THEATER:New GWC season aimed at movie fans

When Golden West College’s new season of theater unfolds, playgoers may recognize most of the offerings on the 2007-08 menu not from previous visits to the stage, but from moments spent in movie theaters.

Of the five titles on the college’s theater calendar, four have spawned memorable motion pictures. Some patrons may be surprised that a few of these scripts even had a stage version.

Take the season opener, Aaron Sorkin’s “A Few Good Men.” Sure, it’s been produced at Orange Coast College, but it’s most noteworthy from the cinematic clash between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.

And it’s impossible to think of the next one, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” without visualizing Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston and Tim Holt slogging through the mountains in search of gold.

“Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” the musical choice for 2007-08, was made luminous back in 1954 on the screen by Howard Keel, Jane Powell and Russ Tamblyn, but hasn’t appeared on any local stage.

And “The Children’s Hour” is another oldie (1961), but when you think of it, the images that come to mind are those of Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine on the silver screen.

Only the fifth play, Ken Ludwig’s “Leading Ladies,” is without a movie connection. Ludwig has become known locally by repeated stagings of his farcical “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Moon Over Buffalo” (the latter up next at GWC).

“A Few Good Men,” which probes a Marine’s death at the hands of two fellow enlisted men at Guantanamo Bay, will open the season under the direction of Tom Amen. Can Golden West handle the truth? We’ll find out from Nov. 9 to 18.

Remember the classic line, “I don’t have to show you no stinkin’ badges”? You’ll no doubt be hearing it again when “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” plays from March 7 to 16. Amen also will be staging this searing drama about gold hunters in the Mexican wilds.

Martie Ramm, who’s been putting musicals together at GWC for several seasons now, will direct “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” which resurrects the old movie and adds new songs. The show plays from May 2 to 11.

Few playwrights mine as much comic gold from backstage situations as Ken Ludwig, whose “Leading Ladies” will take the Golden West stage from June 20 to 29 under Amen’s direction. A pair of Shakespearean actors dress in drag to claim a sizable inheritance, and fall in love in the process. Shades of “Some Like It Hot” and “Charley’s Aunt.”

Next season will feature a fifth offering, Lillian Hellman’s “The Children’s Hour,” produced at the college’s smaller Stage West theater and directed by Ramm. Performances of this drama about two girls’ school instructors victimized by unfounded rumors will be given from Oct. 26 through Nov. 4 of this year.

Golden West College currently is in rehearsal for the closing show of its 2006-07 season, “Moon Over Buffalo,” which will play from July 6 to 15. Season tickets are available for the 2007-08 slate and may be reserved by calling the theater box office at (714) 895-8150.