Opus

Michael Hollinger was trained as a classical violist before he made his mark as a playwright. He drew on his musical background in the most often produced of his plays, a drama primarily set in an unusual workplace: the roundrobin of apartments that double as practice rooms for the members of a string quartet. The foursome has cut loose its violist, and his replacement needs to get up to speed with her new colleagues — and they with her — for a high-profile engagement that looms imminently. The play is part soap opera and part aesthetic battleground, but it provides credible insight into the nuts-and-bolts of a string quartet. It includes a good deal of robust banter about fine points of interpretation, particularly relating to Beethoven’s Op. 131, which audience members might want to revisit by way of preparation. Adobe Rose Theatre (1213-B Parkway Drive, off Rufina St., 505-629-8688) offers the work in a production directed by Staci Robbins, the company’s new artistic director. The run opens Thursday, July 14, at 7:30 p.m. and continues Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. through July. For tickets ($20, or $15 for students), visit www.brownpapertickets.com. — James M. Keller