Fringe: Death, space, soil and a quintet

The New and Improved Stages of Grief. Mary Carpenter's solo performance is, as she explains, her own work, that of "a non-doctor, but practitioner." The show, though based on her experience navigating the minefield of modern mourning rituals - after losing her high school boyfriend, her brother, and finally, close friend and Philly Comedy–Sportz icon Mike Young - is, at its core, a comic piece. After all, Carpenter has been a ComedySportz improv performer for nearly 20 years.

A wry update of the five stages of grief as outlined in Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' 1969 book On Death and Dying, Carpenter hosts a slide show for each stage, and suggests its replacement. For example: instead of the author's Stage One, "Denial," why not the more accurate "WTF?" Mixed with these segments are brief, homey "Death with Dot" sketches regarding funeral etiquette, alongside some less successful audience participatory improv (a bit about the economics of grief stretches too long with not enough payoff).

However, Carpenter's piece is more than just an irreverent lark. She balances humor with reflection, never allowing the material to become maudlin, but not exactly pulling her punches, either. She also includes, in her final stage of grief (Nine, which is four more than Kubler-Ross allowed) the most moving Harry Potter reference I've ever heard on- or off-stage. Really.

   - Wendy Rosenfield

$10. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St.

Hello From the Children of Planet Earth. In the basement of a former Center City industrial building, actors playing a male and female scientist take notes as a young astronaut, Tom, orbits the Earth and talks weekly to his worried wife in Skype-like video conversations. Major Tom to ground control? Yes, exactly, and the David Bowie song plays at one point while we wonder what this mission will lead to.

Plot aside, it leads to a foregone but nicely laid-out conclusion: We can travel through the universe if we want, but it's a mighty lonely planet without someone to buck you up. The sweet, endearing Hello from the Children of Planet Earth is a production from the young theater artists of New York-based AGGROCRAG, and its point - that a single solid human connection renders us not just a speck, but a mighty speck in the universe - is made with clarity and a pleasant theatricality.