A forty-plus-year mass geopolitical conflict waged through ideology, pop culture, and an arms race is unwieldy fodder for a musical; yet, Lauren Yee’s Mother Russia, playing at Signature Theatre, and Ro Reddick’s Cold War Choir Practice at MCC Theater are both historical comedies exploring the impact of the Cold War, capitalism, and global politics on young people.

This fall offers two working-class plays, a revival of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s 2003 work, The Brothers Size,  and a revival production of Martyna Majok’s Queens. Both break free of classical play structures and highlight underserved and infrequently represented communities.

This spring, two new plays about girls opened, one on Broadway, one off: Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain and Natalie Margolin’s All Nighter, which see girls in a high school classroom, and studying at a liberal arts college, respectively. The young women in these plays aren’t so different from their predecessors (girls have always been smart), but they aren’t pushed into constant frenetic choreography.