Novelist Joyce Carol Oates just can't let Marilyn Monroe go. Her book on the actress and sex symbol entitled "Blonde" was a finalist for the Pulitzer, got made into a TV movie, which aired on CBS this past May and is now adapted for the stage in Miss Golden Dreams, making its world premiere Aug. 1-26 on the Bullitt stage at A Contemporary Theatre. Directed by ACT's associate artistic director Kurt Beattie, the drama opens at the Seattle venue Aug. 3.

Miss Golden Dreams explores the inner life of Norma Jean Baker, the young woman who grows into the bombshell known as Marilyn Monroe. Her romances would include Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller, Lee Strasberg and John F. Kennedy and her films "Some Like It Hot," "Bus Stop" and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" before a drug overdose took her life. Oates is also the author of "Broke Heart Blues," "Black Water" and "We Were the Mulvaneys," an Oprah Book Club selection.

Carolyn Baeumler stars as Marilyn Monroe. Baeumler's credits include Lydia in Big Love in San Francisco and at the Long Wharf and in the guise of another famous blonde, played Courtney Love in the one-woman show, Love in the Void (alt.fan.c-love). Frank Corrado and Peter Crook play the various men in her life.

The design team of Miss Golden Dreams includes Scott Weldin (sets), Carolyn Keim, Ann Ciecko (lighting) and Aaron Welch (sound). Michael B. Paul is stage manager.

Tickets are $16.50-$19.50. A Contemporary Theatre is located at Kreielsheimer Place at the corner of 7th Avenue and Union Street. For reservations, call (206) 292-7676. A Contemporary Theatre is on the web at http://www.acttheatre.org. — By Christine Ehren