It'll be a big week for small theater companies

The bigger theaters in town have grabbed a lot of attention lately, with splashy musicals and new mountings of classics. But smaller Seattle companies and shows are also well in evidence this fall — and the coming week is no exception.

Here are some upcoming openings and current productions on our radar:

"I Feel Fine"

Against great odds, Annex Theatre has hung in there, through long periods of homelessness and regrouping. And now the company is ushering in its 21st season in a new home: a cozy walk-up theater in the heart of Capitol Hill, formerly occupied by the now-defunct Northwest Actors Studio.

With plenty of volunteer elbow grease, the Annex-ites have made some renovations and are baptizing their new headquarters with "I Feel Fine," a work that sounds like a festive, offbeat, apocalyptic "performance collage" by Mike Pham and Rachel Hynes.

It incorporates "found objects, dance, music, and food — lots and lots of delicious party food."

It's a good sign that Annex intends to forge (and forage) on, creating edgy new works into the future.

Opens tonight and plays Fridays and Saturdays through Nov. 10 (but closed Oct. 26 and 27, and with a bonus Thursday show Oct. 25), at Annex Theatre's Gail Stellner Theatre, 1100 Pike St., Seattle; $7-$12 (800-838-3006 or www.annextheatre.org).

"Final Broadcast"

Another hardy arts survivor is the Vashon Island troupe UMO Ensemble, creator of dancelike and mythic-flavored original theatrics.

UMO's first major new piece in a while (they took a collective sabbatical for last year) is a surreal rumination on the power of late-night radio, as listeners are propelled into "the labyrinth of time." The theme is embellished with references to texts by Einstein, Kant and other deep thinkers, and with the kind of colorfully absurdist clowning UMO is known for.

Opens tonight and plays Thursday-Sundays through Oct. 21 at Capitol Hill Arts Center, 1621 12th Ave., Seattle; $15-$20 (800-838-3006 or www.brownpapertickets.com; information, 206-388-0569 or www.umo.org).

"Dinah Was"

In a more conventional vein, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center is mounting this bio-musical about Dinah Washington.

Washington was a riveting singing star who could belt out the blues and swing jazzily, but her rise to the top of the pop charts and stay there were rocky. Through song and story, this off-Broadway show, written by Oliver Goldstick, chronicles her career triumphs and personal turmoil, and the blatant racism she encountered as a black diva during the 1950s.

Singer-actor Stephanie Hatley heads up the cast and Langston Hughes artistic director Jacqueline Moscou handles the staging.

Plays Thursdays-Sundays through Nov. 18 at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, 104 17th Ave. S., Seattle; $15-$22 (800-838-3006 or www.brownpapertickets.com; information, 206-684-4757 or www.seattle.gov/parks/centers/Langston/activity.htm)

"My One Night Stand with Cancer"

Into the cozy confines of the Bullitt Cabaret (a rental space within ACT Theatre), Tania Katan brings a solo show based on her well-received book about coping with breast cancer in her 20s and 30s.

Katan is a two-time survivor of the disease, and she brings her talents as a comedian and runner, as well as a writer-actor, to bear in this humor-laced monologue about dealing with illness, finding love with the woman of her dreams, and running a 10K.

Plays Wednesdays-Sundays through Nov. 11 at ACT Theatre, 700 Union St., Seattle; $25-$27.50 (206-292-7676 or www.acttheatre.org; information, www.myonenightstandwithcancer.com).

"What've We Done to Baby Jane?"

The title is a big tipoff: Expect campy zaniness from this Re-bar show delving into the murky recesses of the shlock-horror movie classic "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Veteran Annex Theatre director Ed Hawkins goes for the gusto in this extra-kinked-up tale of two elderly sisters and showbiz has-beens, immortalized on celluloid by Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. "I've written a letter to Daddy / His address is Heaven above ... "

Opens tonight and plays Thursdays-Saturdays through Nov. 10 at Re-bar, 1114 Howell St, Seattle; $15-$18 (206-388-0569 or www.brownpapertickets.com).

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com