Spotlight: Actual and virtual prisons on stage this weekend
Imprisonment doesn’t always mean a physical cell, with some captives serving their sentences on mental and emotional lock-down. Each scenario takes the local stage this week.

In The Rep’s “Invisible Hand” previewing Wednesday night, an American investment banker must plan his own escape from a militant Islamic group in Pakistan. In “The Glass Menagerie,” opening Thursday at the Missouri History Museum, Laura lives in the prison of her family’s home, preoccupied with her collection of small glass animals.

In another story of domestic imprisonment, “Mary Zimmerman’s Arabian Nights,” presented by St. Louis Shakespeare beginning Friday, Scheherazade uses her storytelling skills to try to prevent her husband from executing her.
And in “Bug” by Tracy Letts -- best known for “August, Osage County” -- a waitress holes up in a bug-infested hotel room to avoid her violent ex-husband. The Muddy Waters productions opens at the Kranzberg Arts Center this weekend.
‘Invisible Hand’
Where: Repertory Theatre, 130 Edgar Road, 63119
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 7 through March 25
How much: $37.50-$58
Tickets/Information: www.repstl.org
‘The Glass Menagerie’

Presented by: Insight Theatre
Where: Missouri History Museum, Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112
When: Thursday, March 8-March 18
How much: $25
Tickets/Information: www.insighttheatrecompany.com
Mary Zimmerman's ‘The Arabian Nights’
Where: Black Cat Theatre, 2810 Sutton, 63143
When: Friday, March 9-March 18
How much: $15-$25
Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/221440
Information: www.stlshakespeare.org

Tracy Letts’ ‘Bug’
Presented by: Muddy Waters
Where: Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand Blvd., 63103
When: 8 p.m. Friday, March 9-March 25
How much: $25
Tickets/Information: www.muddywaterstheatre.com
