Lobsters, `Brides,' Woman's Will liven up summer theater season

July 11, 9:52 AMSF Theater ExaminerChad Jones

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Sarah Mitchell, Leslie Waggoner, Sally Clawson and Patrick Russell star in Killing My Lobster's latest comedic epic, "KML Springs Forward, Falls Back." Photo by Ashley Forrette

Summer used to be a time of theatrical doldrums. There were a few outdoor festivals and free touring park shows, but that was about it.

Those days are gone. Summer is now jam packed with theater options. Here are some good bets for this weekend, most of which play through the month.

If it’s comedy you’re after – and who couldn’t use a few laughs? – check out:

• The San Francisco Improv Festival running through Aug. 23 at the Purple Onion, 140 Columbus Ave. and the SF Playhouse Stage 2, 533 Sutter St., both in San Francisco. This weekend we’ve got ComedySportz at the Purple Onion as well as the Un-Scripted Theatre Company at the SF Playhouse Stage 2. July 17-19 at the Purple Onion finds SF improve troupe Revolving Madness performing its last shows. Tickets are $20. Call 415-863-1076 or visit www.sfimprovfestival.com for information.
• Killing My Lobster, one of the Bay Area’s best sketch comedy troupes, has a new original comedy: “KML Springs Forward, Falls Back,” a series of comic vignettes for the hysterically historical. At Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St., San Francisco, through June 27. Tickets are$20. Visit www.killingmylobster.com for information.

No shortage of musicals this summer, either:

•  Woodminster Summer Musicals opens its 42nd season of musicals under the stars in Oakland’s Joaquin Miller Park with the exuberant “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” a musical adaptation of, believe it or not, “The Rape of the Sabine Women.” The score is by Johnny Mercer and Gene de Paul (with new material by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn). Continues through July 20 at 3300 Joaquin Miller Road. Tickets are $23-$38. Call 510-531-9597 or visit www.woodminster.com. Dress in layers –it can get cold or be steamy hot.  Lots of great spots for pre-show picnicking.
• Custom Made Theatre Co. in San Francisco opens “A New Brain” by William Finn (“Falsettos,” “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”), an unusual but tuneful musical about a threatening medical condition and how it can jump start your life. Continues through Aug. 9 at The Custom Stage @ Off-Market, 965 Market St., San Francisco. Tickets are $20-$30. Call 800-838-3006 or visit www.custommade.org.
• Down the Peninsula, San Mateo’s Broadway by the Bay is going retro with the ‘20s-infused “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” a light, joyful adaptation of the Julie Andrews-Mary Tyler Moore movie of the same name. Continues through July 27 at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center, 600 N. Delaware St., San Mateo. Tickets are $17-$45. Call 650-579-5565 or visit www.broadwaybythebay.org.

For the more serious minded, check out these plays:

• Woman’s Will, the wonderful all-women troupe, performs Brecht’s “The Good Person of Szechuan” for free in parks around the Bay Area. The tour beings Saturday and Sunday, July 12 and 13, at 1 p.m. in John Hinkel Park in Berkeley. After two more shows in John Hinkel Park (July 19 and 20, the show moves to Rossmoor, Oakland and San Francisco through Aug. 17. Visit www.womenswill.org for information.
• John Fisher, the artistic director of Theatre Rhinoceros, unveils his latest play, “Ishi: The Last of the Yahi,” this weekend at The Rhino, where it runs through July 20. The play is about Professor Alfred Kroeber, who finds the West’s most famous Indian starving in the woods. Tickets are $15-$35. Call 415-861-5079 or visit www.therhino.org for information.