Sneaking a peek at what's in store for the 2015-'16 theatrical season

THE 2014-15 LOCAL theater season is still going strong, but that doesn't mean planning for the 2015-16 slate of shows that kicks off in the fall hasn't been a priority throughout the region.

Fact is, every theater company is at least thinking about next season, and many have already announced their schedules. So, what follows is a sneak peak at just a few of the productions about which we are especially excited and/or intrigued.

Note that specific date and ticket information is TBA:

We are hard-pressed to imagine anything more wickedly delicious than a satire of Hollywood from the hilarious mind of local playwright extraordinaire, Bruce Graham ("The Philly Fan," "The Belmont Social Club," et al). If you missed the 2007 world premiere by Philadelphia Theatre Company, your chance at redemption is coming!

Act II Playhouse, Ambler; Sept. 8 through Oct. 4; 610-654-0200, act2.org

This will be the American premiere of this adaptation of the Tennessee Williams black comedy that scandalized 1950s America. It's about sex, revenge and sex in the Mississippi Delta in the mid-20th century.

McCarter Theater, Princeton, N.J.; Sept. 11 through Oct. 11; 609-258-2787, mccarter.org

The first Woody Allen film to be adapted as a musical, "Bullets Over Broadway" is about the witty and wacky events and situations that are created when a struggling 1920s playwright makes a Faustian bargain with a mobster in order to get his new play produced.

Academy of Music; Oct. 27

through Nov. 1; 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org

Douglas Scott's bio looks at the late Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, who was appointed by FDR in 1939 and retired in 1975 as the longest-serving Supreme in American history. He was also, arguably, the most controversial thanks to his unstintingly liberal interpretations of the Constitution.

Bristol Riverside Theatre, Bristol; Nov. 3 to 22 215-785-0100, brtstage.org

The musical version of the late Jean Shepherd's iconic 1983 film about a young boy's obsession with getting a BB gun for Christmas is finally coming to town. And that's as it should be, considering Benj Pasek, who co-wrote the Tony-nominated score with Justin Paul, is a Philly native.

"You'll shoot your eye out!"

Walnut Street Theatre; Nov. 10 through Jan. 10; 2016 215-574-3550, walnutstreettheatre.org

It just wouldn't be the holidays in Philly without an edition of this satiric look at current events from the fertile (and wonderfully twisted) minds of the nation's only comedy-exclusive theater troupe.

1812 Productions Nov. 27

through Dec. 31; 215-592-9560, 1812productions.org

This tuneful look at celebrity, media and sensational crime by Broadway stalwarts John Kander and Fred Ebb was a hit when it debuted on Broadway in 1975, and the 1996 production stands as the longest-running revival in history. But it really became a part of our pop culture fabric in 2002 when it launched the new "golden age" of movie musicals with the nine-Oscar-winning film version starring Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

The Playhouse on Rodney Square, Wilmington, Del.; Jan. 2 to 17, 2016 302-888-0200, theplayhouse.org

This is the world premiere of Charles McMahon's imagining of the life of the British author while he was incarcerated for violating his country's anti-homosexuality laws.

Lantern Theater Company; Jan. 14 through Feb. 1;, 2016 215-829-0395, lanterntheater.org

Author Branden Jacobs-Jenkins took the 1859 melodrama, "The Octoroon" - about a Southern slave-owner who falls in love with a woman who is one-eighth black - set it in the present day, added music and dance and devised what the New York Times described as "This decade's most eloquent theatrical statement on race in America today."

The Wilma Theatre; March 16 through April 10; 215-546-7824

It's been a while since this Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards musical played the region in which it is set. A singing-dancing history lesson as Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams and the rest of the Founding Fathers kick around the idea of declaring independence from England.

Media Theatre, Media; April 13 through May 22, 2016; 610-891-0100, mediatheatre.org

Author Lucas Hnath revisits (and rewrites) recent history with this piece that is set during Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. The politics that are examined herein include those of a sexual nature.

Philadelphia Theatre Company; May 27 through June 26, 2016; 215-985-0420, philadelphiatheatrecompany.org

Author Zak Berkman - who is PL&T's producing director - also has been inspired by America's most polarizing political couple: He drew on the sordid Bill Clinton-Paula Jones mini-scandal of the 1990s for inspiration for this piece that is also billed as containing hints of Henrik Ibsen and "House of Cards."

People's Light and Theatre Company, Malvern; June 15 through July 10, 2016 610-647-1900, peopleslight.org

The folks at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope are kvelling over the recent successful rehab of a turntable built into its stage.

The turntable - which provides scene changes with a cinematic look (as in fadeouts) - was used from the theater's inception in 1939 through the mid-1960s, but was allowed to decay to the point that it had been unusable for a half-century.

We'll go out on a limb here and predict that a production of "Les Miserables" should be coming in the not-too-distant future.