NOLA Project is once again spinning its magic in an outdoor setting. Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It (in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art) is perfectly suited to trees and starlight since much of the play takes place in the mythical Forest of Arden. The audience sits on the grass. Actors never strain to be heard and are clearly audible.

The play starts in the court of Duke Frederick (Jim Wright), who usurped the dukedom of his brother Duke Signor (Kris Shaw) and banished him. Signor is biding his time in Arden, trying to demonstrate, as he puts it, “sweet are the uses of adversity.” Rosalind, his daughter, has been allowed by Frederick to remain in his court, because she is cousin and best friend of Frederick’s daughter Celia (Kate Kuen).

In a wrestling match, young Lord Orlando (Michael Krikorian) miraculously defeats the ferocious Charles (Jason Kirkpatrick). He also falls in love with Rosalind (Kathlyn Carson). His love would be requited except fate intervenes. His embittered elder brother Oliver (Michael Aaron Santos) badgers him into exile.

• Sharon Martin stars in Lady Day.

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson shows us the great and tragic vocalist Billie Holiday in the final days of her career. The show is simple but by no means easy to do. It’s basically a monologue woven around some of Holiday’s famous hits.

Director Tommye Myrick staged an excellent production of this biography at JuJu Bag Cafe, an attractive little cabaret space on Franklin Avenue. John Grimsley designed the 1950s nightclub with a standup microphone, flanked by a bar and a three-piece band.

After the band plays a few numbers, Buster the Emcee (Bobbie Johnson) announces Lady Day, who does not appear. Finally, he goes back stage to get her. Holiday (Sharon Martin) is drunk. She goes to the onstage bar, where club owner Emerson (Alton Smith) fills her glass. Playing a drunk is a fine line and Martin walked it with assurance. She was simultaneously charming and pitiful. She sang beautifully and she has an unusual timbre in her voice that suggests Billie’s distinct, haunting lilt.

• Blues for an Alabama Sky runs at Anthony Bean Community Theater.

Pearl Cleage’s Blues For an Alabama Sky, recently given a forceful production at the Anthony Bean Community Theater, both celebrates and mourns Harlem of the Great Depression.

Blues singer Angel Allen (Inas Mahdi) is the tragic heroine of the story. She is staggering home dead drunk at 3 a.m., assisted by her friend Guy Jacobs (Anthony Bean) and another man. Angel has just been fired from her steady gig at a nightclub after cursing out her Italian Mafioso sugar daddy for dumping her for someone else.

Guy takes her in. He’s a gay costume designer, and his dream is to work with Josephine Baker, who has taken Paris by storm. He’s been sending Baker some of his creations and hoping for a reply that will be his ticket to fame and fortune. A picture of Baker hanging on Guy’s wall like a tutelary deity dominates the set. The 1930s are evident in telling details, from popular music of the day to Bean’s zoot suits and conked hair. Guy tells Angel he’ll take her with him to Paris.

• Becky Allen and Jessie Terrebonne star in Visiting Hours.

We’ve come a long way, baby! Or maybe not. Many classic Greek tragedies are built around grotesque family entanglements. So is David Caudle’s Visiting Hours, currently receiving its world premiere at Mid-City Theatre. Visiting Hours launches dysfunction into 21st century Florida — with a pair of lesbian lovers and their criminal son.

The play is neither especially foul-mouthed or cynical. It’s a drama built on the feelings of real characters and the story is credible although it echoes absurd news stories that leave you scratching your head.

Marian (Becki Davis) and Beth (Tari Hohn) are longtime lovers. Marian was married previously and had a child, Paul (Nick Thompson), but the father left her.

Paul grew up, left home and has been out of touch with his lesbian parents for more than two years. We gather he’s been a small time crook and caused considerable trouble. Marian and Beth have gone just about broke paying his debts. Fortunately, a boozy friend Nat (Becky Allen) took them in and they live in a garage rent-free.

• Photo by Melisa Cardona
• Lisa Shattuck, Ashley Sparks and Nick Slie star in Kiss Kiss Julie.

What would Alice make of this Wonderland? Hard to tell. Alice is an innocent little girl, and ArtSpot Production’s Kiss Kiss Julie, currently running at the Joan Mitchell Center, is anything but innocent. Or perhaps, it expands “innocence” to include exploration of all manner of intimacies.

Lisa D’Amour is credited as the playwright, but exactly what’s written is hard to tell. There appears to be much improvisation within a prearranged structure.

Kiss begins in a large barroom, where the audience sits at tables as though in a cabaret. There are several odd devices with miniature windows. People are encouraged to pick a partner and stare at each other through the windows while holding hands through other openings in the boxes. While awaiting the start of the show, a cowboy — actually a woman with a mustache — calls for volunteers to do a line-dance, letting everyone know audience participation is part of the evening.