Curtain Rises on the Valley

Live theater is blooming in the San Gabriel Valley.

In the last month alone, four stages have opened--one in Duarte, one in West Covina and two in Old Town Pasadena.

Here’s a glimpse of the current productions at the most active venues:

The Knightsbridge Theatre in Old Town is offering strong performances of three plays--”The Good Doctor,” “Waiting for Godot” and “As You Like It”--produced back to back in a new theater that is otherwise knocking out the kinks. Through Aug. 1.

The Pasadena Playhouse has extended the run of the comedy “Alone Together” through Sunday.

The Covina Valley Playhouse: An old movie house-turned-theater unwraps a routine production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” but wall-to-wall crowds point to a theater-starved community. Through July 10.

The Duarte Center Theatre: Formerly the Monrovia Center Theatre, this new venue recently gambled by opening with Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Mikado.” It segues today to a more accessible musical, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” Through Aug. 8.

The Basement Theater: Housed in the basement of Pasadena’s First Congregational Church, the theater is presenting “Reptile Cafe,” a late night of comedy, variety and music. Saturdays only, 11:30 p.m. Indefinitely.

The Ice House: The venerable Pasadena nightclub features “Female, Fertile and Frustrated,” a one-woman comedy. Monday nights only. Indefinitely.

Temporarily dark: The San Gabriel Civic Light Opera, which begins its 10th season in October with the Gothic romance “Phantom” (yes, that phantom, but distinct from “Phantom of the Opera,” which is ending a long Los Angeles run this summer), and The L.A. Shakespeare Company, newly ensconced at the reconverted Union Labor Temple on the edge of Pasadena’s Old Town.