Los Angeles' newest Equity company, The Falcon Theatre, kicks off its first season with the world premieres of three new works: Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's adaptation of his novel; Mayo Simon's The Old Lady in Love with Charlotte Rae; and A Christmas Carole King.

Bradbury will adapt his dark tale of a world where all books are burned and reading is forbidden for this co-production with the Pandemonium Theatre Company. A cast of 18 will portray the book-incinerating fireman Guy Montag, the idealistic teenager and her grandfather, who teach him the pleasures of intellectual freedom and all the denizens of Bradbury's illiterate 24th century. Fahrenheit 451, directed by Charles Rome Smith, plays Oct. 23-Nov. 17.

Rae, famous for her role on TV's "The Facts of Life," stars as Netty, an elderly woman romanced by senior citizen Casanova Julius in The Old Lady in Love. When a sudden and progressive heart ailment threatens his life, however, Julius begins to reconsider his heart-breaking ways. With the advice of a young physician and the music of Lawrence Welk, Netty and Julius start to fall in love. The Old Lady in Love plays Feb. 5-March 2, 2003, and will be directed by Alan Mandell.

A Christmas Carole King comes from the Troubador Theatre Company, creators of Twelfth Dog Night, A Midsummer Saturday Night's Fever and All's Kool That Ends Kool. In this holiday musical comedy (Dec. 4-29), the Troubies will tell the story of Ebenezer Scrooge through the music of singer/songwriter King.

Also on slate for the Falcon are two Los Angeles premieres, Lee Blessing's baseball biography Cobb (Sept. 10-Oct. 6) and John Belluso's Gretty Good Time (April 9-May 4, 2003). Film and stage actor Kevin Spacey will co-produce Cobb. For ticket information, call (818) 955-8101. The Falcon Theatre is located at 4252 Riverside Drive in Burbank and on the web at http://www.falcontheatre.com.

—By Christine Ehren