★★★☆☆ Unknown tunes from a songwriter’s trunk get nicely noted
The Great Privation: Black Family History Lost and Found
★★☆☆☆ Mothers and daughters then and now dig around a family tree
SUMO: Wrestling with Higher Desires
★★★☆☆ Lisa Sanye Dring’s new drama studies Japan’s national sport
Sugarcraft: A Scoop of Culinary History Spoiled by the Serving
★☆☆☆☆ Julia Child’s 18th-century spiritual ancestor gets a raw deal at 59E59
Grangeville: No Thanks for the Memories
★★★★☆ Paul Sparks and Brian J. Smith play brothers and others in Samuel D. Hunter’s thoughtful new drama
Queen of the Mist: Mary Testa Goes over Niagara Falls Once More
★★★☆☆ Michael John LaChiusa’s music-theater work returns in a smart concert staging in New Jersey
Garside’s Career: The Rise and Fall of a Silver-Tongued Speaker
★★★☆☆ An antique British drama about class struggle gets freshly Minted
Henry IV: Fathers and Sons and Falstaff in the Round
★★★☆☆ Jay O. Sanders and Dakin Matthews head TFANA’s versatile ensemble
How Is It That We Live or Shakey Jake + Alice: Len Jenkin Conjures a Love Story
★★★☆☆ Fred Weller and Kate Arrington portray soul mates in a poetic romance
A Knock on the Roof: Everyday life and death in Gaza
★★★☆☆ Khawla Ibraheem depicts a mom in desperate straits