The fall theater season has barely begun and already, runs are being extended — such as Bill Irwin's "Scapin" at ACT. Here's five of our favorites in what looks to be a very busy autumn.

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Dance, Film, Visual Art, Literary Events and Music.

And don't forget to check out our new Agenda calendar listings.

Tuesday 10/26: Beowulf (Theater)

The legend of “Beowulf” has been adapted for stage and screen countless times. Recent efforts include a film version directed by Robert Zemeckis and a theatrical adaptation premiered under the auspices of Berkeley’s Shotgun Players by the Banana Bag and Bodice theater collective. But Benjamin Bagby, the director of the famed, Paris-based, early music ensemble Sequentia, stands apart from most contemporary interpreters: During his 100-minute solo performance, Bagby weaves the timeless tale of the epic hero Beowulf’s battle against the monster Grendel by singing the verse in the original Anglo-Saxon tongue while accompanying himself on the Anglo-Saxon harp.

Zellerbach Playhouse, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley

Saturday 9/25: Iph (Theater)

The Irish dramatist Colin Teevan’s 1999 drama “IPH,” an incendiary adaptation of Euripides’ tragedy “Iphigenia at Aulis,” receives its United States premiere in a new production at the Brava Theater Center. Produced in collaboration with the African-American Shakespeare Company and directed by Dylan Russell, the play poetically tackles the themes of leadership and sacrifice. The production, which is in part inspired by the dream-like canvases of Salvador Dali, stars two of the Bay Area’s most magentic stage actors -- L. Peter Callender (the African-American Shakespeare Company’s recently-anointed artistic director) as Agamemnon, and C. Kelly Wright as Klytamnestra.

09/25-10/16 8pm Thursday to Saturday plus Mon 9/27 and 10/3  and 3pm on Sundays.

Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th St., San Francisco

Thursday 9/16: Scapin with Bill Irwin (Theater)

The multi-faceted, Tony Award-winning actor Bill Irwin helped to found the San Francisco-based Pickle Family Circus in the 1970s. This fall, the actor is bringing the clowning spirit to the hallowed Geary Stage of the American Conservatory Theater. The organization is staging Irwin’s effervescent adaptation of Molière's madcap 17^th century comedy “Scapin,” a play about an arrogant but brilliant old trickster who enjoys playing Cupid to some needy young people while thwarting the aims of their dyspeptic parents. Irwin, who also directs and plays the title character in ACT’s production, heads a cast featuring Geoff Hoyle and Randy Craig, colleagues from his San Francisco clowning days.

 

09/16 – 10/10, Tuesday – Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm and 8pm, Sunday 2pm and 7pm.

 

ACT, 415 Geary St., San Francisco

Monday 9/13: Compulsion (Theater)

Since making their mark on the theatre world in 1980s and 90s with the world premiere of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America” among other adventurous productions, the stage directors Oskar Eustis and Tony Taccone have gone on to great things as the artistic directors of, respectively, The Public Theatre in New York and The Berkeley Repertory Theatre. This fall, the two men will reunite for the world premiere production of Rinne Groff’s new play, “Compulsion.” Inspired by the story of the Jewish-American novelist Meyer Levin, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre-commissioned drama features marionettes and stars the Tony Award winning actor Mandy Patinkin.

9/13 – 10/31, Tuesday, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8pm, Wednesdays and Sundays at 7pm, Thursdays, Saturday and Sundays at 2pm.

Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley