Einstein’s Dreams is wry and wild, funny and intellectually stimulating, provocative and surprisingly moving. Alan Lightman’s best-selling novel has inspired dozens of theatrical productions – Savick’s, premiered by Underground Railway Theater in 2007, is Lightman’s favorite. Set in Switzerland, 1905, the play portrays Einstein, a modest patent clerk in a new marriage, struggling to make ends meet while in the back of his mind re-conceiving time. Einstein’s Dreams reveals Einstein’s imagination as he completes his Theory of Relativity, envisioning many possible dimensions of time, posing tangled, absurd and poetic worlds that illustrate the tragedy and beauty of the human condition. Music is by Evan Harlan. Alan Lightman will lead conversations about the play after the November 18 and 20 performances; after almost every other performance, conversations will be led by actors from the cast and scientists from MIT and Harvard.

Chekhov’s final and most famous work, The Cherry Orchard brings to life a quirky family whose absurdities warm the heart. Written and set in 1904, the funny yet heartbreaking theatrical classic chronicles the decline of the Russian aristocracy at the turn of the 20th century through the story of a family’s futile attempt to save their beloved cherry orchard. After having returned to their ancestral estate to find that their family fortune has dwindled to practically nothing, they seem incapable of saving themselves from disaster, ignoring all offers of help and refusing to see the inevitability of change.

In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the year Galileo first turned his telescope upward and changed the way human beings thought of their place in the cosmos, Catalyst Collaborative @ MIT and Underground Railway Theater present Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo. The play is translated by David Hare, directed by David Wheeler, and stars Boston area favorite Richard McElvain in the title role. One of Brecht’s most well known and complex plays, The Life of Galileo explores the life of the founder of modern science and the conflict between reason and faith. Written on the brink of World War II while the playwright was exiled from Germany and living in the U.S., Brecht examines the ordeal Galileo was forced to undergo as he set his personal passions and beliefs against the authorities of Church and State. It reveals the famous scientist’s self-hatred for giving up his convictions in the face of the Inquisition, and poses powerful questions that resonate today about the social responsibility of the scientist. The Life of Galileo also takes a bold look at the costs and implications of scientific discovery. What are the repercussions of a fundamental paradigm shift? What must we change about the ways we live our lives when a single breakthrough rocks the very foundations of our belief systems? In the late Renaissance, it was the cosmos; in the 19th century, evolution; today, the possibilities that might be unearthed by unlocking the human genome. In The Life of Galileo, Galileo’s scientific and personal integrity are put to the test as he argues for his very life in a passionate debate over science, politics, religion and ethics; the debates rage on today.

Alice’s Adventures Underground, an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic works, takes adults and children down rabbit holes and through mirrors into worlds seen best when looked at upside down. Written by Underground Railway Theater Artistic Director Debra Wise in collaboration with the company, and directed by Dev Luthra, with music by Roger Miller and Evan Harlan, the play brings audiences on an adventure with Alice as she seeks the key to the garden in all the wrong places. This production lights up parallels between adult idiosyncrasies and Carroll’s characters: Alice can’t control her growing and shrinking, her aging, or her temper. Featuring outrageous puppets and a set of hand-painted silk, Alice won a 1998 IRNE award when created to honor Carroll on his 100th anniversary. Ten years later, Underground Railway Theater presents a newly revised holiday production. There will be post performance conversations after the November 4 and 5 performances, with members of the cast joined by specialists in how to live a sane family life in an insane world, and after the November 5 and 7 matinees, audience members are invited to a family tea party (details below).

For election season, The Nora presents the Boston area premiere of Jodi Rothe’s sharp and funny play, Martha Mitchell Calling. Following successful runs at Shakespeare & Company and in New York state and Florida, this production once again brings together Director Daniela Varon and Annette Miller as the feisty southern belle, Martha Mitchell, who clamors to be heard during the tumultuous times of the Watergate scandal.