Links to theater and stage organizations within this section: Children's Experimental Theatre & Indoor Forest Theater | Pacfic Rep Theatre | Unicorn Theatre

| theater openings |

John Steinbeck Fri-Sat 8pm; Sun 2:30pm. The Staff Players continue their American Authors Series with Taelan Thomas’s one-man show about the life and times of our local Nobel Prize-winner. $16; $12/students, seniors and the military; $6/children 12 and under. The Indoor Forest Theatre. Mountain View and Santa Rita, Carmel. 624-1531. Ends 1/23.

| theater ongoing |

Bus Stop Fri 8pm; continues Sat 8pm; Sun 2pm and 7pm. Young and headstrong rodeo cowboy Bo Decker falls for a café showgirl, Cherie, and vows to wed her. $18; $15/students and seniors, Cherry Center for the Arts, 4th at Guadalupe, Carmel. 649-0259 or www.unicorntheatreinc.org. Ends 2/7.

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune Fri-Sat 8pm; continues Sun 3pm. Johnny’s a hopeless romantic. Frankie’s no optimist about love. With the radio as their soundtrack, the short-order cook and the waitress ponder how they ended up in bed on their first date and debate whether love feeds or starves you. Contains partial nudity and adult themes. $17; $15/seniors. The Fox Theatre, 243 Main Street, Old Town Salinas. 675-0521. Ends 2/20.

Shooting of General Anesthesia Fri-Sat 8pm. The story of a local mercury mine, a sinister confederate spy, a plot twisting telegram and the murder of none other than Union Colonel Olly Northgate on a secret mission for President Lincoln. $14; $13/seniors; $8/students; $6/active military. The Barbary Coast Theatre. 320 Hoffman at Lighthouse Ave. Monterey. 655-4992. Ends 2/26.

| auditions | workshops |

Ariel Theatrical’s 2005 Spring Conservatory Ongoing auditions by appointment for three programs: Beginning, ages 5 to 8; Intermediate, ages 6 and up; Accelerated, ages 7 and up. Productions are Tikki Tikki Tembo, Wonderland and The Hobbit. Call Gail Higginbotham at 775-0976.

Forest Theater Guild Auditions. Grease: 2/5 and 5/5, 2-6pm, Carmel High School (students only); Zorba/The King and I: 2/12 and 2/13, 10am-12pm and 2-4pm, Church of the Wayfarer, Seventh and Lincoln Ave, Carmel. For more information call 626-1681.

The Western Stage Auditions. Arsenic and Old Lace, Anything Goes, John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, Bat Boy: The Musical, The Waiting Room, The Cherry Orchard, Victor Villaseñor’s Rain of Gold, and Wind in the Willows. 1/29 and 1/30; 2/4 and 2/5. All roles open. Non-traditional casting. Stipends available. Auditions will be held in the Performing Arts Building, Hartnell College. To schedule an audition or to find out more call the casting office at 759-6037 or email casting@westernstage.com.

The Western Stage SpringFest 2005 TWS’s annual festival of classes offers a wide variety of short 5-week courses in everything from musical theatre to acting. TWS is also offering the use of its studio and staff to groups who would like to develop their original projects. Classes are for ages 9 to adult. For more information about the “Open Studio” contact Melissa Chin Parker at 755-6987 or Jeff McGrath at 755-6988.