May Openings: Hilarity and Heartbreak : The darkness of ‘The Pawnbroker’ is complemented by the wit of ‘More Yourgrau’

It’s laughs with Alan Ayckbourn and the Hilarions, heartbreak in “The Pawnbroker” and “Amadeus”--and a lot in between--in this month’s theater openings. The roster includes:

Today: Writer-performer Barry Yourgrau brings his collection of oddball tales to Cafe Largo in West Hollywood in “More Yourgrau! at Largo,” tonight and May 12.

Monday: The Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theatre’s Playreading series continues with Bruce Graham’s “Moon Over the Brewery,” followed by Deborah Pryor’s “Love Talker” (May 13) and Eliza Anderson’s “The Lower Rooms” (May 20) at the Matrix Theatre in Hollywood. Admission is free.

Wednesday: Kaye Ballard comes to Hollywood’s Henry Fonda Theatre in her one-woman show, “Hey, Ma--Working Hollywood Blvd. at Last,” featuring songs, comedy and a 13-piece orchestra.

Thursday: “Amadeus,” Peter Shaffer’s rumination on the relationship between composers Mozart and Salieri, opens at the West Coast Ensemble in Hollywood.

Friday: “The Task,” Heiner Muller’s story of an abortive slave rebellion in Jamaica in the 1800s, opens at Taper, Too at the John Anson Ford Theatre in Hollywood.

Friday: Jerry Sterner’s hit comedy “Other People’s Money” transfers to the Westwood Playhouse from the Pasadena Playhouse, with Kevin Conroy reprising his role as Wall Street takeover artist Larry (The Liquidator) Garfinkle.

Friday: “Chez Ha Ha,” a comedy revue featuring such soon-to-be classics as “Wheel of Organs” and “Little Bitchy Women,” opens at the Gardner Stage in Hollywood.

Saturday: Three Christmas Eves among three British couples reflect six singularly absurd lives in Alan Ayckbourn’s “Absurd Person Singular,” at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles. Ron Sossi directs.

Saturday: “The Pawnbroker,” Edward Lewis’ dark story of a concentration camp survivor living in 1958 Harlem, opens at the West End Playhouse in Van Nuys. Czech actor Milos Kirek has the title role.

May 14: Evelyn Rudie and Chris DeCarlo’s futuristic “1991: A Telling of Tomorrow” features members of the Santa Monica Playhouse’s Actors Repertory Theatre and Young Professionals Company.

May 15: John Ashton, James Gammon, Paul Gleason, Dan Shor and Vance Valencia star in the premiere of Tom Grimes’ “SPEC,” the maiden production of the new MET Theatre in Hollywood.

May 15: Composer-performer Kirby Tepper brings his cabaret act, updated from “kirbysomething” to “kirbysomething else,” to Cafe Largo in West Hollywood.

May 15: Moliere’s classic farce “The Doctor in Spite of Himself” opens at the Performing Arts Conservatory Theatre in Burbank.

May 16: Peggy Shannon directs Ed Asner, Amy Irving, Shirley Knight and Carl Lumbly in L. A. Theatre Works’ radio series reading of Michael E. Wolfson’s courtroom drama “Undue Influence,” one night only at the Santa Monica Guest Quarters Suite Hotel.

May 16: Steven Leigh Morris’ “Aliens,” the story of a poor Russian immigrant family attempting to fit into Los Angeles, opens at Venice’s Pacific Theatre Ensemble.

May 18: Two Cuban-American women struggle to define their sexuality and aspirations in Caridad Svich’s “Gleaning/Rebusca” at Beyond Baroque in Venice.

May 20: A young boxer confronts his homophobia in the premiere of Richard Crowe and Richard Zajdlic’s “Cock and Bull Story” at the Zephyr Theatre in Hollywood.

May 26: The Hilarions: Gladiators of Comedy visit the fictional PLATE (Pico Lake Award for Theatrical Exuberance) Awards in “The Hilarions Awards Show” at Theatre/Theater in Hollywood.

May 30: The L. A. Theatre Works series continues at the Guest Quarters with a reading of Jack LoGiudice’s father-and-son story, “In the Moonlight Eddie.” Dorothy Lyman directs Shelley Berman, Marsha Mason and William O’Leary.

May 31: “Beirut,” Allan Bowne’s story of a near-future, sex-quarantined society during an AIDS-like plague, opens at igLoo in Hollywood. Allen Garfield directs.