by AMY BARRATT

There are more and better opportunities for men in theatre than for women. A sweeping generalization? Perhaps. But at least in terms of acting and directing jobs, it's an impression that is borne out by the theatre calendar in any given month. Look at it this way: If Gordon McCall and Guy Sprung both direct openings in the same week, it's no big deal. If Kate Bligh (artistic director of Temenos) and Clare Shapiro (AD of Imago) do the same, it's news.

All this to say that the tables will be briefly turned this month with women actors, directors and designers claiming their space all over town.

Pol Pelletier, a pioneer of experimental and feminist theatre in Quebec, is back on stage at Espace GO in a new solo show she claims will be her last. Nicole, c'est moi, like Pelletier's earlier works, has a deceptively simple structure with the actor/storyteller directly addressing the audience. Pelletier makes theatre out of her own thoughts and experiences. Among other things, in Nicole, she will unearth a few historical women who deserve our attention. It's at Espace GO (4890 St-Laurent) to Nov. 20, 8 p.m., 845-4890.

Bye Bye Baby, adapted from a book of stories by Elyse Gasco and directed by Shapiro, opens tonight. Including the five performers, there are no fewer than 15 women working on this project, which had a serendipitous beginning. Elyse Gasco moved onto the street where Shapiro was living, and one day just stopped her and said, "I know you." It turned out Gasco had been one of Shapiro's pre-teen students many moons before at the late lamented Children's Theatre. This encounter took place shortly before Can You Wave Bye Bye Baby?, the Concordia graduate's first book, came out (1999). Soon after that, Shapiro took over the reins at Imago, and the stage adaptation has been in the works ever since.

The stories, which deal with adoption from various points of view (child, birth mother, adoptive mother) "spoke to me on so many levels," says Shapiro. "Adoption is the vehicle, but the bigger picture is about the right to information in our society." The play runs at the Monument-National (1192 St-Laurent), Nov. 11-20, 871-2224.

The bilingual Le Songe/Dreamplay, opening Nov. 16, is Kate Bligh's adaptation of Strindberg's A Dream Play to a contemporary Montreal setting. The director describes the original work as "a spiritual odyssey; an attempt made a century ago by a bitter, ageing European genius to seek a state of grace, via a protagonist of a different gender and race than he." Will the old dead European be recognizable in this multimedia production incorporating new text by young local writers? Find out Nov. 16-Dec. 4 at Théâtre La Chapelle (3700 St-Dominique), 843-7738.

Catherine Kidd's solo show (with DJ Jack Beets) Sea Peach has travelled abroad, grown and evolved since its original production at the Bain St-Michel in 2002. It runs at the brand-new Theatre Ste-Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine E.) from Nov. 16-20, 849-3378. Winner of a best new text MECCA, Sea Peach receives a new staging courtesy of director Jeremy Hechtman (whom no one could ever mistake for a woman, but whom, in the spirit of inclusiveness, we'll allow to be part of our week). Kidd says that at first, the idea of working with Hechtman was like "handing a newborn over to a babysitter you hardly know, who swears a lot and chain-smokes." But she is reportedly very pleased with the outcome.

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