UMO Ensemble—UMO, the strange and wonderful geniuses of physical theater, are all over the place this fall and winter, playing shows from their repertory as well as developing their newest show, The Millennium Circus. You can catch the group at the Kirkland Performance Center as the Buffoons in El Dorado (10/16) as well as five other King County venues, and UMO touches down at the Broadway Performance Hall for a three-week run of its show Body Inheritance, an energetic exploration of how the body and the mind connect and occasionally disconnect (9/10-27). In January, check out the results when it collaborates with Eddie Levi Lee at the Empty Space on a new adaptation of fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm (1/15-2/13). 463-2128.
Unexpected Productions—The improv folks continue their occasional forays into scripted drama with Top Girls by Caryl Churchhill, her witty analysis of Women Who Work, which features a luncheon party including Pope Joan and Chaucer's Wife of Bath (9/24-10/31). For Christmas, it's The Bogey Hosen Family Christmas Spectacular, featuring America's favorite entertainer in a show that looks suspiciously like any number of television holiday specials (11/26-12/20). The Market Theater, 1428 Post Alley, 781-9273.
UW School of Drama—This fall quarter features three plays with guest directors and featuring the students of the university's drama program. First it's The Balcony, Genet's acidic look at revolution and unrest as seen from the interior of an exclusive bordello, directed by former ACT associate director Leslie Swackhamer (10/28-11/8). Then it's Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine, a journey from the reigns of Victoria to Elizabeth II, when genders and attitudes are shaped and twisted willy-nilly (11/18-29), directed by Jude Domski and Chazz Rose. Finally it's Valerie Curtis-Newton's direction of Balm in Gilead by Lanford Wilson, his 1965 comedy about a truly unlikely comedy between a forthright hooker and a handsome pusher who can't help the desire to do good. UW campus, 543-4880.
EASTSIDE
Chaspen Opera Theater—This new Redmond company concentrates on popular music and classical music made popular in its three shows this fall, which include "George Gershwin: A Centennial Celebration" (9/26); "Opera for Young Audiences," featuring world premieres of Christopher Lee Fraley's The Frog Prince and Allen Shawn's The Ant and the Grasshopper, with puppets by Glass Heart (10/31); and Menotti's Christmas favorite, Amahl and the Night Visitors. Various venues, 425-880-6035.
Kirkland Performance Center—The first season of the Eastside's newest performance venue is a mixture of local and national touring artists, which includes some fun surprises. First up is the Cabaret De Paris production of Music by Gershwin (9/17-27), followed by an original musical production of A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh from Kirkland's own Storybook Theater (10/3-10). Amii LeGendre's Bathing the Blind is a multimedia piece that mixes up choreography with film work to explore the worlds of vision and blindness (10/9), while UMO's wonderful El Dorado sets the mischievous Buffoons loose upon the pages of history to tell the story of the Spanish explorers who looted their way through the Americas. (10/16). In November Storybook Theater returns with Sleeping Beauty, an original adaptation of the classic fairy tale (11/21-28), and the year winds up with a Village Theatre Holiday Special, featuring great musical performers from the region and songs from across the Northwest and the country (12/11-1/3). 350 Kirkland Ave, Kirkland, 425-828-0422.
Renton Civic Theater—The Eastside theater presents community-theater fare but with a significant streak of professionalism. It opens the season with the Wasserman/Leigh/Darion musical Man of La Mancha (9/4-10/4). Then it's Rough Crossing by Tom Stoppard, a typically verbal farce about the misadventures of a group of Broadway performers rushing to finish rehearsing a play while crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner (10/23-11/22). For Christmas it's Inspecting Carol, Dan Sullivan's comedy in which an NEA supervisor is brought in to oversee a production of the company's Christmas Carol in which everything that can go wrong does (12/3-1/3). 507 S Third, Renton, 425-226-5529.
Youth Theater Northwest—Mercer Island's resident center for theater features two more shows in 1998, including high-seas hijinks, complete with eye patches and gold doubloons, in The Pirate Party (10/16-31), followed by the story of the humble cobbler who found a unique outsourcing outlet, The Shoemaker and the Elves (12/4-20) 8805 SE 40th, Mercer Island, 206-232-2202.
Village Theatre—For its 20th season the Village kicks off with Carnival by Michael Stewart and Bob Merrill, which follows a traveling French carnival and the bittersweet romance that runs its course under the twinkling lights (9/24-11/1). Then, as something of a complement to the Rep's production of Pygmalion, it's My Fair Lady by Lerner and Lowe. Lowly flower girl Eliza rises to the cream of society through proper use of her haitches and "r's" (11/19-1/3). 303 Front N, Issaquah, 425-392-2202.
