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Fall 2005 Arts Guide: [ Movies | Music | Stage | Classical | Performing Arts | Visual Art ] Flight Makes Right: Marisa (Lizzi Jones) hovers over Sarah Winchester (Tamra Hayden) while sinister Jack Kerrigan (Dan Sharkey) wonders why he can't fly in San Jose Rep's 'The Haunting of Winchester,' opening Sept. 3. Youth Moves The theater scene is full of youthful energy, themes and emotions this fall By Marianne Messina THIS FALL SEASON in San Jose theater is going to be so youthful and energetic, it may feel more like spring: San Jose Rep brings out some heavy romance and teens in love; San Jose Stage's two fall offerings include teen protagonists; City Lights and Renegade Theatre Experiment are both doing plays by thirtysomething fave David Auburn; and American Musical Theatre mounts a local production of the childhood staple The Wizard of Oz. To top things off, a surprising number of major theaters will be presenting children's plays. Renegade Theatre Experiment brings out the BFG and TheatreWorks revives an old tradition (with a face-lift): Into the Woods. Sondheim's musical is "somewhat of a fairy tale for adults," says TheatreWorks artistic director, Robert Kelley. Kelly has had a 15-year history with the play, and he notes that his perspective on it has matured. "In this particular show, I'm very aware that what one generation does inevitably influences the other." Kelley suggests that "a three-generation span is sort of the basic unit of what we think of as the extended family." And that conceit is borne out in San Jose Stage's season opener: a world premiere called Tenders in the Fog. Taking a true story of a lobster boat that went down off the coast of Maine, playwright Trevor Allen "reconceived the premise and made it a crab boat out of San Francisco," artistic director Randall King reports. The three-generation span, "a grandfather, father, son," takes up the tension of "the young Jimmy Bailey with the angst of all youthful generations," King explains. When children's theater works for adults, it is often because it recognizes that the world, to use Kelley's words, is a "tangled woods." Few children's writers get this idea better than Roald Dahl, whose writing has inspired films, as well as plays like The BFG upcoming from Renegade Theatre Experiment. "It has a dark, gross sense of humor," says Sean Murphy, RTE's artistic director. (The young heroine is kidnapped by a giant and taken to a place where they eat children.) On the romantic side of youthful verve, San Jose Rep brings back the days when the topic on every teenage girl's mind was marriage, in a new Jon Jory adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Not only will the stage come alive with giddy girls and dashing beaux, but a tri-co-production with Arizona Theatre Company and the Alliance Theatre Company will pull no purse strings on production values. For a slightly older younger crowd, David Auburn combines humor, cynicism and the elegance of math as he tackles questions of identity and the workings of the mind. Both in Proof (City Lights' fall opener) and in Skyscraper (at Renegade), "It's mathematics that is the unifying factor," according to Chris Tan who's directing the latter at RTE. Tan enjoys working with Auburn's blend of angst and humor. "I think the most fun character in the play is Louis, a 110-year-old man who is losing his mind. His forgetfulness is the setup for many great gags, and yet his frustration at his forgetfulness keeps us well grounded in the serious." Likewise, in Auburn's Proof, Catherine struggles with the idea of being betrayed by her own mind, "the fine line between genius and insanity," says City Lights artistic director Lisa Mallette. Two new works to look for this fall: Rep's The Haunting of Winchester and TheatreWorks' Baby Taj. Five years in the making, Haunting was commissioned by the Rep's artistic director, Timothy Near, expressly to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary. With a local composer (Craig Bohmler) and San Jose's famous attraction at its core, the play could help more people find the way to San Jose (may this musical replace the song!). And Baby Taj, the story of an American-born woman who goes to India to adopt a child, will be colorful, including costumes from two periods of India's history. Of course, if you're a humbug when it comes to children's themes and teen heroes, but you're not ready to flop down to Rodgers and Hammerstein, huffing "Those were the days," the diverse South Bay fall season has something to offer, especially for the serious-minded. Pear Avenue Theatre takes on Night of the Iguana, "a play normally performed on a grander scale," admits Diane Tasca, artistic director at the tiny theater, which is upgrading its lighting and sound system this season. And opening this week, TheatreWorks' Intimate Apparel leads us through the misadventures of an early-20th-century young seamstress. A little something to get the blood flowing for this fall's "spring fever." Stage American Musical Theatre Of San Jose San Jose Center for the Performing Arts; season subscriptions available; 888.455.SHOW The Wizard of Oz—Sept. 13�25 Little Women—The Broadway Musical—Oct.11�23 West Side Story—Nov. 1�13 Mamma Mia!—Nov. 29�Dec. 4 2006 Highlight: The Lion King—Jan. 20�Feb. 26 Broadway by the Bay Presented by the Peninsula Civic Light Opera. San Mateo Performing Arts Center; $15�$33; 650.579.5568 Ragtime—Sept. 23�Oct. 9 Bus Barn Stage Company Bus Barn Theatre, Los Altos; 650.941.0551 Aida by Elton John and Tim Rice—Sept. 8�Oct. 1 Romance in D—Opens Nov. 17 City Lights Theater Company City Lights Theater; 408.295.4200 Proof—Sept. 22�Oct. 23 Wise Women—Nov. 17�Dec. 18 2006 Highlight: String of Pearls by Michele Lowe, a West Coast premiere—May 18�June 18 Foothill Music Theater Foothill College, Los Altos Hills; 650.949.7414 A Penny for a Song—Nov. 4�19 Hillbarn Theatre 1285 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City; $17�$30; 650.349.6411 The Last Night of Ballyhoo—Sept. 22�Oct. 16 My Way, a Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra—Dec. 1�31 Lyric Theatre Devoted to Gilbert & Sullivan. Mayer Theatre, Santa Clara University; $20�$27; 408.986.1455 Ruddigore—Oct. 1�9 The Arcadians by Monkton and Talbot—Nov. 4�5 at Mission City Center for the Performing Arts, Santa Clara MACLA Castellano Playhouse, San Jose; $5/$7; 408.998.2783 S-e-x-Oh! presented by Teatro Luna, an all-Latina troupe from Chicago—Sept. 16 Northside Theatre Company Olinder Theatre, San Jose; $12/$15; 408.288.7820 Murder at the Howard Johnson's—Oct. 6�30 A Christmas Carol—Dec. 7�24 PacRep Theater Forest Theater, Carmel; 831.622.0100 Beauty and the Beast—ends Sept. 25 Palo Alto Players Lucie Stern Theater, Palo Alto; $18�$29; 650.329.0891 I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change—Sept. 17�Oct. 2 The Drawer Boy—Nov. 5�20 The Pear Avenue Theatre The Pear Avenue Theatre, Mountain View; $10�$25; 650.254.1148 Night of the Iguana—Sept. 16�Oct. 2 The Renegade Theatre Experiment Historic Hoover Theater, San Jose; $15�$20; 408.351.4440 Skyscraper—Sept. 15�Oct. 1 The BFG—Nov. 3�26 2006 Highlight: Waiting to Dance by Erica Hemenway, a world premerie— Feb. 2�18 San Jose Repertory Theatre The Rep, San Jose; various series packages available; 408.367.7255 The Haunting of Winchester—Sept. 3�Oct. 2 The Tricky Part—Oct. 15�Nov. 13 Pride and Prejudice—Nov. 26�Dec. 30 2006 Highlight: Iphigenia at Aulis, a world premiere adaptation—April 29�May 28 San Jose Stage Company The Stage, San Jose; $20�$42; 408.283.7142 Tenders in the Fog—Sept. 21�Oct. 16 The Sugar Bean Sisters—Nov. 16�Dec. 11 2006 Highlight: Inherit the Wind—Feb. 8�March 5 Santa Clara University Productions at the SCU Center for Performing Arts and other venues; 408.554.4015 Seven Guitars—Sept. 16�24 at Mayer Theatre Fall One-Act Festival—Oct. 22�23 at Fess Parker Studio Theater Metamorphoses—Nov. 4�12 Saratoga Drama Group Saratoga Civic Theater, Saratoga; $16�$22; 408.264.3110 Oklahoma!—Sept. 17�Oct. 9 South Valley Civic Theatre Morgan Hill Community Playhouse; 408.842.SHOW Count Dracula—Oct. 7�29 Inspecting Carol—Nov. 18�Dec. 10 Tabard Theatre Company Joint Venture Churches, San Jose; $10�$18; 408.979.0231 Smoke on the Mountain, a family musical—Oct. 20�30 A Taffeta Christmas, a musical—December Teatro Visión Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose; $8�$17; 408.272.9926 Cantinflas!—Oct. 6�23 TheatreWorks Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and the Lucie Stern Theater, Palo Alto; $20�$52; 650.463.1960 Intimate Apparel—through Sept. 18 in Mountain View Baby Taj: From India With Love—Sept. 28�Oct. 23 in Mountain View Into the Woods—Nov. 30�Jan. 7 in Palo Alto 2006 Highlight: The Clean House, a Northern California premiere—Jan. 18� Feb. 12 in Mountain View West Valley College Saratoga; 408.741.2058 Epic Proportions—Oct. 21�29 A Christmas Carol, the Broadway Musical—Nov. 18�Dec. 4 West Valley Light Opera Saratoga Civic Theater; $22�$26; 408.268.3777 Oliver!—Nov. 5�Dec. 3 Western Stage Hartnell Performing Arts Center (Studio Theater and Main Stage), Salinas; $17�$25; 831.755.6816 Cannery Row—Through Aug 27 Bay Boy, the Musical—Sept. 2�24 The Waiting Room—Sept. 23�Oct. 16 Rain of Gold—Oct. 22�Nov. 5 The Cherry Orchard—Nov. 11�Dec. 11 Wind in the Willows—Dec. 2�17 Kids California Theatre Center Sunnyvale Community Center Theatre and Mayer Theatre, Santa Clara; $11/$12; 408.245.2978 The Sleeping Beauty—Oct. 1 and 8 The Princess and the Pea—Oct. 14 Rapunzel and the Witch—Oct. 15 and 22 Dear Mr. Henshaw—Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 Frog and Toad—Nov. 12 and 19 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever—Dec. 3, 10, 16�17 The Elves and the Shoemaker—Dec. 2 and 17�18 Children's Musical Theater Of San Jose Montgomery Theater, San Jose; subscriptions available; 408.288.5437 The King and I—Dec. 2�11 Los Altos Youth Theatre Bus Barn Theatre, Los Altos; 650.947.2796 A Little Princess—Oct. 21�Nov. 5 Peninsula Youth Theatre Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts; $16/$19; 650.903.6000 How to Eat Fried Worms, Centerstage series—Oct. 21�22 Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Stories on Stage—Nov. 12�20 at Mountain View The Selfish Giant, Stories on Stage—Nov. 18-19 The Velveteen Rabbit, Stories on Stage—Dec. 16�17 Target Family Series Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga; $8�$16; 408.961.5858 The Very Hungry Caterpillar—Oct. 22 at 9 and 11am and 1pm Cinderella—Oct. 29 at 11am and 1pm Hansel and Gretel by the Jim Gamble Puppets—Nov. 12 at 11am and 1pm Pinocchio—Nov. 19 at 1 and 3pm Elves and the Shoemaker—Dec. 3 at 10am, 12:30 and 3pm Send a letter to the editor about this story to letters@metronews.com. 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