• I HATE HAMLET, Paul Rudnick's farce about a young television performer reluctantly faced with playing "Hamlet" in Central Park, will run Thursday through Oct. 6 in the Cox Auditorium at Dixie State College, St. George.

The comedy has a Rock Hudson-Doris Day feel as Hollywood actor Andrew Rally rents a brownstone apartment in New York — a flat which at one time had been occupied by legendary actor John Barrymore, whose somewhat intoxicated ghost appears to give Rally pointers on how to be a debonair swashbuckler.

First-time DSC director Michael Harding's cast includes Jarom Brown as Barrymore and Travis Cox as Andrew Rally.

Performances are 7:30 p.m. nightly except Sunday and Monday. All seats are $12 (435-652-7800).

• HENRY V, which director Peter Sham promises is "not going to be your grandmother's Shakespeare," is being performed by a Southern Utah University cast in Cedar City's outdoor Adams Memorial Shakespearean Theatre, normally used only during the summer months for the Utah Shakespearean Festival.

Sham, who has also directed many USF productions, will have performers playing seven different Henrys — both male and female — while also doubling as common Englishmen, to illustrate why Henry V was known as "the people's king."

Performances will be Friday-Saturday this week and Oct. 4-6, all at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for SUU faculty and staff and $5 for non-SUU students and children. SUU students will be admitted free with a valid activity card (435-586-7878).

• VALLEY CENTER PLAYHOUSE, 780 N. 200 East, Lindon, is bringing back its popular Halloween double-feature, "Shadowbrook Mansion" and "Hotel Frankenstein," which will alternate Fridays through Oct. 30.

"Hotel Frankenstein," now in its 25th year, is a comedy about an eccentric family hoping for a relaxing vacation at a resort, but it turns out to be something completely different. It will play on Saturdays and Mondays at 7:30 p.m.

"Shadowbrook Mansion" is a musical comedy, back for the 14th year, which will play on Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for all productions are $6 for adults; $5 for students, children and senior citizens; or $25 per family. Group rates are also available (785-1186, www.vcpnews.com).

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E-mail: ivan@desnews.com