The Willows Theatre Company is in deep financial trouble, and without raising significant cash, the 33-year-old company may be forced to close completely by Nov. 1.

The situation is dire, but the company won't go down without a fight. The show is going on in two of the company's venues — the Campbell Theatre in Martinez, where "The Texas Chainsaw Musical" is playing through Halloween, and at the Willows Theatre main stage in Concord's Willows Shopping Center, where the Neil Simon classic, "Barefoot in the Park" opens tonight.

In addition, many performers who have trod the Willows stages over the years will be staging "Actors Give Back," a fundraiser designed to raise some much-needed cash for the troubled theater. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in the Campbell Theatre, 636 Ward St., Martinez, with a silent auction followed by entertainment at 7:30 p.m.

Some performers who will donate their talents to the $50-per-head event include Ron Pickett, Barbara Grant, Jon Marshall, Toni Panighetti, Amy Washburn, Ricardo Rust, Diana Torres Koss, Jonathan Spencer, Cindy Goldfield and Jenny Angell. In addition, current and recent graduates of the Willows Youth Conservatory "Stars of the Future," will also perform. Tickets may be reserved at the Willows Box Office, 925-798-1300 or www.willowstheatre.org.

In fairness, I must admit a bias toward the Willows. I

have performed in two of its productions, I have any number of friends who are either with or have been with the company over the years, and, quite simply, I like the theater and what it does. It is a nice blend of professional and amateur talent all working to provide fine quality entertainment. It's a theater that has a close relationship with its audience and, quite simply, is an organization that deserves to thrive and survive.

And, on another, very different, personal note, I am looking forward to "Barefoot in the Park," not only because it is a funny show, but because it is a play in which I was woefully miscast many years ago as the romantic lead (the part was played by Robert Redford in the movie version). I was cast because the company, which I belonged to at the time, needed a quick replacement and I could memorize lines quickly.

The Willows production has a much better-looking leading man (Brady M. Woolery) to help tell the story of a young couple moving into a New York walk-up apartment at least half-dozen floors above the street.

"Barefoot" plays at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 8. Tickets are $30-$40. "Texas Chainsaw" plays at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays through Halloween. Tickets are $25, $30 if you want a seat in the "splatter zone." For tickets, contact 925-798-1300 or www.willowstheatre.org.

"RAGTIME," the musical by Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, opens Oct. 23 in the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center's Bankhead Theatre, 2400 First St., Livermore.

The Tri-Valley Repertory Theatre production brings the complex musical back to the Bay Area for the first time in several years. The musical is a faithful re-creation of E.L. Doctorow's novel, telling a history of early 20th-century America by blending real and fictional characters and events. The beautifully spun, wide-ranging story involves Harry Houdini, Henry Ford, Booker T. Washington, the history of movies, a real romantic scandal and a fictional romance.

The show plays at 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sundays Oct. 23-Nov. 8. For tickets ($36.50), contact 925-373-6800 or www.livermoreperformingarts.org.

"WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION," by Agatha Christie, plays in preview starting Oct. 23 and opens on Oct. 27 in the Lesher Center for the Arts, Civic Drive at Locust Street, Walnut Creek.

The show tells Christie's tale of a trial with numerous twists as Leonard Vole, accused of murder, fights for his life. "Witness" plays at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 21, with additional 2:30 p.m. matinees Nov. 14 and 21. Tickets, at $36-$41, may be reserved at 925-943-7469 or www.lesherarecetner.org. or www.centerrep.org.

"LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN," by Oscar Wilde, opens Oct. 24 at San Leandro's Casa Peralta. The San Leandro Players production is part of the company's 10th-anniversary season.

"Lady Windermere's Fan" is the 1892 play that launched Wilde's career. It opens on Lady Windermere's 21st birthday, when she learns her husband may be having an affair with an older woman. Her husband denies it, but can't explain his strange behavior, allowing Wilde to tee off on morality and marriage.

The show plays in Casa Peralta's museum auditorium, 320 Estudillo Ave., San Leandro. Tickets, at $15, may be reserved at 510-895-2573 or www.sanleandroplayers.org.

"THE GINGERBREAD LADY," by Neil Simon, opens Oct. 23 at the Chanticleer Theatre, 3683 Quail Ave., Castro Valley.

Simon's 1970 comedy is about Evy, a singing star whose life has been destroyed by her drinking. The question at hand is whether her friends and family have helped or hindered her recovery.

The show plays at 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays through Nov. 8, with 2 p.m. matinees Nov. 1 and 8. For tickets ($16), contact 510-733-5483 or www.chanticleer.org.

"STEEL MAGNOLIAS," by Robert Harling, opens Oct. 23 in Foster City's Hillbarn Theatre, 1285 E. Hillsdale Blvd.

The comedy/drama is set in a Southern beauty parlor where women of the small town come to share secrets, town gossip and comments about everything else going on. The show plays at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 8. Tickets, at $17-$34, may be reserved at 650-349-6411 or www.hillbarntheatre.org.

Reach Pat Craig at pjcraig495@yahoo.com