"After School Special" Company One presents a late-night show of John Kuntz's comic sendup of teenage angst, Fridays and Saturdays (and one Thursday, July 31) through Aug. 8 at 10:30. 617-933-8600, bostontheatrescene.com

"According to Tip"

"Essential Self-Defense" Gurnet Theatre Project's lively Boston premiere infuses some humanity into Adam Rapp's dark comedy about a man who takes a job as an attack dummy in a women's self-defense class. Closes tomorrow at the Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, bostontheatrescene.com

"The History Boys" Scott Edmiston directs SpeakEasy Stage Company's sharp, smart New England premiere of Alan Bennett's 2006 Tony winner. Closes Sunday at the Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, bostontheatre scene.com - Louise Kennedy

"The History Boys" Scott Edmiston directs SpeakEasy Stage Company's sharp, smart New England premiere of Alan Bennett's 2006 Tony winner. Through June 16 at the Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, bostontheatrescene.com - Louise Kennedy

Verbobala Spoken Video , an experimental theater group based in Mexico (below), takes over the Coolidge tonight. The show includes big video projections, performances of bilingual poetry, and speech sampled DJ-style as if it were music. As the group says, it's "live video and verbs." Also on the bill for tonight's event is James Caroline, a slam poet. Midnight. $10. ...

Tomorrow is Boston Theatre Marathon X (that's "X" for 10) at the Boston Playwrights' Theatre. It's basically 50 plays by local playwrights performed by 50 different theater companies in 10 hours. How do they fit it all in? Well, all of the plays are 10 minutes, so you can bring your short attention span. Noon. $30, $25 advance. Calderwood Pavilion, ...

"The History Boys" Scott Edmiston directs SpeakEasy Stage Company's sharp, smart New England premiere (above) of Alan Bennett's 2006 Tony winner. Through June 16 at the Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, bostontheatrescene.com - Louise Kennedy

All the Kings Men , a troupe of local women who perform musical and comedy numbers in drag, hosts a fund-raiser tonight at the Footlight Club in Jamaica Plain. The group will perform one of its regular variety shows, but throughout the night, there will also be raffles and auctions. Expect to see a few fedoras and fake mustaches. 7 ...

"The Mystery of Edwin Drood" SpeakEasy Stage Company presents Dickens with a difference: not the ubiquitous carol, but a raucous, beautifully cast music-hall staging of the novelist's final, unfinished mystery. Extended through Sunday at the Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, boston theatrescene.com - Louise Kennedy