Fall into the arts.

Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard

You can find everything from high drama to a white trash musical - not to mention two different versions of "A Christmas Carol" - on Eugene area stages this fall.

Willamette Repertory Theatre, the city's only fully professional theater company, kicks off its season two months early this year on Wednesday with Lee Blessing's fluid and unsettling drama "A Body of Water."

The play, which was done in a reading last year by the Rep, deals with issues of memory and identity. It runs through Oct. 7 at the Hult Center's Soreng Theatre. (See full story, page E3.)

The Rep brings back its moody staging of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" from Nov. 21 through Dec. 9.

Lord Leebrick Theatre Company, 540 Charnelton St., opens on Sept. 28 with Martin McDonagh's "The Pillowman." The black comedy/mystery continues through Oct. 20.

"I Am My Own Wife," Doug Wright's tale of a German transvestite, opens at Lord Leebrick on Nov. 2 and runs through Nov. 24. (The original Broadway production won the 2004 Tony Award for best play and the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for drama.)

Lord Leebrick's ode to the holidays will be a stage version of "It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play," based on the Frank Capra film. The show runs Nov. 30 through Dec. 2 at the Wildish Community Theater in Springfield and then moves to Lord Leebrick Dec. 6 through Dec. 16.

Actors Cabaret of Eugene is continuing "The Great American Trailer Park Musical," whose title pretty much describes the show, through Sept. 22.

ACE comes back with "Seussical, the Musical" - think Cat in the Hat and all those other Dr. Seuss characters - opening Sept. 28 and continuing through Nov. 17 in a split run at the cabaret and at the Hult Center.

Finally, ACE does its own more upbeat version - think Broadway musical - of Dickens' ``A Christmas Carol,'' Nov. 30 through Dec. 22.

This is the third year the cabaret has performed the show; the show sold out its performance last year and the year before.

The University of Oregon will stage Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's "The Threepenny Opera" at Lane Community College - the UO theater is undergoing renovations - from Nov. 9 through Nov. 16.

The UO's Second Season will perform Pierre Marivaux's "La Dispute" from Oct. 24 through Nov. 3.

Lane Community College has "King Lear" on tap for Oct. 5 through Oct. 20 in the main performance hall.

Smaller theaters in the area have a variety of shows on tap.

Cottage Theatre, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove, will open "Count Dracula," based on the Bram Stoker novel, on Oct. 12 and continuing through Halloween.

Cottage Theatre will do "The Wizard of Oz," in an adaption by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Company, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 16, and will wind up the fall with "The Nutcracker Suite," performed by the Eugene Youth Ballet, Dec. 28 and 29.

Zero Clearance Theatre Company of Oakridge is planning "A Wind Between the Houses" Oct. 20 through Oct. 22.