Stage Fare for November Will Vary From Old Favorites to New Works and Musicals

November marks the return of some old theatrical favorites, a spate of new works, solos, one-acts, poetry, musicals, traveling productions and pre-holiday cheer.

Today: The Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theatre presents a free concert reading of Dan Duling’s “Hard Road Home” at UCLA’s Little Theatre. John Jackson, O-Lan Jones and Ebbe Roe Smith co-star in this dark comedy about adultery in Modesto, Cal.

Today: In “A Pinch of Pinter” (at the Rose Theatre in Venice), two Pinter one-acts, “Silence” and “Night,” are performed by an all-deaf cast with simultaneous American Sign Language translation.

Today: “O Beautiful Doll,” a one-woman show written by and starring Elizabeth Iannaci--as Cherry, Roxy and Layla--opens at Hollywood’s Harman Avenue Theatre.

Monday: John Kavanaugh and David Goldsmith’s new musical, “We’re Actors, Please Don’t Leave” (at the Rose Tattoo in Beverly Hills), charts the story of five actors struggling for success.

Wednesday: Actress Salome Jens reprises her award-winning one-woman portrait of poet Anne Sexton in “. . . about Anne” at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood.

Thursday: Performance artist Sheila Gordon returns with her one-woman show, “New York: Sex, Killing and Shopping,” at the Ravello in Santa Monica.

Thursday: The birth of a first child puts new strains on a marriage in “Apocalyptic Butterflies” by Wendy MacLeod (author of “The House of Yes”) at the Zephyr Theatre in West Hollywood.

Thursday: The Burbage Theatre Ensemble holds its first Short Play Festival, titled “Shorts.” Fourteen plays--ranging in length from eight to 80 minutes--will be presented over four nights.

Friday: Gavin Atkin’s “Zip, Zap, Boom” and Scott Freeman, Terri Girvin and Jon Lawrence Rivera’s musical “Last Stop Before the Big Time” will play in repertory at the 2nd Stage in Hollywood.

Friday: “Tearsheets (Letters I Didn’t Send Home),” a solo work by Joan Hotchkis, traces the actress’s family history and her parallel awakening in the women’s movement, at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica.

Saturday: Janice Van Horne’s “Losing It in Cross Plains” pays homage to a feisty Midwestern family in a town “no one ever came from” at Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40.

Saturday: Larry Shue’s ever-popular comedies “The Foreigner” and “The Nerd” are revived at the Hollywood Actors Theatre.

Nov. 11: Nora Armani and Gerald Papasian reprise “Sojourn at Ararat,” a history of the Armenian people told through poetry, opening at the Fountain Theatre.

Nov. 11: The La Jolla Playhouse’s recently closed production of Athol Fugard’s anti-apartheid drama “My Children! My Africa!” moves intact to the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood.

Nov. 13: Spiderwoman Theatre, a group of four American Indian performers from New York, comes to Highways with “Winnetou’s Snake Oil Show From Wigwam City.”

Nov. 14: Denise is having a party--but isn’t sure that she wants to be there--in “Party Mix” by Justin Tanner (“Zombie Attack!”) at the Cast Theatre in Hollywood.

Nov. 15: Six women married to professional baseball players play hit and miss in David Rimmer’s comedy “Yankee Wives,” at the Two Roads Theatre in Studio City.

Nov. 16: Political satirist Mort Sahl returns to the Westwood Playhouse with more thoughts on Washington and Hollywood.

Nov. 24: A new comedy show by Michael Caldwell and Rachel Winfree, “Ho-Ho-Hilarions: Gladiators of Christmas in All About (Christmas) Eve,” opens at Theatre/Theater in Hollywood.

Nov. 27: Obie Award-winner Fyvush Finkel stars in “Finkel’s Follies,” billed as “an American musical vaudeville--kosher-style,” at the Westwood Playhouse.

Nov. 30: In “Downtown” (at Highways), solo performer Luis Alfaro paints a portrait of the people and streets of his native downtown Los Angeles--and the adventures of a young gay man there.