THE WHOLEHEARTED A boldly arresting new solo show about a fictional boxer who has a major score to settle with the guy who helped launch her career. While overly reliant on cliché, “The Wholehearted’’ is elevated by the skillful use of video and especially by Suli Holum’s transfixing portrayal of the prizefighter, alternately brooding and explosive. Through April 27. Production by Stein/Holum Projects. Presented by ArtsEmerson. At Jackie Liebergott Black Box, Emerson/Paramount Center. 617-824-8400, www.artsemerson.org  GOOD TELEVISION David J. Miller directs the New England premiere of Rod McLachlan’s behind-the-scenes look at reality TV, in which the producer of an “Intervention’’-like show titled “Rehabilitation,’’ played by Christine Power, prepares to build an episode around a South Carolina meth addict and his family. Through May 17. Zeitgeist Stage Company, at Plaza Black Box Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.zeitgeiststage.com  SILA A world premiere of Chantal Bilodeau’s drama about eight characters on an island — including an Inuit activist, a climatologist, and a couple of polar bears — who are struggling to cope with environmental change. Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian. Through May 25. Underground Railway Theater, at Central Square Theater, Cambridge. 866-811-4111, www.centralsquaretheater.org  BIG APPLE CIRCUS: LUMINOCITY Times Square comes to City Hall Plaza as the annual visitors in this hybrid newfangled-old-school circus bring their current show (pictured) to town. It’s a bustling intersection of crane-your-neck marvels — the “free ladder” stuntman, the teeter-board acrobats — and comic diversions such as a flimflam man and a world-class clown in a Gilligan hat. Through May 11. At Boston City Hall Plaza. 888-541-3750, www.bigapplecircus.org
Globe critics offer a guide to area productions, including ArtsEmerson’s “The Wholehearted,’’ Zeitgeist Stage Company’s “Good Television,’’ Underground Railway Theater’s “Sila,’’ and Big Apple Circus’s “Luminocity.’’