Sun. Dec.  17

We know her heart was in the right place, but we had a little trouble reading Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed," a non-fiction book where the author did a "Black Like Me" thing and took on the persona of a lower-class person trying to survive at the bottom of the food chain. She did this, of course, as a good lefty out to expose the system ... and write a provocative magazine piece and subsequent book. All of that it was, but there was something about the "let's pretend I'm poor (but I'll make some money out of this)" aspect that unsettled us, sort of like the way the well-off will sometimes "slum it." Be that as it may, Ehrenreich's book is also a play and it's at the tiny Devanaughn Theatre Sunday Dec. 17. Joan Holden wrote it; Megan Orwig directed. We see Ehrenreich's stand-in waiting tables, working at something suspiciously resembling Wal-Mart (Mall-Mart), cleaning houses - or at least we see as much as can be seen on a small stage. Will it disturb you, especially this time of year? Hopefully, in the right way. Tickets are $15. Starts at 3 p.m. Sunday.

791 Tremont St., 617-247-9777, southcitytheatre.org