More Fall Offerings on Bay Area Stages

Last week, our cup runneth over with fall preview possibilities, and even a generously allotted number of column inches couldn't contain all the flow. So consider this Fall Theater Preview Part II, as what was reluctantly subjected to the select-delete function left worthy offerings on the Word cutting-room floor.

Even though our radar usually doesn't pierce into the far north, we cranked up the power because it's a chance to see celebrated actor Derek Jacobi in a world premiere that is headed to the Kennedy Center. "Measure + Dido" will make its debut Sept. 24 at the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center in Yountville, with a second performance on Sept. 25 at Weill Hall on the Sonoma State campus. This co-production between NapaShakes and Folger Shakespeare Library Theatre combines excerpts from Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" and Henry Purcell's opera "Dido and Aeneas," performed by Jacobi, director Richard Clifford, and a cast of 25 actors, singers and musicians. napashakes.org

A new play by Tom Stoppard is always of interest, but "The Hard Problem" was lopped last week in favor of ACT's season opener, "King Charles III." ACT is one of Stoppard's go-to theaters in the United States, and his newest play will run Oct. 19-Nov. 13 at the Geary Theatre. First produced last year in London, the eponymous hard problem is a frequent topic of debate between a university psychology student and her tutor, who also happen to be lovers at the start of the play. An example of their pillow talk: Is altruism a manifestation of free will or the result of an individual's random gathering of neurons? act-sf.org

Similarly, because they were the second and third plays of its season, Berkeley Rep received a spotlight only on its opening show. But the second is a world premiere developed by Berkeley Rep, and the third is an American premiere from the always-welcome Kneehigh Theatre from England. The world premiere is Jess Augustin's "The Last Tiger in Haiti," running Oct. 14-Nov. 27, about a reunion after 15 years of once-indentured children whose storytelling fantasies collide in the reality of their grownup worlds. Emma Rice's Kneehigh Theatre ("The Wild Bride," "Brief Encounter") uses the upbeat jollity of a military variety show to tell the tale of "946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips" (Dec. 2-Jan. 15), set in a sleepy English seaside village where American troops have gathered to prepare for the D-Day Invasion. berkeleyrep.org

A self-imposed dictum that the recent fall preview should reach only into November, when most of December is actually part of autumn, also meant trimming "Gertrude and a Companion" from the story. But now we can acknowledge Theatre Rhino's production, running Dec. 18-Jan. 17, at the Eureka Theatre. Win Wells' play imagines a conversation that the aging Alice B. Toklas has with her late partner Gertrude Stein that has them reminiscing through their various adventures and personalities they encountered - and pointedly, the particularly strained relationship with Ernest Hemingway. therhino.org

The 19th-century novelists George Sand and Gustave Flaubert were unlikely pen pals, with eyebrow-lifting styles both in literature and life that seemed so contrary to one another. They had flamboyant love lives, though not with each other, and each dabbled in same-sex affairs. But dowdy Flaubert, author of "Madame Bovary," and fiery Sand (pen name of Amantine Aurore Dupin) maintained a 20-year correspondence that is the basis of "Dorothy Bryant's Dear Master," running through Oct. 2 at Aurora Theatre. It's the play that helped launch the company 25 years ago. auroratheatre.org

Bay Area Musicals will open its sophomore season with "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" at the Alcazar Theatre, running Nov. 5-Dec. 30. William Finn and James Lapine's unexpectedly playful follow-up to their collaboration on "Falsettos" looks into the cutthroat world of the title activity, with audience members corralled to compete amongst the singing, dancing and spelling contestants. bamsf.org

Avant Gardarama! lives up to its name by packing seven short experimental works into a single evening's entertainment. The bill of the Cutting Ball Theatre production includes a post-apocalyptic theater-movement piece, a look at the opposing sides of Virginia Woolf's personality, an election-oriented spoken and danced vignette, and a Lorca-inspired work performed in Spanish with English subtitles. Performances are Oct. 5-23 at the Exit on Taylor. cuttingball.com

In the hard-to-classify department, The Speakeasy returns with its immersive theater experience that sold out its 75 performances before lease issues forced it to close in 2014. Now, with a budget of nearly $1.5 million raised through investors large and small, The Speakeasy will reopen for business on Sept. 15 at a secret location near where North Beach and Chinatown come together. At the 9,000 square-foot venue, three times as large as its previous home, audiences can choose to begin their adventures in the cabaret, bar, or casino before moving onto the other spaces where a cast of 35 will create the ambiance of a gin joint during prohibition. But a high-end gin joint. "No jeans, T-shirts, or casual clothing," reads the dress code. "No exceptions." thespeakeasysf.com