San José Repertory Theatre recently announced the majority of its next season. The Rep gets off to a roaring start in September with Noises Off, Michael Frayn's popular farce about—fittingly enough—theater. October marks the American premiere of Mary's Wedding by Stephen Massicotte, a love story set against the backdrop of World War I.

For the Rep's holiday show, halls are decked and doors are slamming in Charles L. Mee's Wintertime, a wild farce about some surprising family secrets. Come January, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream will warm up the midwinter with a new interpretation presented by the Saratoga International Theater Institute.

A production planned for March is still to be announced, but the Rep's season is rounded out with a May production of S.N. Behrman's thoughtful comedy about tough times, No Time for Comedy. In June, the season closes with the intriguingly titled play The Underpants, a vintage German comedy adapted by Steve Martin (which may explain that title).

Opera San José

This autumn, Opera San José celebrates its 20th season, the last in its longtime home, the Montgomery Theatre in downtown San Jose. The company expects to move to the larger, newly renovated Fox Theater, also in downtown San Jose, in the fall of 2004. Capturing both the joy of moving up and the poignancy of moving on, the company's 2003­04 season revisits some favorite comedies and classic tragedies the company has staged in years past.

The season is bookended with jubilant farces: Donizetti's Don Pasquale opens the season in September, and Strauss' Die Fledermaus bids a fond farewell to the Montgomery in April 2004. In-between these two romps are passionate tales filled with everything from tragedy to redemption.

In November, the opera offers a double bill of love, jealousy and betrayal, (and a malicious clown thrown in for good measure) with Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Bizet's story of romantic rivalry, friendship and loyalty, The Pearl Fishers, will brighten up January 2004.

TheatreWorks

In recent years, TheatreWorks hasn't waited for the leaves to turn to begin its new season. The company's new season begins in June with something appropriately hot for the summer: Proof, the drama by David Auburn that has garnered a Tony and a Pulitzer, and a lot of Broadway buzz as a result.

In 2004, TheatreWorks presents the world premieres for two musical works. Memphis, a rock & roll musical by Joe DiPietro (Over the River and Through the Woods, TheatreWorks 2001), makes its first outing in January, and April 2004 marks the debut of a musical theater adaptation of Willa Cather's novel My Àntonia by Scott Schwartz with music by Stephen Schwartz.

On the bill for October is another musical, the romantic A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim, whose shows are a TheatreWorks forte. This season will also showcase a new work by another favorite of the American theater, A.R. Gurney (Sylvia, Love Letters). Gurney's comedy, The Fourth Wall, receives its West Coast premiere in December.

Also slated for the new season is the humorous off-Broadway musical Bat Boy, which takes flight in July. Creators Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming and Laurence O'Keefe took inspiration for the show from a supermarket tabloid.

But reality gets its time in the spotlight as well. Next March TheatreWorks stages the classic wartime-themed drama by Arthur Miller, All My Sons, and in September, the company presents a new work that's equally timely, Jan Holden's Nickel and Dimed, a theatrical adaptation of journalist Barbara Ehrenreich's nonfiction best-seller about American workers getting by on minimum wage.

For season ticket information, call the San José Repertory Theatre at 408.367.7255, Opera San José at 408.437.4450, and TheatreWorks at 650.903.6000.