Only two instances do not establish a pattern, but in his second original drama in less than 12 months, playwright Garrett Heater demarcates clear priorities with The Romanovs. He likes family dramas in which characters are defined in bouncing off each other in roles we all know intuitively: father, mother, children.

Even if its thwarted opening had not been such a scandal, Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock would still command attention. Not merely focused on the working classes, Cradle faces up to contemporary problems by championing labor unions at a time when industrial strife was spilling blood in the streets.

The action for The Turn of the Screw, Syracuse Stage’s season opener, begins with a prospective governess facing a tough job interview. A well-to-do gentleman is looking for someone to take care of an orphaned nephew and niece in a country home.

I ntimacy in live theater can be both an asset and a risk. The up-close and personal space of the Fire & Ice banquet facilities, inside the Locker Room at 528 Hiawatha Blvd., was never intended to be a theater.

Not so long ago or far away, bingo was once highly controversial. Really. In the state of Michigan during your reporter’s childhood, there were repeated attempts, one successful, to outlaw the low-stakes board game. These were widely seen as vindictive assaults from Protestant small towns, well-represented in the legislature, against Catholic cities.

Two nostalgia jukebox musicals, The Taffetas for girl groups, and Forever Plaid for guys, have been bopping around for more than 20 years. They seemed plenty charming at first, but eventually they wore out their welcome, in part because much of the music was self-consciously archaic and limited mostly to the groups being spoofed.

It's the year of Fuddy Mears, Zana Don’t and Judy’s Scary Christmas. Yes, those are titles of stage works appearing in town over the next 10 months, but don’t feel left behind if you have not heard of them before. Let there be no complaining about the same old things; this is the time to catch up.

From a distance, William Nicholson’s Shadowlands looks like three plays telescoped into one. The first is a drawing-room comedy where well-bred Oxford dons sit around and make witty conversation. Second is an unlikely middleaged romance between a 58-year-old confirmed bachelor and a 41-year-old divorcee.

The second titles, Bitches, which now looks like the subtitle, actually came first. It was Bitches while the witty, satirical review was developing at different venues but became Disenchanted during a long and successful run in Orlando.

Two questions arise in audiences’ minds as they enter a performance of The Lion King at the Mulroy Civic Center.