Bootleg Shakespeare. A true story about a radium-poisoning scandal. A black comedy whose characters include a talking apartment and a ghostly Justin Timberlake. Those are some of the enticements that Richmond-area theaters will present in the 2009-10 season. Firehouse Theatre Project artistic director Carol Piersol might have been speaking for many company leaders when she said of her play-selection process, “I make a pile of plays that hit me in the gut - and then I try to get variety.“

It’s the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth, an opportune moment for the Carpenter Science Theatre Company to produce Douglas Jones’ new one-act play, “Endless Forms Most Wonderful.“ This two-actor docudrama rushes headlong through the famous naturalist’s biography, highlighting his contributions to scientific thinking while presenting humanizing details of his family life.