Though the longest-running Broadway musical will have another touring version in town this month (opening April 12 at Blaisdell Concert Hall), the Army production will be the first opportunity for local actors, singers and dancers to inhabit the feline costumes.

"I'm going to put the cats in an Army junkyard," said Vanita Rae Smith, Army entertainment director who will produce and direct. "It will have different look — with costumes from the same place (Costume World) out of Florida, which did a national tour. I was concerned about the (April) production, but about 40 percent of our audience is retired military so we know we'll get support."

Smith is a former CAT, an acronym for Civilian Actors and Technicians, the military group hired to entertain soldiers that was dissolved in the 1950s.

All performances will be at Richardson Theatre at Fort Shafter.

The season at a glance:

• "Guys and Dolls," the Frank Loesser musical, will be Sept. 8-24, co-starring Shari Lynn and Tina Shelton. The play, by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling, is set in Damon Runyon's mythical New York City, and is known for such memorable tunes as "Luck Be a Lady," "The Oldest Established," "If I Were a Bell" and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat." Auditions: July 5-7.

• "Kismet," a stylish show featuring such immortal songs as "Stranger in Paradise," will star Buz Tennent and will be performed Nov. 17 through Dec. 3. The Arabian fantasy features lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, music by Alexander Borodin, George Forrest and Robert Wright, with book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, based on the play by Edward Knobleck. Auditions: Sept. 12-14.

• "Cats," with its signature "Memory" song and a population of alley, stage, magical and rock 'n' roll felines, will be performed Feb. 23 through March 11. The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is based on T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats," and for this version, will be set in an Army junkyard. Auditions: Nov. 28-30.

• "Damn Yankees," the theatrical classic about a middle-aged baseball fanatic, Joe Boyd, who sells his soul to the devil, will star Keoki Kerr and be staged May 11-27. The show features songs and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, book by Douglass Wallop and George Abbott, and is based on Wallop's book, "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant." The show produced hits such as "Heart," "Two Lost Souls" and "Whatever Lola Wants." Auditions: March 6-8.

In addition to the mainstage shows, ACT also presents its informal readers theater series, "Sunday@ 2 Matinee Readers Theatre," offered free to season subscribers and staged on the main stage, where actors read from scripts without benefit of costumes, sets or lights. Audition members also sit on stage.

The 2005-06 Readers Theatre offerings, at 2 p.m. Sundays:

• "An Almost Holy Picture," a drama by Heather McDonald freely drawn from Pamela Ward's story, "The Hairy Little Girl," Sept. 11, 18 and 25. With Richard Pellett.

• "The Long Christmas Ride Home," a drama by Paula Vogel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "How I Learned to Drive," Nov. 20, 27 and Dec. 4.

• "Frozen," a thriller-drama by Bryony Lavery, Feb. 26, March 5 and 12. With Jo Pruden and Richard McPherson.

• "Sight Unseen," a comedy-drama by Donald Margulies," May 14, 21 and 28.