Stage and film actor Michael Phillip Edwards plays multiple roles in I Am Not Sam, including that of Sam, an elderly black man, in this touring one-man show about identity and race. Other characters include Sam’s son-in-law, who is white, and his mixed-race grandson. Jan. 27 and 28. August Wilson Center, Downtown. 412-456-6666 or www.trustarts.org
For Groundhog Day: Live Read, Arcade Comedy Theater assembles a roster of Pittsburgh actors and performers for a date-appropriate staged reading of the neo-classic 1993 film comedy about a weatherman stuck in a time loop in Punxsutawney. Feb. 2. Downtown. www.arcadecomedytheater.com
At the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater’s Alloy Studios, Pittsburgh’s DANA Movement Ensemble presents Take My Hand … I Am Here, a work-in-progress performance about loving and losing parents. Choreographer Nick Daniels’ inspirations included Butoh and contemporary dance. Feb. 3. Friendship. 412-363-3000 or www.kelly-strayhorn.org
In Shadowland, world-renowned contemporary dance troupe Pilobolus employs an unusual hybrid of dance and shadow theater to tell the by-turns scary and comedic story of a young girl’s fantasy world. The show comes courtesy of Pittsburgh Dance Council. Feb. 10 and 11. Downtown. 412-456-6666 or www.trustart.org
In acclaimed composer Laura Kaminsky’s new opera, As One, a mezzo-soprano and a baritone portray a single transgender protagonist, named Hannah, on her emotionally fraught journey from childhood to adulthood. Pittsburgh Opera has this chamber opera’s Pennsylvania premiere, starring Opera resident artists. Feb. 18-26. Strip District. 412-281-0912 or www.pittsburghopera.org
Craig Ferguson’s scheduled Nov. 2 show at Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead was postponed, so now we can hear in person what the Scottish-born comic, memoirist and former The Late Late Show host thinks of not just the presidential campaign, but the election results, too. March 2. Munhall. www.librarymusichall.com
Ireland’s Druid Theatre presents the U.S. tour of Martin McDonagh’s Tony-winning 1996 dark comedy The Beauty Queen of Leenane, about a lonely fortysomething woman, her manipulative, aging mother, and her new love interest. March 2-4. August Wilson Center, Downtown. 412-456-6666 or www.trustarts.org
A woman tries to keep looking on the bright side in the face of multiple family crises in Findings, a new play by local playwright Arlene Weiner. Lisa Ann Goldsmith directs the premiere production for Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co. March 4-19. Downtown. www.pghplaywrights.com
Catch the Pittsburgh premiere of Daddy Long Legs, John Caird and Paul Gordon’s 2009 musical about an adult orphan and her mysterious benefactor in turn-of-the-century New England. The two-character Cinderella story is staged by Pittsburgh Public Theater. March 9-April 9. Downtown. 412-316-1600 or www.ppt.org
City Theatre stages the Pittsburgh premiere of The Guard, a new play by Jessica Dickey (The Amish Project), about a museum guard who begins “a time-bending journey” after he does the forbidden and touches one of the paintings he’s protecting. March 11-April 2. South Side. 412-431-2489 or www.citytheatrecompany.org
Peter and the Starcatcher, Rick Elice’s 2009 play, and later a Tony-winning Broadway hit, is a grownup prequel to the Peter Pan stories, about an orphan boy and a “starcatcher-in-training.” The action- and music-filled play is based on a novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, and Pitt Stages is the first regional troupe to stage it. March 30-April 9. Oakland. 412-624-7529 or www.play.pitt.edu
