What’s on stage this month

A Couple of Blaguards, featuring Steven Abbott and Tim Kniffin.  (Photo: Eric Chazankin)

The new year is barely under way, but Sonoma County’s live theater companies are off and running with a fresh lineup of stage shows opening this month and next month.

The upcoming crop covers a wide range, from comedy to drama to mystery, and from one-act plays to full musicals.

The first show of the year, Cinnabar Theater’s “A Couple of Blaguards,” opened to a sold-out house and a standing ovation on New Year’s Eve. Written by Frank McCourt, author of “Angela’s Ashes,” and his brother, Malachy McCourt, the play follows the young brothers’ early life, from Ireland to America.

Two popular longtime North Bay actors, Steven Abbott and Tim Kniffin, star as the brothers, and play all of the supporting characters as well.

“I play Frank and Tim plays Malachy,” Abbott said. “Both of us play their family members, community members, employers and girlfriends.”

“It’s a blast,” Kniffin said. “It’s a challenge to play several roles, and put on different faces and postures, especially when the only thing you’ve got to work with is a napkin to put on your head.”

The actors also sing some Irish tunes, backed by the YouKali Celtic Band.

“This piece is a series of vignettes and episodes from the McCourt Brothers’ lives, as young men in Ireland and then as immigrants in New York,” Abbott said. “It’s comedic, and it’s got a Vaudevillian flavor in parts of it, and then it’s also got some poignant and still moments.”

“A Couple of Blaguards” runs through Jan. 19 at the Cinnabar Theater, 3333 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma. $25-$35. 763-8920, cinnabartheater.org.

Here are some other highlights from the new year in Sonoma County’s live theater scene:

Friday and Saturday (Jan. 11-12) — “The Making of a Marlowe,” The Imaginists, 461 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa. The theater collective’s Imaginists Teen Ensemble presents its re-imagined version of Raymond Chandler’s detective hero, Philip Marlowe. $6-$12. theimaginists.org, 528-7554.