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Family. It’s equal parts burden and blessing. It is the petri dish from which we escape and the oracle to which we return. From the ancient Greeks to modern psychiatry, the family is the first step to solving the mystery of who we are. Maybe that’s why birthdays and family reunions are the stuff of theatrical gold, because the person sitting next to you is the embodiment of your life’s what-ifs. And you are theirs. Siblings are the family’s special tentacle, for good and ill, for companionship and comparison. They are also the stock and trade of The Sisters Rosensweig by Wendy Wasserstein on stage at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas.

Onstage at Kitchen Dog is boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb. It’s a Twilight Zone take on ABC’s Big Bang Theory with a little Origin of the Species thrown in. If you like Richard Dawkins, you’ll love boom. Jo, played by Jenny Ledel, is a journalism student stymied by an assignment to write about something that inspires hope. Naturally, she chooses to write about casual sex. Unfortunately, she ends up with Jules, the Bio-nerd, grad-student geek.

In a show called Genus and Species, on view at the Nasher Sculpture Center through May 2, the sculptural work of Spanish artist Jaume Plensa walks a fine line between the lyrical and the sentimental. Plensa’s work, not only on view here, but as a whole, is driven by concepts of multicultural harmony in which language, the body and nature serve as metaphors for peaceful global ideals. More often than not, his work is reliant on some kind of physical encounter -- a passage, touch, or sheltering -- that helps propel the artist’s convictions about diversity’s great poetic potential.