Actor's Theatre Of Charlotte

Off-Broadway-style company performs bold works by contemporary playwrights. 650 E. Stonewall St. 704-342-2251, www.actorstheatrecharlotte.org. Two previews are held the week before the official opening.

Feb. 10-March 3: "Cuttin' Up." ATC recently did "Blue" by York County native Charles Randolph-Wright. Now the author comes back with a collection of stories set in a black barbershop, and he's updating the L.A. setting to incorporate Charlotte landmarks.

April 6-28: "Clybourne Park." Act 1 of Bruce Norris' play is set in 1959, when residents of a white middle-class Chicago neighborhood try to convince a couple not to sell their home to black buyers (the ones in "Raisin"). In Act 2, set in the same house, the now all-black neighborhood faces gentrification by white interlopers.

June 1-23: "The Marvelous Wonderettes." The season ends on a light note in Roger Bean's musical. It follows four girls who harmonize at a high school prom, then pursue success over the next 20 years. The score consists of pop standards from the late 1950s and early '60s.

Blumenthal Performing Arts Center

The region's leading presenter produces shows but usually imports them, including national tours of musicals. Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St.; Booth Playhouse and Stage Door Theater, same address; McGlohon Theatre or Duke Energy Theatre at Spirit Square, 345 N. College St.; Knight Theater, 430 S. Tryon St.; Ovens Auditorium, 2700 E. Independence Blvd. 704-372-1000, www.carolinatix.org, www.blumenthalcenter.org.

BROADWAY LIGHTS

Today: "Memphis," Ovens. This musical is set in the 1950s, when rhythm 'n' blues crossed over from black to white fans. It's loosely based on the life of disc jockey Dewey Phillips.

Feb. 17-19: "Spamalot," Knight. King Arthur and his knights search for the Holy Grail (and maybe a nice piece of shrubbery) in this very silly adaptation of a very silly film.

Feb. 22-March 11: "Jersey Boys," Belk. This is the unstoppable musical about the trials and tribulations of the Four Seasons. Do Charlotteans love vocalist Frankie Valli? The PAC had to add a second date to his sold-out gig last month.

April 3-8: "Stomp," Belk. Percussionists knock out beats on items small and large, from cigarette lighters to garbage can lids to their own sweaty bodies.

April 10-15: "Bring It On," Belk. Not just a compilation of the five films about competing black and white cheerleading squads, but a new story about a white captain who transforms the team at an urban school after suddenly being transferred.

May 1-6: "Come Fly Away," Belk. Twyla Tharp choreographed a tale of love around 19 songs performed by Frank Sinatra. A live band will accompany vocals lifted off classic recordings.

May 29-June 3: "La Cage Aux Folles," Belk. A gay nightclub owner conceals his partnership with its leading man when his son wants to marry the daughter of a homophobic politician. George Hamilton stars.

June 26-July 1: "Beauty and the Beast," Belk. The grand Disney musical about Belle, her daffy dad and her two beastly suitors - one a prince and one a preening bully - hasn't passed through Charlotte since 2002.

OTHER THEATRICAL EVENTS

Jan. 24-29: "Love, Loss and What I Wore," McGlohon Theater. Based on the collection of stories by Nora Ephron ("Sleepless in Seattle") and sister Delia.

June 8-30: "Charlotte Squawks," Booth. The eighth musical revue produced by Blumenthal Performing Arts and creators Mike Collins and Brian Kahn.

Carolina Actors Studio Theatre

Expect the unexpected from CAST, which ranges from Broadway classics to off-off-Broadway discoveries in NoDa - and redesigns its entire theater for each show. 2424 N. Davidson St. (next to Amelie's).704-455-8542, www.nccast.com.

Jan. 12-Feb. 11: "Jack Goes Boating." Four flawed but likeable lower-middle-class New Yorkers interact in a warmhearted play about staying afloat in the deep water of day-to-day living.

Feb. 23-March 24: "Race." David Mamet's drama probes the national psyche, as two lawyers find themselves defending a wealthy white executive charged with raping a black woman.

April 12-May 12: "Floyd Collins." The title character, a 1920s caver in Kentucky, kicks off a media frenzy when he's stuck in an underground passage in Kentucky. Adam Guettel and Tina Landau wrote the musical.

May 24-June 23: "The Edge of Our Bodies." Adam Rapp's one-woman show is about a 16-year-old at a New England private school gets an unexpected response when she shares big news with her college boyfriend in New York City.

CPCC Theatre

Despite being sponsored by Central Piedmont Community College, this company uses adult casts during its fall-spring season. Musicals take place in Halton Theatre, straight plays in Pease Auditorium; both are near the corner of Kings Drive and Elizabeth Avenue. www.cpcc.edu.

Feb. 17-26: "Cabaret." John Kander and Fred Ebb's musical about romantic and political mishaps in 1930s Berlin.

April 13-22: "Play It Again, Sam." In Woody Allen's comedy, the ghost of Humphrey Bogart appears to give romantic advice to a nebbish.

Children's Theatre Of Charlotte

The city's professional troupe for kids mounts its own productions, teams with local artists and imports tours to two stages at ImaginOn, 300 E. Seventh St. 704-973-2828, www.ctcharlotte.org.

Jan. 14-15: "The Emperor's New Clothes." Grey Seal Puppets do the traditional tale of the ruler - played by a pig - who has no idea that his fox tailors have decided to take him down a peg.

Jan. 20-Feb. 5: "The Borrowers." Mary Norton's novel (adapted by Charles Way) is about a tiny family living under the floor of a human's house, until the teenage daughter yearns to experience the big world.

Jan. 28-29: "The Best of Omimeo." Omimeo Mime Theatre revives classic mime, clown and vaudeville routines from the last 33 years, accompanied by the juggling comedy of the Fettuccini Brothers.

Feb. 4-5: "Tarradiddle Tales." Flora Atkin adapts another Tarradiddle show, this one about folk tales from the Bantu, Denmark, Ghana and India.

Feb. 10-26: "Rapunzel." Max Bush's version of the fairy tale stays pretty true to the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale, in which a witch imprisons the daughter of a neighboring couple (until she meets a prince).

March 2-3: "Step Afrika!" The world's first professional company dedicated to stepping, an art form born at African-American fraternities and based in African traditions, comes back.

March 9-24: "Tales of Edgar Allan Poe." "The Telltale Heart" reveals what happens when a mad murderer is undone by his conscience, and "The Cask of Amontillado" shows a wine connoisseur's revenge on a family enemy.

April 13-29: "Busytown." Kevin Kling and Michael Koerner have made a musical from the works of Richard Scarry, whose books are about bustling neighborhoods populated by cooperative animals.

April 20-29: "Salt and Pepper." José Cruz González' drama is about Salt, whose illiterate grandfather's shame infects his family, and Pepper, a daughter of a migrant farm worker who shares her love of books.

May 10-12: "Rhinoceros." The High School Ensemble performs Eugène Ionesco's surreal comedy about a European man whose fellow townspeople turn into clumsy, unthinking beasts bent on conformity.

Davidson Community Players

This community theater has a home at 307 Armour St., Davidson, and does a few shows each year on the Davidson College campus. The Connie Company, an offshoot, does shows for young audiences. 704-892-7953, www.davidsoncommunityplayers.org.

Jan. 27-29: "Sleeping Beauty." The Connie Company does Rupert Barber's retelling of the fairy tale.

February 23-March 10: "Children of a Lesser God." Mark Medoff's play follows a speech therapist at a school for the deaf and the angry ex-student with whom he falls in love.

April 20-29: "The Adventures of a Bear Called Paddington," a play about the gentle creature from the children's books, done by the Connie Company.

June 21-30: "Crazy for You." Ken Ludwig's not-so-wild-West blend of comedy and romance is set to highlights from the songbook of George and Ira Gershwin.

Matthews Playhouse

This multi-generational troupe often abridges popular works to make them easier for kids to absorb. Matthews Community Center, 100 McDowell St., Matthews. 704-846-8343, www.matthewsplayhouse.com.

Feb. 10-19: "Children of Eden." Stephen Schwartz ("Godspell") wrote the score for this adaptation of stories from the Old Testament, notable Noah's and Adam and Eve's.

Feb. 24-March 4: "Treasure Island." An adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's thrilling story of pirates, betrayal and a boy's coming of age.

April 27-29: "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." The 1971 film musical about a candy maker seeking a youthful heir has been adapted for the stage.

May 3-6: "Love Letters." A.R. Gurney's play tracks a relationship through heartfelt letters written over multiple decades.

On Q Productions

Third season for the company that presents plays with African-American subjects, often in a themed series. (The theme this season is black influences on music.) Previews are held the weekend before the official opening. Duke Energy Theatre at Spirit Square, 345 N. College St. 704-372-1000, youarenowonq.com, www.carolinatix.org.

Jan. 13-28: "The Amen Corner." James Baldwin wrote this drama about a self-anointed Harlem storefront preacher, who sees her world crumble when her errant husband comes home to die.

Feb. 29-March 3: "Miles & Coltrane." The collaborative Concrete Generation wrote this drama with music about the impact of jazzmen Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

June 1-16: "Rhyme Deferred." Author Kamilah Forbes asks whether hip-hop music is all about living in high style, or whether it can be something deeper: a street-savvy portal to the soul.

Queen City Theatre Company

Unpredictable troupe takes on musicals, straight plays and not-so-straight plays, usually in Duke Energy Theatre at Spirit Square, 345 N. College St. 704-372-1000, www.carolinatix.org, www.queencitytheatre.com.

February 2-18: "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told," Paul Rudnick's gleefully outrageous reinterpretation of Creation featuring Adam and Steve - and Jane and Mabel!

May 3-19: "Passion." Stephen Sondheim's 1994 musical, set in 19th-century Italy, is about a handsome soldier who is shattered and ultimately drawn to the unconditional and obsessive love of Fosca, his colonel's ugly cousin.

June 22-23: "Falsettos," concert performance of William Finn's 1970s-set musical about a man, the wife he has left, his male lover, his son and psychiatrist.

Theatre Charlotte

The state's oldest community theater performs at 501 Queens Road. 704-376-3777, www.theatrecharlotte.org, www.carolinatix.org.

Jan. 20-Feb. 5: "Doubt." John Patrick Shanley's Tony-winning play, subtitled "A Parable," centers on a high school principal who suspects a priest has had improper relations with a male student.

March 16-April 1: "Around the World in 80 Days." Mark Brown adapted Jules Verne's novel about globe-trotting Phileas Fogg and his manservant, Passepartout.

May 11-27: "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." This musical by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin is about adolescents in the throes of puberty; they enter a competition overseen by adults who have barely managed to escape from childhood themselves.

June 15-24: "The Odd Couple" (female version). Neil Simon re-wrote his comedy; it's now about meticulous Florence Ungar, who moves into Olive Madison's messy apartment after leaving her spouse.