An elderly matron on her deathbed reflects on the pain and pleasure of living—including remembrances of a philandering husband and gay son. Edward Albee has long since confessed that his Three Tall Women, a 1994 Pulitzer-winner, draws from his own strained family ties. It sounds depressing, but the play’s ultimately a witty, wrenching quest for “the happiest moment,” as Albee finally phrases it. In a bracing bit of theatricality, Women has its dying heroine—simply called A—interact with herself at various prior ages (thus B and C). After commanding the lead of the Rep’s worthy Wit staging, Megan Cole lends her stentorian presence to the matron, A. Local favorites Suzanne Bouchard and Alexandra Tavares represent the woman in, respectively, her meditative mid-life and idealistic twenties. They’re guided by director Allison Narver, whose eye and ear for human frailty—proven in New Century’s Orange Flower Water and ACT’s Eurydice—make her arguably the tallest woman in a formidable crowd. STEVE WIECKING

Wednesdays-Sundays. Starts: Oct. 22. Continues through Nov. 28, 2010