In Dallas theater, it never rains but it pours.

After a very slow time for local stage openings, it seems as though every midsize theater company in the area is unveiling a new production this week. If that weren't a hard enough choice for theatergoers (and theater critics!), they all sound really promising.

Here's a roundup of some of the headliners:DOUBT, A PARABLE BY WATERTOWER THEATRE We have waited impatiently for John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner to arrive hereabouts. At last WaterTower's Terry Martin has seized the rights to direct this compact powerhouse of a drama. A formidable nun (Nancy Sherrard) and her younger associate (Jessica Wiggers) secretly suspect the parish priest (Regan Adair) may have an improper relationship with a young student. Their confrontation with the priest is intimidating enough, but their conversation with the boy's mother (M. Denise Lee) is even more daunting.

{TriRight} Opens tonight and runs through Oct. 26 at the Addison Conference and Theatre Centre, 15650 Addison Road, Addison. Performances Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at

8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. Additional performances

Oct. 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. $22 to $40. 972-450-6232. www.watertowertheatre.org.

ON GOLDEN POND BY CONTEMPORARY THEATRE OF DALLAS Ernest Thompson's play about a couple in their golden years was one of the country's most popular for a good while – and made a notable film starring Katharine Hepburn and Henry and Jane

Fonda. Revivals still come along frequently, but this one awakens unusual interest, largely because of its cast. Jerry Russell, who just seems to be getting better as he gets older, plays the husband opposite Sylvia Luedtke. Sue Loncar, who has been getting better and better herself, is the couple's grown daughter.

{TriRight} Opens tonight and runs through Oct. 26 at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas, 5601 Sears St. Performances Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays

and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. (No performance this Sunday.) $27 to $32. 214-828-0094. www.contemporarytheatreofdallas.com.

LEGENDS BY UPTOWN PLAYERS Decades ago Mary Martin and Carol Channing tried out this lurid comedy about rival movie divas here in Dallas, and more recently Linda Evans and Joan Collins brought it to Fort Worth. Neither tour ever made it to New York. Neither will this Uptown version, most probably – but the show should be lots more fun when the haughty stars are being played (in drag, of course) by Coy Covington and B.J. Cleveland.

{TriRight} Opens tonight and runs through Nov. 2 at KD Studio Theatre, 2600 N. Stemmons Freeway at Motor Street. Performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. (No performance this Sunday.) $22 to $25. 214-219-2718. www.uptownplayers.org.

GHOSTS BY WINGSPAN THEATRE

COMPANY Henrik Ibsen inaugurated the whole modern theater movement in 1881 with this incendiary play about family secrets. Critics attacked the piece as vile and immoral – some things never change, do they? Susan Sargeant might have made a great director for the classic, but she decided instead to star in it as Mrs. Alving. Mike Schraeder plays the son who has returned home, and Bill Jenkins is the family minister who knows where the bodies are buried. Sally Vahle might make a great Mrs. Alving too – but she takes on a novel role for her, director.

{TriRight} Previews Wednesday at 8 p.m., opens Thursday at

8 p.m. and continues through Oct. 25 at the Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Drive at White Rock Lake. Regular performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. Also Oct. 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. $15 to $20. 214-675-6573. www.wingspantheatre.com.