After a brief post-holiday pause, the Portland theater scene starts back up beginning this week.
• The Old Port Playhouse, 19 Temple St., stages the musical version of “The Wizard of Oz,” opening Friday and continuing with a four-week run through Feb. 6. The playhouse staged this show during its inaugural season and sold it out. Artistic director Michael Tobin brings its back for another run with Gina Pardi returning in the title role.
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Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $15. 773-0333; www.oldportplayhouse.com.
• Acorn Productions presents John Manderino’s “Crying at Movies,” the third play in the company’s inaugural Studio Series, beginning Friday in the Acorn Studio Theater at the Dana Warp Mill in Westbrook. In the piece, Tony recalls his experiences watching leading ladies in movies and how they affected his relationships with women. Michael Levine directs the play, which features Naked Shakespeare’s Paul Haley and former Acorn Shakespeare Ensemble member Kerry Rasor.
“Crying at Movies” opens Friday and runs through Jan. 30 with performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $10, or $8 for students and seniors, and may be purchased at www.acorn-productions.org or by calling 854-0065.
• University of Southern Maine theater students Meredith Lamothe and Sarah Dube star in the USM production of “Airswimming” by British playwright Charlotte Jones. Her play follows Persephone and Dora during the 50 years they are imprisoned as moral imbeciles through their release into a shared apartment in the years following their incarceration.
The student actors will shed 2 feet of hair for their roles. Lamothe and Dube want to get inside the roles, and dramatic changes in style and look sometimes accompany a shift in a woman’s sense of identity. “Airswimming” runs Feb. 3-6 at Russell Hall, USM-Gorham. Call 780-5151.
• Elsewhere, Good Theater stages “Is There Fat in That,” starring Ellen Domingos, Friday through Jan. 23 at the St. Lawrence Arts Center; 885-5883.
• Portland Stage Company has “2 Pianos 4 Hands” Jan. 25 to Feb. 20; 774-0465.
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