Here’s a look at what professional theater companies across the Lower Hudson Valley are planning in the coming months.

After the run of “Phantom,� from Oct. 4 through Feb. 9 — with “A Christmas Carol� Nov. 28 through Dec. 23 — Westchester Broadway Theatre presents “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story,� running Feb. 14 through April 19. Next up are two recently closed Broadway smashes: From April 24 to Aug. 2, it’s Alan Menken’s “Beauty and the Beast,� followed by what the dinner theater is only contractually allowed to call “Mel Brooks’ Tony-Award-winning musical hit.� Since Mel Brooks has only had one Tony Award-winner, the 12-Tony juggernaut “The Producers,� it’s safe to say that Bialystock and Bloom are making an appearance at the dinner theater next summer. Next fall, it’ll be the musical retelling of “A Wonderful Life.� Call 914-592-2222 or go to their Web site here.

The Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls started its new season Thursday, with the world premiere of “Locked and Loaded� by Todd Susman. The show, about two men who share a wild, unpredictable and surreal night, runs through Oct. 14. The Schoolhouse season continues with “The Crucible,� Nov. 15 through Dec. 9, “Appointment with a High Wire Lady,� Feb. 14 to March 9, and “Lost in Yonkers,� May 8 to June 1. Besides the mainstage season, the Schoolhouse has some special events brewing. The Houston Person Quartet will return for its annual winter concert Jan. 13, and Frank Ferrante, acclaimed as “the greatest living interpreter of Groucho Marx’s material,� will have a benefit performance April 18. The Schoolhouse Theater is at 3 Owens Road, Croton Falls. Call 914-277-8477 or visit the Schoolhouse on the Web at www.schoolhousetheater.org.

Hudson Stage in Briarcliff started out in Croton — and that’s where it’s returning for a staged reading at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Croton Free Library, 171 Cleveland Drive, Croton-on-Hudson. The play, “Fair Game� by Karl Gajdusek, is described as “a highly charged political thriller about a female presidential candidate whose son’s potential scandal lures her campaign into a spiral of compromises and white lies.� The fall mainstage production is Jeffrey Hatcher’s “Murderers,� directed by Hudson Stage co-founder Dan Foster. With one preview performance Oct. 26, the show opens Oct. 27 and runs through Nov. 10. On Dec. 7, Hudston Stage will offer a staged reading of “The Cradle of Man� by Melanie Marnich. “Murderers� and “The Cradle of Man� will be presented at Woodward Hall Theatre of Pace University, 235 Elm Road, Briarcliff Manor. Call 914-271-2811 or go to www.hudsonstage.com.

Blueberry Pond Theatre Ensemble has a new artistic director and an ambitious slate of theater set for the coming season, with four mainstage plays, a series of one-act readings, four readings of plays by young writers and the company’s fourth annual Young Playwrights Competition. At the helm, since June, is artistic director Forest Hamilton, replacing Cynthia Granville. BPTE audiences saw Hamilton on stage in last spring’s Spring Sampler — in Blueberry Pond founder Jean-Paul DeVellard’s “The Conversation at Choctaw Junction,� a play that will get a full staging this season. He vows that whatever people think of what Blueberry Pond does, “it will never be boring.� Things get under way Nov. 2 with Lloyd Pace’s “Hong Kong,� which runs through Dec. 2. On Dec. 9, things turn musical at Blueberry Pond, with a special reading of Gayle Hudson’s new tuner, “Heartbeat,� which is already on the schedule for a full production next September. On Feb. 23 and 24, the theater will hold its “Teen Playwrights Competition Winners Festival� at a location to be announced. Other dates to watch for in the competition are May 25, when the first round will take place, and June 15, when the finals are held. The spring mainstage production will be DeVellard’s “The Conversation at Choctaw Junction,� May 2 through June 1. For tickets, call 877-FOR-4TIX or visit www.SmartTix.com. Call 914-923-3530 or go to www.blueberrypond.org.

Just as other theaters are opening their seasons, Penguin Rep in Stony Point is wrapping up its 30th anniversary season with a change of plans. Artistic director Joe Brancato had planned to present “Clouds Hill,� a new play that deals with academia and the war on terror, but the play was not quite ready — one of the pitfalls of producing new works. Instead, subscribers will get “Two Pianos, Four Hands,� by Richard Greenblatt and Ted Dykstra. Billed as “a play with music, about two boys’ dreams as they grow to manhood,� “Two Pianos, Four Hands� features two musicians on two grand pianos, playing works from Beethoven to Billy Joel. It will run Oct. 19 to Nov. 11. Brancato says it’s the first time the rights have been given to a small, intimate venue like Penguin. In a related development far from the Penguin stage, last year’s last-minute October replacement — Staci Swedeen’s Holocaust-memory play “The Goldman Project� — opens a one-month run at Off-Broadway’s Abingdon Theatre on Friday.

The Performing Arts Center Purchase College has an ambitious theater series and the Purchase Repertory Theatre to consider. The PAC theater series begins with George Orwell’s “1984,� directed by Oscar-winner Tim Robbins, a production of the Actors’ Gang. Given Robbins’ political stands and the loaded story — of a dystopian world where Big Brother is always watching — you can expect some fireworks Oct. 6, when this production hits the campus on Anderson Hill Road. (The schedule originally had two performances, but now it is just Oct. 6.) On Nov. 10, SITI Company presents “Radio Macbeth.� On Feb. 22 and 23, Classical Theatre of Harlem presents the bard’s “Romeo and Juliet,� set to Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The Purchase Rep season starts Oct. 12-20 with a homegrown piece called “Celebrity� that looks at our society’s search for its 15 minutes of fame. From Nov. 2-10, the Rep takes its crack at Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,� a play that seemed to be all over Westchester this summer. In December, there’s a yet-to-be-named play; Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard� runs Feb. 8-16; Derek Walcott’s spin on “The Odyssey� runs Feb. 29 through March 8; and the Rep season ends with an April 25-May 3 run of Tennessee Williams one acts, “American Blues.� Call 914-251-6200 or go to www.artscenter.org.

Mamaroneck’s Emelin Theatre has a new aristic director — Michael Bush, from Manhattan Theatre Club. Bush comes to the Library Lane space just as the theater sets out on an ambitious $10 million capital program that will expand the theater’s stage, boost seating capacity from 250 to 399, add a film-only theater and add a 60-seat black-box experimental thater. All in all, the complex will go from 9,000 square feet to 36,000 square feet. As for programming, Bush plans a November festival he’s calling “Theatre in Concert,� which will include plays, music and cabaret performances that the new artistic director says will reflect his influences and vision. The slate is still being set, but Bush said it will involve 15 different performances of eight different shows over 21 days. But the first big production on Bush’s watch is the launching of the “Next Stage� capital project, which will take place Oct. 11 at New Rochelle’s Glen Island Harbour Club with a gala honoring Leslie Uggams and Tovah Feldshuh. Call 914-698-0098 or go to www.emelin.org.