play since August: Osage County — and the most significant since Angels in America. When Brooke Wyeth turns up at her parents’ place after a six-year absence — and a nervous breakdown — she doesn’t exactly bring them flowers. She’s written a tell-all memoir that reopens a festering family wound: her brother’s suicide after he commits a crime while protesting the Vietnam War. The manuscript is doubly painful because Lyman and Polly, Brooke’s parents, have close ties with the Reagans. Dennis Delamar directs the show, opening for previews on April 17 and playing through May 10, with newcomer Josephine Hall as Brooke, and Charlotte theater vets Jerry Colbert, Katherine Goforth, Ryan Stamey, and Polly Adkins portraying her Palm Springs family. (Perry Tannenbaum)

Price: $26-$31