The Play’s the Thing in the New Year : A variety of openings are planned in January at theaters throughout the San Fernando Valley.

Valley theater may have slowed down for the holidays--most shows are dark this weekend and next--but the 1993 season kicks off in January with a wide array of openings.

In North Hollywood, Actors Alley’s production of the Allan Knee/David Shire play with music “Shmulnik’s Waltz” is scheduled Jan. 8 to Feb. 28. The period comedy, which had a brief run at the University of Judaism’s Gindi Auditorium earlier this month, traces the romantic pursuit by the determined Shmulnik--from Russia to America--of the elusive Rachel.

Next up at the theater, from April 2 to May 15, is the James Thurber/Elliot Nugent comedy classic “The Male Animal,” about a college professor whose stable life is turned upside down by faculty, students and an ex-wife.

At A Noise Within in Glendale, a new repertory program of classics begins March 13 with a production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” followed by Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” on March 20 and George Bernard Shaw’s “Man and Superman” on April 10. The repertory will continue through May 15.

In North Hollywood, the American Renegade Theatre continues to Jan. 31 its dual runs of Paul T. Murray’s show business satire, “The Big Bad Brutal Biz,” with the one-act duo, “Evening in the Men’s Room,” through Jan. 17.

At the Burbank Little Theatre, the Actors’ Company family musical “Pecos Bill and Billie” continues through Jan. 10. The new season kicks off Jan. 22 with Michael Eugene Fairman’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus,” which transports the drama to Roma de Los Angeles circa 1992--with a female slant. It continues through March 7, followed from April 22 to May 23 with Suzanne Wesley’s “Conversations with the Living,” a play about contemporary couples coping with themselves and each other. And ongoing at the theater is “Imagination Station,” a Saturday matinee storytelling program for children.

At the Center Stage in Woodland Hills, psychotherapist/playwright Michael Solomon’s “Adam and Eva Marie”--wherein a shrink and a prostitute trade services--plays through the end of January. Meanwhile, the Milt Larsen/Gene Casey novelty-song compilation “Crazy Words, Crazy Tunes” continues at the theater indefinitely.

In North Hollywood, the Gnu Theatre plays host to Robin Swicord’s dark comedy about a trio of societal misfits, “Criminal Minds,” through Jan. 10. Next on its roster is Ron Ribman’s “Cold Storage,” a two-character drama set in a cancer ward. It plays Jan. 21 and Feb. 28.

North Hollywood’s Group Repertory Theatre continues through Jan. 16 its hit run of Sam Adamo’s story of an Italian immigrant family, “Spaghetti and Apple Pie.” On Feb. 5, it begins a six-week run of George M. Cohan’s 1913 comedy thriller “Seven Keys to Baldpate,” about a mystery novelist stuck in a deserted summer resort with all sorts of odd visitors. And in mid-March, GRT artistic director Lonny Chapman will stage his new adaptation of Stephen Crane’s classic novel “The Red Badge of Courage.”

In Studio City, Theatre West has extended its run of James Dickey’s epic poem “Sermon,” starring Bridget Hanley in a tour-de-force solo turn as the powerful preacher, through the end of January.

Opening Feb. 18 at the Victory Theatre in Burbank is Richard Polak’s “Meet the Wilsons,” a black comedy about an all-American family warped by the all-American advertising media.

The West End Playhouse in Van Nuys is the newest way station for Lisa Duke, whose one-woman show “Lost and Found,” a seriocomic reflection on life--and musical tribute to her famous cousin, composer Vernon Duke--recently closed at The Complex in Hollywood. The production opened last week and will run indefinitely. Also planning an open-ended run at the theater: a revue of the music of Rogers & Hart, “Sing for Your Supper,” opening Jan. 23, and Rody Oddos’ musical “Story of Nowhere Island,” opening March 2.