Theater

John Leguizamo will workshop his new solo show at the La Jolla Playhouse and he's coming on "These Days" to talk about it. To get you excited, see this excerpt from his previous show "Sexaholix...A Love Story."

La Jolla Playhouse hosts French circus artist Aurélia Thierrée's engaging and surreal show "Aurélia's Oratorio." Thierrée is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin and her parents are creators of the famous Cirque Imaginaire, a small circus troupe credited with inspiring Cirque du Soleil. Thierrée's show is part circus, part magic, part vaudeville and chock full of surrealism. We'll talk with Thierrée about "Aurélia's Oratorio."

San Diego Repertory Theatre brings an Irish comic-drama to the stage this holiday season. After making its Broadway debut in 2007, "The Seafarer" was nominated for numerous awards and garnered much acclaim for the young Irish playwright, Conor McPherson. We'll talk to the creative team behind the new production at the Rep, including artistic director Sam Woodhouse, who plays The Devil in "The Seafarer," and director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg.

Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts' play "Man From Nebraska," tells the story of insurance salesman Ken Carpenter, who wakes up from his routine-oriented life to discover he no longer believes in God. This crisis of meaning takes him from Nebraska to London and the world of the British counter-culture. Cygnet Theatre's "Man from Nebraska" is directed by Francis Gercke and stars Monique Gaffney as a British waitress.

USD graduate Heather Raffo has written a critically acclaimed play about the lives of Iraqi women. It's called "9 Parts of Desire" and Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company is staging the production through the end of October. We'll talk to members of the creative team behind this production.

Playwright Doug Wright has written award-winning works about the Marquis de Sade and a fascinating German transvestite named Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. The latter play, I Am My Own Wife, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004. Wright has now adapted the August Strindberg play "Creditors" for the La Jolla Playhouse stage, where he'll also direct the production. We'll talk with Wright about his work.

La Jolla Playhouse announces the winners of their social media contest "Your Life, Our Stage." The winning play idea, a meet-cute scenario gone bad, will be turned into a dramatic scene by playwright Doug Wright and performed this Saturday night.

The 2005 Tony Award winner for Best Musical comes to San Diego! "Spamalot" is a musical parody of the Monty Python classic film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." KPBS film critic Beth Accomando is a Monty Python fan and we sent her to see "Spamalot" and report back. She also shares her interview with one of the actors in the San Diego production.

As summer winds down and the recession lingers, San Diego's stages are full of comic diversions. The Old Globe, the La Jolla Playhouse, Cygnet Theater and New Village Arts are all running comic plays.

A local playwright has taken on one of the most enigmatic figures in American literature, poet Emily Dickinson. Lynx Performance Theatre will stage the drama Dickinson: The Secret Story of Emily Dickinson, portraying the reclusive poet as a brilliant, bold and sexual woman frustrated with Victorian society and suffering from bouts of mental illness.