DANCE
(ÄHTS): THE BOSTON ARTS FESTIVAL The three-day waterfront festival (Sept. 11-13) offers several promising dance events, especially Sunday afternoon’s presentations of Boston Ballet and BalletRox. The innovative young BalletRox (1-1:45 p.m.) is all about diversity and putting the art form to the service of the upbeat and the cutting edge, while Boston Ballet (2:15-3 p.m.) will undoubtedly offer choice classical selections. Sept. 13. Free. Christopher Columbus Park’s Waterfront Stage. 617-635-3911, www.bostonahtsfestival.comARIAS & ARABESQUES Dancer/choreographer Kira Seamon joins the singers of Mass Theatrica for a collaborative evening of opera arias sung and interpreted through dance. The music centers on Bizet (“Carmen,’’ of course) Puccini, Mascagni, Gershwin, and Moore. Sept. 12. $13-$15. LynnArts Neal Rantaul Vault Theater, Lynn. 508-757-8515. www.masstheatrica.org
ORIGINS: AN EVENING WITH CAROLYN DORFMAN For 25 years, the New Jersey-based Dorfman has been crafting works renowned for using high-energy, technically demanding choreography as a metaphor for the challenging journey of life. Her company’s program at the Yard is billed as an intimate evening of “dance, dialogue, and discovery.’’ Sept. 12. $15-$50. The Yard, Chilmark. 508-645-9662, www.dancetheyard.org
KAREN CAMPBELL
THEATER
THE DONKEY SHOW Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream’’ undergoes a disco-era transformation in the first production by new ART artistic director Diane Paulus, who has said she was inspired by New York’s famous Studio 54. Through Oct. 31. American Repertory Theater. 617-547-8300, www.americanrepertorytheater.orgTRUTH VALUES: ONE GIRL’S ROMP THROUGH MIT’S MALE MATH MAZE Gioia De Cari, who describes herself as a “recovering mathematician,’’ plays more than 30 characters in a one-woman show that puts math, science, and gender under a microscope. Through Sept. 20. Central Square Theater. 617-576-9278, www.centralsquaretheater.org.
SINS OF THE MOTHER Israel Horovitz the director does well by Israel Horovitz the playwright in this drama of guilt and retribution, in which the past exerts a remorseless claim on the present. The stage is populated with vivid characters, none more compelling than the city of Gloucester itself. Through Sept. 13. Gloucester Stage, Gloucester. 978-281-4433, www.gloucesterstage.org DON AUCOIN JERSEY BOYS Don’t go expecting the thrill of the new. But do go to this hit musical, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, for the rush of the familiar - the songs, the jokes, the hardscrabble kids, the peaks and pitfalls of stardom - done well. With four talented and immensely appealing performers leading us by our ears, evergreen hooks acquire a measure of pathos and joy. Through Sept. 26. Citi Shubert Theatre. 866-348-9738, www.citicenter.org JOAN ANDERMAN
MUSEUMS
PRENDERGAST IN ITALY Maurice Prendergast’s views of Rome, Siena, Venice, and Capri as well as archival material from the artist’s two trips to Italy in 1898 and 1911. Through Sept. 20. Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown. 413-597-2429, www.wcma.org.ROBERT INDIANA AND THE STAR OF HOPE A stimulating survey, drawn from the artist’s own collection, of the work of this Pop artist and graphic designer, who has long had a studio and house in Maine. Through Oct. 25. Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine. 207-596-6457, www.farnsworthmuseum.org.
SEARCH FOR THE REAL: DRAWINGS BY HANS HOFMANN AND HIS STUDENTS An examination of the legacy of Hans Hofmann’s teachings at his art school in Provincetown, including charcoal and ink drawings by, among others, Robert De Niro Sr., Lee Krasner, and Hofmann himself. Through Oct. 11. Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown. 508-487-1750, www.paam.org
A NEW AND NATIVE BEAUTY: THE ART AND CRAFT OF GREENE AND GREENE A succinct and beautifully installed overview of these stars of the American Arts and Crafts Movement, featuring furniture, stained glass, and metalwork as well as architectural drawings. Through Oct. 18. Museum of Fine Arts. 617-267-9300. www.mfa.org. SEBASTIAN SMEE
GALLERIES
SOL LEWITT: LOCATIONS An exhibition of works from LeWitt’s “Locations’’ series of the mid-1970s, in which he deploys text, lines, and geometric forms to explore what it means to create structure. Through Nov. 10. Barbara Krakow Gallery, 10 Newbury St. 617-262-4490, www.barbarakrakowgallery.comRONA PONDICK The sculptor’s lithographic prints merge details from her figurative works and their classical counterparts. In each, a single countenance emerges when two pieces, made centuries or millennia apart, are paired. Pondick’s sculptures are also on view. Through Oct. 13. Howard Yezerski Gallery, 460 Harrison Ave. 617-262-0550, www.howardyezerskigallery.com
BEHIND THE GAME Massachusetts video game developers Harmonix Music Systems, Blue Fang, Turbine, and Tilted Mill Entertainment bring some of their “concept art’’ - the visual bridge between an idea and its execution in game graphics - to the public eye. Through Oct. 18. Mount Ida College Gallery, 777 Dedham St., Newton. 617-928-4654, www.mountida.edu/sp.cfm?pageid=3043 CATE McQUAID 
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