Smaller theater companies aren't afraid to tackle ambitious projects this season

I'm impressed. And if a crusty old professional theatergoer can be impressed by a list of planned productions, some of those planned productions must be pretty impressive.

Five small to midsize theater companies have recently announced their agendas for the coming season. Yes, you have some familiar old reliables in the mix -- "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Of Mice and Men," for example.

Way outnumbering the safe choices, however, is an astonishing number of ambitious and/or adventurous productions.

The "ambitious" column includes "Beauty and the Beast" at the Village Theatre (singing and dancing actors dressed up as a teapot and a grandfather clock and such) and ReAct Theatre's "Angels in America; Part 2 -- Perestroika" (an epic exploration of American political and spiritual realities seen against the background of the AIDS epidemic).

Among the adventurous, risky choices are "The War Party," a dark drama of politics in action, and "June Carter Cash Project," a trilogy of new one-acts based on June Carter Cash songs, commissioned by Live Girls!

Anyway, here's the rundown:

THE VILLAGE THEATRE

The Village Theatre, which performs in both Issaquah and Everett, starts its season with "Saint Heaven," a country/gospel/R&B musical that focuses on a male physician's romance with a female Pentecostal preacher. It opens in September. "Beauty and the Beast" performances start in November. Oscar Wilde's perennially popular comedy of manners "The Importance of Being Earnest" begins production in January. Opening next March is "Stunt Girl," a musical about pioneering investigative reporter Nellie Bly. "Show Boat," the 1927 musical featuring such standards as "Ol' Man River" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," opens next May.

Information: villagetheatre.org

ARTSWEST

West Seattle's playhouse starts its season with "The Vertical Hour," a drama by the pre-eminent British political playwright David Hare. A pro-Iraq invasion intellectual debates responses to terrorism with her future father-in-law. Performances start in September. "Black Gold," a satirical comedy about petroleum obsession, opens in October. Opening in November is "Plaid Tidings: The Forever Plaid Christmas Show," a cleverly cheesy pop musical. "Well," a comedy drama about a fraught mother-daughter relationship, opens in January. "The History Boys," British playwright Alan Bennett's comedy drama about non-elite high school students vying for admission to elite universities, opens next March. Opening next April is "Gutenberg! The Musical," a show about two guys who think their show about 15th century printer/inventor Johann Gutenberg should be boffo on Broadway.

Information: artswest.org

SEATTLE PUBLIC THEATER

"The War Party," which explores the dark side of electoral politics, opens in September followed, in January, by "End Days" a comedy that toys with the notion that the "Apocalypse is coming on Wednesday." "Of Mice and Men," John Steinbeck's 1937 drama of friendship under extreme duress, opens next March. The season ends with a comedy-drama of love and marriage, "Wedding Story," which opens next May.

Information: seattlepublictheater.org.

LIVE GIRLS!

The new season begins next month with one of the company's "Quickies" anthologies of short plays (Live Girls' ninth such venture). "Circus Tracks," a big-top backstage fantasy, opens in June. "June Carter Cash Project," the trilogy of one-acts based on the country music legend's songs, opens in September. Completing the season is "Love Person," which explores romantic communication and miscommunication in English, Sanskrit and American Sign Language. Performances start in October.

Information: livegirlstheater.org

REACT THEATRE

"Prelude to a Kiss," Craig Lucas' fable of weirdly disrupted romance, begins performances this weekend. Like ArtsWest, ReAct is staging the mother/daughter comedy drama "Well." It opens in May. "Angels in America; Part 2 -- Perestroika," winner of a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award 15 years ago, opens in July. "Defiance," John Patrick Shanley's exploration of race, power and authority in a 1971 Marine Corps installation, opens Sept. 12. Starting in October, ReAct revives its popular production of "School House Rock," the goofy musical revue.

Information: reacttheatre.org