This weekend, anyone with a hankering to step onstage can try out for an entire season of plays at Napa’s award-winning Dreamweavers Theatre.

The troupe holds its general auditions Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the theater on Imola Avenue.

Each actor will audition once for all eight 2008 productions, as well as for this year’s staged reading of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” (performances Dec. 7-16).

Actors will be given a 10-minute time slot and are asked to prepare two contrasting monologues, not to exceed three minutes total time. Headshots and resumes are appreciated, but not required.

There’s plenty of variety for actors in the 2008 season, with casts as small as one man and one woman (D. L. Coburn’s “The Gin Game,” weekends Aug. 8-24; Bernard Slade’s “Same Time Next Year,” Sept. 12-28) and as large as 10 people (Agatha Christie’s “The Unexpected Guest”).

Dreamweavers is also offering an evening scene-study class to help actors hone their audition monologues, or simply improve their craft. Info. dwt@dreamweavestheatre.org.

Anyone unable to attend the general auditions who wishes to be added to Dreamweavers’ actor files and considered for roles in 2008 is asked to mail a headshot or recent photo to Dreamweavers Troupe Inc., attention Louise Anderson, 1325 Imola Ave. West, PMB 307, Napa, CA 94559.

‘Comedy,’ miracles,

thrills and romance

Dreamweavers’ 2008 main-stage season begins with “Weekend Comedy” by Jeanne & Sam Bobrick, Jan. 11 through Jan. 27. (With some exceptions, Dreamweavers shows usually run Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons. The first Saturday of every production is the troupe’s traditional “Date Night,” with two-for-one admission to main-stage events.)

The action begins when two couples are booked into the same remote one-bedroom cottage for a holiday weekend.

One couple is staid and middle-aged, the other freewheeling and young. They decide to share, and before the weekend is over the youngsters have learned how to add stability to their relationship and the oldsters have learned to loosen up.

Dreamweavers takes a serious turn in John Pielmeier’s “Agnes of God,” playing Feb. 28 through March 16. This riveting drama contains a mystery, two miracles and three powerful female roles.

Christie lovers will thrill to “The Unexpected Guest,” a puzzler in the writer’s best form, set on a foggy estate in Wales and playing May 30 through June 15.

A stranger walks into a house to find a man murdered and his dazed wife standing over him with a gun. Of course, that’s just the beginning of the mystery.

Bernard Slade’s “Same Time Next Year,” (Sept. 12 to Sept. 28) calls for two actors who can age in their parts. The play follows a love affair between two people who rendezvous once a year, as 25 years of manners, morals and attitudes are hilariously mirrored by the lovers.

A.R. Gurney’s “The Dining Room” runs Nov. 7 through Nov. 23. The action is comprised of a mosaic of interrelated scenes which, taken together, create an in-depth portrait of a vanishing species: the upper-middle-class WASP.

A half-dozen actors will change roles, personalities and ages as they portray a wide variety of characters, from little boys to stern grandfathers, and from giggling teenage girls to Irish housemaids.

Black Box, New Tech performances

Dreamweavers also plans several 2008 productions in its intimate “Black Box” performance space, including “The Gin Game,” “Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge,” by Christopher Durang, Dec. 5 through Dec. 14; and the annual staged reading of “A Christmas Carol,” Dec. 19 through Dec. 21.

The troupe has invited New Technology High School instructor Margaret Dennett to present a student production of Eugène Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros” in April.

One of the most famous examples of “theater of the absurd,” the 1959 play by a Romanian-French pushes conformism and complacency to ridiculous lengths in a hilarious, yet biting satire of totalitarianism.

Dennett’s students have already begun volunteering on Dreamweavers productions, giving the troupe — founded before they were born — a much-appreciated injection of youthful energy.

Dreamweavers has postponed its plans to join forces with the Napa Valley Opera House in presenting “The Fantastiks,” at the Opera House Cafe Theatre next spring. Troupe officials are now hoping to present the beloved musical on the Opera House main stage in 2009.

Named “Best Theater Group” for seven years running in the North Bay Bohemian readers’ poll, Dreamweavers is sponsored by Shelter Bay Retail Group and Dey Laboratories Inc.

The theater is at 1637 Imola Ave., to the rear of the Riverpark Shopping Center. For tickets and information, call 255-LIVE (255-5483) or visit www.dreamweaverstheatre.org.