Winter theater scene warms up [Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.]

Dec. 29--If you're bemoaning the end of holiday festivities and thinking the winter months ahead are going to be bleak and quiet, local theater companies would like to argue otherwise. Here's a preview of some of their reasons for getting out of the house:

- The Academy of Performing Arts jumps right into the new year with three weekends of staged readings of contemporary plays with directors and casts from throughout the theater community. A.R. Gurney's "Buffalo Gal," directed by Stephen Russell, will be done Jan. 14; other shows will be featured on Jan. 6-7, 13 and 20-21. That series will be followed by "Broadway to Hollywood III," a musical revue by academy favorites of songs that were performed on stage and then in a movie or vice versa. That show runs Jan. 27 through Feb. 5. Following that show will be a revival of the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," with Peter Milsky reprising his role as Tevye the poor Jewish milkman who must learn to change as life and traditions around him do; shows are Feb. 16-March 18. Sticking with the classics, the academy will then present a staged version of Harper Lee's beloved story "To Kill a Mockingbird," about a period in the lives of the children of lawyer Atticus Finch, who defends a black man in the Depression-era South. All shows are at Academy Playhouse, 120 Main St., Orleans. Information: 508-255-2963 or www.apacape.org.

- Barnstable Comedy Club audiences enjoy a good farce, and the next offering for them is Ken Ludwig's "Moon Over Buffalo," about an aging theatrical couple trapped working in a Buffalo theater who think a big break might be coming. Shows are Jan. 12-29 at the club's theater, Route 6A, Barnstable Village. The next show takes a more serious turn with "Mister Roberts," the story of an officer on a World War II cargo ship, where the captain is a tyrant and the men are frustrated and bored. Shows are March 15-April 1. More information: www.barnstablecomedyclub.com.

- Provincetown Counter Productions is moving some of its shows to Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater'sJulie Harris Stage on Route 6 for the winter, starting with "A Raisin in the Sun" on Jan. 19-29. The classic Lorraine Hansberry play is about three generations of a Chicago family whose lives are thrown into turmoil when some insurance money comes through. The next show will be the area premiere of Stew and Heidi Rodewald's "Passing Strange," a rock musical about a young black man's time in Europe. Shows are Feb. 23-March 4. Information: 508-413-1000 or www.counter-productions.org

- Provincetown Theater Company will hold its 16th annual Winter Reading Series on Wednesday evenings Jan. 25-March 28 at Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St. The group is particularly hoping to foster new plays by new playwrights. More information: provincetowntheater.com.

- Cotuit Center for the Arts is paying theatrical tribute to the work of Jacques Brel with the musical revue of the off-Broadway hit "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris," set in a 1960s Paris nightclub. Performances will be Feb. 2-18 at the center, 4404 Route 28. Information: www.artsonthecape.org; 508-428-0669. Jane Perkins will bring her one-woman show "Happy Endings" to the Black Box Theater next door to the main center, Jan. 13-28. The show is a comedy about death -- "the joy in the pain, the humor in the sadness, the spirit in the bleakness" -- based on Perkins' work as a hospice nurse.

- After some dark months, Chatham Drama Guild will launch the local premiere of the comedy "Wrong Turn at Lungfish," with shows Feb. 10-26 at the guild theater on Crowell Road. The Garry Marshall-Lowell Ganz comedy is about the relationship that develops between an elderly curmudgeon who becomes ill and a self-appointed reader to the blind. More information: www.chathamdramaguild.org.

- The school-vacation family treat from Eventide Arts this year is "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," with the book and lyrics by Judith Viorst, based on her popular children's book about, well, Alexander having a tough day. Shows are Feb. 16 to March 4 at Dennis Union Church, Route 6A. Information: www.eventidearts.org.

- Falmouth Theatre Guild is thinking a little smaller with its next musical by staging "The Fantasticks," the long-running love story of a girl and boy and their fathers, Feb. 17-26. Shows are at Highfield Theatre, Depot Avenue, Falmouth. Information: www.falmouththeatreguild.org.

- Cape Rep Theatre's performances will come with short runs this winter. The theater is bringing back the summer hit of "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type" for school vacation week with shows at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.Feb. 20-25 in the Indoor Theatre, off Route 6A, Brewster. Melissa Becker and Susan Wasson are then producing another "new and wacky, raucous, hilarious installment" of their "Footlight Fantasies" of skits and songs to benefit the theater. Performances are at 7 p.m.March 29-31 and 3 p.m.April 1. Anything and everything can happen in this show.

"Big River," the musical version of the story of Huckleberry Finn, will make its local debut in mid-February at Harwich Junior Theatre, 105 Division St., West Harwich. Information: www.hjtcapecod.org.

- The Woods Hole Theater Company plans to stage David Mamet's "American Buffalo," about three inner-city losers in a '70s junk shop plotting to steal a valuable coin, March 15-31. More information: woodsholetheater.org.

For more theater-related news and information, check out Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll's blog at www.capecodonline.com/stagedoor.

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