PULITZER-WINNING 'DOUBT' OPENS NEW AHMANSON SEASON.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

A pair of Tony Award-winning performances, national tours of three Broadway productions, a new performance piece by Matthew Bourne and an original musical by Motown founder Berry Gordy are on the docket for the Ahmanson Theatre's 40th anniversary season, beginning in September and running through the summer of 2007.

Kicking off the season (Sept. 22 through Oct. 29) is "Doubt," the Pulitzer Prize winner by John Patrick Shanley about a nun accusing a priest of improper behavior at a Bronx Roman Catholic school. Cherry Jones reprises her Tony Award-winning performance as Sister Aloysius. Doug Hughes directs.

Coming in on Nov. 1 (through Dec. 10) is the national tour of Adam Guettel's "The Light in the Piazza." Directed by Bartlett Sher and based on Elizabeth Spencer's novella, "Light" finds a mother watching over her daughter who falls in love with a young Italian on a trip to Florence. "Piazza," co-presented by Lincoln Center Theater, won six Tony awards including best original score.

Offered as a subscriber bonus option, British choreographer Matthew Bourne ("Swan Lake," "Play Without Words") brings his latest musical/dance hybrid, "Edward Scissorhands," to the Ahmanson for the holidays (Dec. 12-31). Based on the Tim Burton-directed film, "Scissorhands" is the tale of a boy with sheers where his digits ought to be who ends up in middle America.

In 2007, Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin reprise their roles as Martha and George, the cutthroat husband-and-wife academics of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Directed by Anthony Page, "Virginia Woolf" plays Feb. 6 through March 18.

A different kind of war is waged in "Twelve Angry Men," Reginald Rose's behind-the-scenes drama about a group of jurors deciding the fate of a boy accused of killing his father. George Wendt ("Cheers") is the foreman and Richard Thomas ("The Waltons") is the doubting Juror No. 8 in the national tour directed by Scott Ellis (March 29 through May 6).

The season closes with the world premiere of Berry Gordy's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," an original musical featuring the music of Motown (July 15 through Aug. 12).

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Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com