A Bad Friend: Jules Feiffer's memory play about Brooklyn in the Fifties resounds as a cautionary tale for the United States in the 21st Century. This terrific production directed by Joseph Adler is both ambitious and intimate, a provocative series of family snapshots that evokes the history of an era. It's about McCarthyism, the Hollywood blacklist, lost illusions, and regaining hope. It's about a young girl's coming of age and perhaps about a nation losing its way. Written in 2003, the story is fitting for a time when the extreme right is playing on a people's fears and hatreds, narrowly redefining patriotism as evangelical zeal in full flower, banishing responsible dissent ruthlessly, and challenging every dissenter's own patriotism in ways that make McCarthy's despicable antics of the Fifities seem positively tame. Starring Avi Hoffman, Lauren Feldman, Tracey Moore, Andy Quiroga, Kevin Reilley, and Nick Velkov. -- Octavio Roca Through June 26. GableStage, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables; 305-446-1116.
XX International Hispanic Theatre Festival: Miami, where a short drive can transport you from Little Havana to Little Buenos Aires and beyond, is the ideal spot to celebrate the vast and thrilling human quilt that is Hispanic culture. Some of the happiest celebrations are afoot during the most impressive edition of this festival to date. Exuberance, ambition, and talent join hands in this adventure, which brings rich offerings and more than a touch of international drama to summer in the city. Teatro Venevisión and six other South Florida venues host eighteen different productions in addition to children's events and academic workshops showcasing companies from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, France, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela, and the United States. -- Octavio Roca Through June 26. Venevisión International Theater, Riviera Plaza, 1560 S. Dixie Hwy., Coral Gables; 800-494-8497, 305-663-5410 (Venevisión); 305-445-8877 (all other venues).
