THE THEATRE.

Please call the phone number listed with the theatre for timetables and ticket information.

COLUMBINUS

The United States Theatre Project, helmed by P. J. Paparelli, examines the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School using primary sources from the scene of the massacre--journal entries, video footage, interview transcripts--and filling in the gaps with fiction. For all its excavation work, the piece has few new insights to offer into the tragedy or the alienated lives of American high-school students. It is wonderfully staged and acted, though, and once the play begins to tap the nihilistic mischief-making of the two young murderers it releases a gush of raw theatrical heat. (New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th St. 212-239-6200.)

DARK YELLOW

Studio Dante presents a world première of a noir drama by Julia Jordan, which centers on a murder in a cornfield. Nick Sandow directs. (257 W. 29th St. 212-868-4444.)

ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE'S MARATHON 2006

The twenty-eighth annual festival of new one-act plays includes eleven premières and work by David Mamet, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Will Eno, and Amy Fox. (Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 W. 52nd St. 212-352-3101.)

HERAKLES VIA PHAEDRA

The myths of Theseus and the Minotaur, Herakles the strongman, and Phaedra the seductress are woven together in a great, big, gorgeous piece of dancetheatre by LaMama's founder, Ellen Stewart (who directs, choreographs, and shares compositional credit with Genji Ito). Using terpsichorean storytelling and an Eastern-influenced score (sung by Cary Gant and Benjamin Marcantoni), the piece achieves an ambitious range of emotion, from the sly and sexy to the elegiac. When Herakles (Peter Case) sets out to perform twelve impossible labors, the talented dancers don masks to become each of his successive foes, including a muscular, menacing lion (Eugene the Poogene) and a chorus line of disdainful Amazon soubrettes, who indulge in some rollicking flamenco steps. This large-scale work made of wonderfully observed details is a sheer delight to watch. (LaMama Annex, 74A E. 4th St. 212-475-7710.)

HOT FEET

Maurice Hines's ill-conceived new dance musical inexplicably pairs the macabre plot of the 1948 classic film "The Red Shoes" with a groovy, feel-good Earth, Wind & Fire soundtrack. The girl in the ruby sneakers is Kalimba (Vivian Nixon), whose backstory is a Broadway blend of "Fame" and "Faust." Naïve Kalimba dutifully dons her couture sweats and shimmies her way through the interminable dance numbers (mostly tired rehashings of eighties music-video material) while a wisecracking Hispanic Mephistopheles narrates her demise. But even death can't stop this fatuous dance party. (Hilton, 213 W. 42nd St. 212-307-4100.)

LEE EVANS

The British comedian comes to 37 Arts with a new standup act. (450 W. 37th St. 212-560-8912. Through June 3.)

THE RACE

The English troupe Gecko uses a speeding treadmill as the central metaphor for the vertiginous emotions of a father-to-be (Amit Lahav). The stagecraft of the co-directors, Lahav and Al Nedjari, includes plenty of tiny crawl spaces, chutes, and ladders--all the better to show off the surreal prowess of this acrobatic five-person ensemble. Their work can be very funny, indeed (such as when horny Lahav, sighting an alluring stranger at a bar, lip-synchs to Nina Simone). The physical-theatre vocabulary explored here recalls the celebrated London troupe Complicite, but Gecko is less cerebral: "The Race" is a visceral, sweaty, movable feast. (59E59, at 59 E. 59th St. 212-279-4200. Through June 4.)

TARZAN

A stage adaptation of the Disney film, with a book by David Henry Hwang, songs by Phil Collins, and the vine-swinging wizardry of "De La Guarda" 's Pichón Baldinu. Bob Crowley steps into the role of designer-auteur, the job that Julie Taymor aced when she directed "The Lion King," but he doesn't have Taymor's instincts for linking visual innovation to storytelling, and the indulgent scene transitions, with their swarms of airborne jungle creatures, tend to have more life than the scenes themselves. Kids and adults alike may enjoy the displays of simian acrobatics, but in the end they'll wonder why the stage show retains so few of the movie's charms. (Richard Rodgers, 226 W. 46th St. 212-307-4747.)

TROIKA: GOD, TOLSTOY AND SOPHIA

The figure of the aged, sadly vexed Tolstoy (an astringent Mike Durell) emerges from Peter Levy's historical drama as strangely constrained, battered by the financial quarrels in his family and prevented from living up to his radical Christian ideals. His wife, Sophia (Catherine Hennessey portrays her as a full-blown hysteric), haggles over his posthumous royalties, while his grown daughter (Kristin Ledingham), publisher (Seth Rabinowitz), and physician (the fine Matt Hartwick) get him to sign a new will and testament, which will place his later works in the public domain. There is enough intricacy of plot in Levy's drama to fill out a good-sized nineteenth-century novel, but the cast succeeds only intermittently in bringing the characters to life. (13th Street Repertory, 50 W. 13th St. 212-352-3101.)

TROUT STANLEY

The American première of a drama by Claudia Dey, about twin girls living in the Canadian wild. Jen Wineman directs. (Culture Project, 45 Bleecker St. 212-868-4444.)

WAITING FOR GODOT

Classical Theatre of Harlem presents Samuel Beckett's masterpiece. Christopher McElroen directs. (HSA Theatre, 645 St. Nicholas Ave., near 141st St. 212-868-4444.)

Also Playing

AWAKE AND SING!: Belasco, 111 W. 44th St. 212-239-6200. BILLY CONNOLLY LIVE!: 37 Arts, 450 W. 37th St. 212-307-4100. CORTEO: Randall's Island Park. 800-678-5440. Through June 4. THE DROWSY CHAPERONE: Marquis, Broadway at 45th St. 212-307-4100. FAITH HEALER: Booth, 222 W. 45th St. 212-239-6200. THE HISTORY BOYS: Broadhurst, 235 W. 44th St. 212-239-6200. JERSEY BOYS: August Wilson, 245 W. 52nd St. 212-239-6200. THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE: Lyceum, 149 W. 45th St. 212-239-6200. NO CHILD …: Beckett, 410 W. 42nd St. 212-279-4200. Through June 4. NOT A GENUINE BLACK MAN: DR2, 103 E. 15th St. 212-239-6200. THE PAJAMA GAME: American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St. 212-719-1300. RED LIGHT WINTER: Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow St. 212-239-6200. SWEENEY TODD: Eugene O'Neill, 230 W. 49th St. 212-239-6200. THE THREEPENNY OPERA: Studio 54, at 254 W. 54th St. 212-719-1300. THE WEDDING SINGER: Al Hirschfeld, 302 W. 45th St. 212-239-6200.

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