Wide array of events opening on stages

Dramas, comedies, musicals and more Halloween productions are opening this week across the state.

• THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, Wendy Kesselman's new adaptation of the enduring drama, will play Wednesday through Oct. 6 in the Babcock Theatre, located on the lower level of Pioneer Memorial Theatre on the University of Utah campus. There will also be an additional encore evening performance on Oct. 9 in Kingsbury Hall.

Theater Department chairman Bob Nelson is directing a cast that includes Katherine Kurtzweil as Anne, Stacy Sobieski as Margot, Gabrielle Gaston and Zach Scott as Mr. and Mrs. Frank, and Jake Koeppl as Peter Van Daan.

There will be a free panel discussion on Thursday at 6 p.m. sponsored by the U. International Studies Program, with Janet Kaufman of the Department of English, Ronald Smelser of the Department of History and local author Eileen Hallet Stone.

"Anne Frank" will run Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. during the first week of the run, and Thursday and Friday at 7:30 and Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. during the second week.

Tickets for all performances are $12 for adults, $9 for U. faculty and staff, and $6 for all students (581-7100, www.kingtix.com).

• TALKING WALES III, the third in Utah Contemporary Theatre's series of Mike Dorrell's original, contemporary Welsh tales, will be performed Wednesday through Oct. 6 in the Patrick Moore Gallery, 200 S. 500 West, just west of The Gateway.

Directed by Kurt Proctor, the collection of four monologues relates the personal stories of four people about their shared histories. The 2007 edition of "Talking Wales" centers on a bus driver, an ex-wrestler, a bohemian and her sister. Performers will be Katherine Atwood, Dee Macaluso, Dan Larrinaga and Geoff Hansen.

Utah resident Dorrell is a native of Wales who studied at the Universities of London and Bristol. He has taught at both the U. and Westminster College.

Performances are Wednesdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. All tickets are $20 each (674-2312).

• THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, the Tony Award-winning musical loosely based on the 1967 film, is playing Friday through Nov. 24 in Hale Center Theater Orem, 225 W. 400 North.

Directed and choreographed by David Tinney, the cast includes Brighton Quinn Hertford single-cast in the role of small-town girl Millie Dillmount, seeking big-town dreams in Manhattan during the 1920s, and Jayne Luke as Mrs. Meers, who operates a white-slave racket out of the dumpy Hotel Priscilla.