Small-stage openings this fall

The fall theater season is packed to the gills this year, particularly with small-stage openings.

Yes, the new big-bucks Broadway musical "Shrek" is officially debuting to the press on Wednesday, after weeks of tinkering previews. ("Shrek" plays at 5th Avenue Theatre through Sept. 21, and goes on to Broadway in December).

And "Eurydice," a whimsy-tinted take on a compelling Greek myth by breakout American playwright Sarah Ruhl, starts previews soon at ACT Theatre.

But there are a slew of other openings around the Sound in the coming weeks, as smaller companies tackle meaty projects, ranging from solo shows to high-profile dramas new to Seattle audiences.

Here are several shows already on the boards, or just about to make their entrances:

"The Vertical Hour"

British dramatist David Hare has spent much of his storied career turning political concerns into theatrical debates.

And in this recent Broadway play, the main subject under debate (as in Hare's "Stuff Happens") is the rationale for the current Iraq War. The verbal tussle erupts between Nadia, an American college professor and ex-war correspondent who has been an adviser to President George W. Bush, and Oliver, a liberal Welsh physician who is the father of Nadia's lover.

Romantic attractions and tensions, of the sort characteristic of Hare's personal-meets-political tales, also figure into the play — which was better received in England than in its 2006-07 Broadway outing. ArtsWest now takes a turn with their version of "Vertical Hour," in a staging by Carol Roscoe.

Opens Wednesday and plays Wednesdays-Sundays through Oct. 4, ArtsWest Playhouse, 4711 California Ave. S.W., Seattle (206-938-0339 or www.artswest.org).

"Gutenberg! The Musical!"

Two hardy Seattle thespians, Troy Fischnaller and MJ Sieber, play 40-plus characters in this comedic musical-within-a-musical.

The setting is a backers' audition for an absurdly sincere tuner about that dashing leading man Johannes Gutenberg, who in the 15th Century invented the first printing press. This is the big chance for the creators of the dubious musical to woo prospective investors for a Broadway run, and they give it their all.

A dark-horse hit in New York and elsewhere, "Gutenberg!" has its Seattle premiere as part of the Strawberry Theatre Workshop's "Biograph" series. It's a rare light comedy, from a company that just probed the Holocaust, in the splendid play "Leni," about Nazi-Era German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.

Playing Thursdays-Saturdays (with some Mondays) through Sept. 27 at Erickson Theatre Off Broadway, 1524 Harvard Ave., Seattle (800-838-3006 or www.strawshop.org).

"In the Sawtooths"

We can't vouch for the fledgling troupe Burnt Studio Productions. Nor are we familiar with this play they are producing, nor its author Dano Madden, a Boise native.

But the description of the award-winning script, which was honored with a production at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, rings some Northwest chords.

"In the Sawtooths" considers three friends in their 30s who are "tested by tragedy" on the eve of their annual backpacking trip to Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains.

"It's not a play about three men that people are used to seeing," Madden has commented. "I think there's a lot more emotional depth to male relationships than most people realize. This play really delves into that dynamic."

Playing Thursdays-Saturdays through Sept. 20 at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way S.W., Seattle (800-838-3006 or www.burntstudio.org).

"Resurrection"

In this original monologue about the interconnected lives of six African-American men, Obie Award-honored solo performer Daniel Beaty returns to Seattle, for a short run sponsored by the Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas.

The men Beaty portrays here range in age from 10 to 60. And their roles in life range from college student to ex-con to megachurch bishop.

The well-traveled poet-actor-singer Beaty, an alum of TV's "Def Poetry Jam," is described by esteemed actress Ruby Dee "as one of those performers who give you a jolt."

Sept. 12 and 13 at Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway, Seattle (800-838-3006 or www.cdforum.org).

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com