Boredom is almost a character in The Cripple of Inishmaan, part of playwright Martin McDonagh’s trilogy about the residents of a tiny (at least in population) hardscrabble island off the west coast of Ireland.

There’s not much happening, but Inishmaan is home to a number of quirky characters, among them Kate (Dana Hooley), who talks to rocks; pottymouthed teenage looker Helen (Morgan Trant), a deadly aim with an egg or a cruel remark; Johnnypateenmike (Walter Ritter), self-appointed town crier and human newspaper, announcing earth-shattering news such as the birth of an earless sheep, and his 90-year-old Mammy (Trina Kaplan), who refuses to die no matter how much liquor he plies her with.

Everyone is fair game for the casual cruelty that laces conversation in Inishmaan, but none is quite the target that teenage Billy (Jason Connors) is. Born with twisted limbs and orphaned as an infant under mysterious, watery circumstances, Billy has been raised by his “aunties” – the dotty Kate and dour Eileen (D’Ann Paton), who run the local store and have carefully kept the real circumstances of his parents’ deaths from him. But even his guardians call him Cripple Billy, as if that were his whole name.

Billy longs for escape, and a real event – the making of filmmaker Robert Flaherty’s documentary Man of Aran in 1934 – will offer him his chance at Hollywood stardom.

McDonagh’s characters could easily slip into stereotype or parody, but Paris keeps a good rein on his excellent cast to avoid that pitfall. These characters are odd rather than phony; we laugh with rather than at them.

Ritter is a standout as the busybody Johnnypateenmike, but that’s not to slight Hooley, Paton, Connors, Trant or any of the others who bring these characters to life.

Playwright Martin McDonagh, one of the world’s best young playwrights, had a phenomenal year in 1994, when he penned his entire theatrical oeuvre of seven plays. He has rewritten some, but hasn’t published a new play since The Pillowman. He has since turned to his first love – film – and 2008’s much-lauded In Bruges is the most recent result.

But he’s a terrific playwright, and ion’sThe Cripple of Inishmaan is one of the year’s best productions. Only a few performances remain. Don’t miss this show.

ion Theatre’s production of The Cripple of Inishmaan plays through Sunday, May 10, at San Diego Repertory’s Space Theatre. Glenn Paris directs. Shows Wednesday through Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 4 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. For tickets, call 619-544-1000 or visit www.iontheatre.com.

Imagine a world in which being gay is the norm and prejudice against straights is rampant.

Welcome to Heartsville High, USA, where campus matchmaker Zanna (Shaun Tuazon) wears pink jammies with a sparkly gold Z emblazoned on the chest, talks to an unnamed parrot and changes people’s romantic lives with a wave of his pink wand.

Here, chess nerds are considered sexier than football jocks and the best reason to rejoice in a football win is that the opposing team’s uniforms are “hideous.”

Ariel Performing Arts’ production of off-Broadway hit Zanna, Don’t! A Musical Fairy Tale plays through Sunday, May 10, at Roosevelt Middle School Theatre. Ira Spector directs.

Tim Acito wrote the book, music and lyrics (with additional book and lyrics by Alexander Dinelaris) and reports as inspiration a country/western love song on the radio that made him wonder how it and other musical genres would work in a gay context. For the most part, the translation works very well indeed, though I could do without the redundant western bits such as the mechanical bullriding team.

At the center of the show is a quartet – Mike, Steve, Roberta (Whitney Shay) and Kate (Sonia Balanay) – who are paired in the first act but hit some speed bumps in the second, much like people in the straight world. The joys and agonies of love and the pain of being the target of prejudice are not exclusive to gays, after all, which makes Zanna, Don’t! accessible to any theatergoer.

The action centers around the choice of a school play. Somebody suggests a musical about letting straights into the military; Mike supports that, noting that “theater should present important social issues.”

It’s a strong cast all around, headed by Tuazon’s Zanna (originally played by Jai Rodriguez, of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” fame). Zanna is the yenta of the piece, occasionally led around by rather than controlling the magic wand that bestows love on the lucky. Tuazon’s winning smile and bouncy personality are complemented by the other characters, most especially hard-driving Candi (Cashaé Monya) in her Pepto pink tights and yellow shirt.

The voices are good, though occasionally defeated by Acito’s tendency to out-Sondheim Sondheim. The song “Fast,” for example, is sung at such velocity that comprehensibility is sacrificed. On the other hand, Acito’s quartet writing is lovely, and the cast is up to it.

With references to everything from the Bard to Hairspray, an eclectic score, engaging if exaggerated characters and energetic choreography by Ritchie Diego Valenzuela and Spector, Zanna Don’t! is a nonstop romp that will leave you tapping your toes and humming along. And you won’t miss the point that love is love, wherever and with whomever you find it.

Ariel Performing Arts’ production of Zanna, Don’t! – A Musical Fairy Tale plays through Sunday, May 10, at Roosevelt Theatre on Park Blvd. Ira Spector directs. Shows Friday through Sunday at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, call 619-692-1875 or visit www.zannasd.com.