BALTIMORE Students at a small New England college are brought face-to-face with the searing reality and troubling resilience of racism. Written by Kirsten Greenidge, one of Boston’s leading playwrights, “Baltimore’’ carries echoes of a generation having a necessary conversation with itself. Directed by Elaine Vaan Hogue. (Pictured: Jade Davis.) Through Feb. 28. Boston Center for American Performance and New Repertory Theatre at BU Theatre, Lane-Comley Studio 210. 617-933-8600, www.bu.edu\ cfa\bcap or www.newrep.org

MILK LIKE SUGAR Kirsten Greenidge’s drama about a teenage girl reconsidering the pregnancy pact she made with friends showcases the Boston-area playwright’s knack for creating characters as complex as the choices they face. When combined with Greenidge’s great ear for dialogue, skill at crafting compact plots whose stakes are clear and high, and overarching gift for empathy, the result is an illuminating look at young people battling against the constraints imposed on them by circumstance. Directed by M. Bevin O’Gara. Through Feb. 27. Huntington Theatre Company at Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-266-0800, www.huntington theatre.org

RENT A 20th anniversary production whose kinetic energy and gritty spirit underscore the life-and-death urgency of Jonathan Larson’s musical about friends and artists struggling to get by in the face of AIDS and the threat of eviction. Director Stacey Stephens draws forcefully committed performances from his young cast. Through Feb. 21. Fiddlehead Theatre Company at Back Bay Events Center, Boston. 617-514-6497, www.fiddleheadtheatre.com

AN OCTOROON Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (“Neighbors,’’ “Appropriate’’) again tackles the subject of race from an unexpected angle, deploying the conventions of 19th-century melodrama to explore the ways, subtle and not, that the past can leach into the present. When it comes to racial constructs, Jacobs-Jenkins wants us to think about how we think. A New England premiere, directed by Summer L. Williams, with a strong lead performance by Brandon Green. Through Feb. 27. Company One Theatre and ArtsEmerson at Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theatre, Paramount Center, Boston. 617-824-8400, www.artsemerson.org DON AUCOIN

Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.