Monterey County’s theater companies hit the boards in 2006 with a varied slate of fresh new productions and old favorites. From Annie and Buddy! to Urinetown and A Clockwork Orange, this year’s fare has something for everyone.

Pacific Repertory Theater opens with The Full Monty (March 9-April 15), the hit Broadway musical about six men who striptease in a desperate last-ditch effort to get their lives back. Running in conjunction is Fully Committed (March 21-April 23), a riotous one-man show about an out-of-work actor working the red-hot reservation line at Manhattan’s most prestigious restaurant.

In late April, Walt deFaria and Stephen Tosh present their original children’s musical Ghosties! (April 27-May 7). Then Tennessee Williams’ hot-blooded classic A Streetcar Named Desire (June 9-July 2) heats up the summer months followed by Robin Soan’s gripping examination of the terrorist mind in Talking to Terrorists (June 21-July 16).  

No PacRep season would be complete with out Shakespeare and big musicals and 2006 is no different. Kenneth Kelleher directs Timon of Athens (Aug. 11-Oct. 8), Shakespeare’s rarely performed examination of the pitfalls of wealth. Then, inspired by last year’s success, PacRep will restage their blockbuster hit Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Aug. 17-Sept. 24) followed by a creepy little piece called Woman in Black (Sept. 7-Oct. 1) about a lawyer who’s obsessed with the belief that he and his family have been cursed by the specter of a woman in black. Then it’s back to Shakespeare with Measure for Measure (Sept. 29-Oct. 15), the funny and thought-provoking tale of a Duke, a Regent, a pimp and a nun as they wander the twisty walks of a morally decaying Vienna. Finally, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story makes a revival for the holiday season (Nov. 22-Dec. 31).