LEWISTON – The Public Theatre’s up-coming season will serve up a hearty menu of stage productions based on a tried-and-true recipe of comedy, drama and tradition.

It opens in mid-October with “The Cocktail Hour,” in which two nationally-acclaimed actors return to The Public Theatre. Ellen Crawford and Mike Genovese (from NBC’s E.R.) last appeared at The Public Theatre in the 2012 production of “On Golden Pond.”

Janet Mitchko, TPT’s co-artistic director, said “The Cocktail Hour” combines “racy, sweet and quirky” elements in an intelligent comedy “filled with martini-dry wit and banter.” This is a comedy of manners about an overpriveleged couple and their alcohol-fueled clash with their son and his wife. The pre-dinner cocktail is a revered ritual in this well-to-do family, but it’s potent fuel for domestic battles when their middle-aged son comes home to announce he’s written a play about his parents

The play’s author, A.R. Gurney, wrote “Love Letters,” a popular two-person play that has been produced world-wide. Mitchko recalled that TPT presented “Love Letters” 18 years ago.

Susan Poulin and her alter-ego, Ida LeClair, come the TPT stage Nov. 7-9 with her new one-woman show, “I Married an Alien.” It gives some hilarious advice on love, marriage and “what to do when the double-wide’s feeling too small.”

TPT continues a local holiday season tradition with its acclaimed adaptation of “A Christmas Carol,” Dec. 12-14. Created by The Public Theatre, this delightful adaptation of the classic story has been published and performed by theaters around the world. Featuring six actors and a fiddler, this production brings Charles Dickens’ language and characters to life in an original way.

Mitchko said TPT’s January show, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” will chase winter blues away.

“This play was a huge hit on Broadway,” Mitchko said. It won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play. She said “Vanya,” the latest by author Charles Durang, will be one of the most-produced plays across the country in the coming theater season.

It introduces the audience to middle-aged siblings Vanya and Sonia (named after Chekhov characters by their hyper-educated parents), who live uneventful lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, until their self-absorbed movie-star sister, Masha, returns home for the weekend with her 20-something boy-toy, Spike. What follows is “a madcap family reunion filled with sibling rivalry and a delightfully outrageous rant about the joy of life before cell phones,” Mitchko said.

Romance blooms in the March production of “Outside Mullingar.” It’s the Maine premiere of the recent Tony Award nominee for Best Play.

“Outside Mullingar” is an endearing comedy about two eccentric singles in rural Ireland who struggle to reveal their love for each other. Next door neighbors Anthony and Rosemary have seemed destined for each other since childhood, but they’re Irish and stubborn to the core. Will these two lonely souls cross the plot of land that separates them and take a chance on love?

TPT presents a Neil Simon comic masterpiece in May. “The Sunshine Boys” is about a tremendously popular comedy team, but the two comedians haven’t spoken to each other in years. They are convinced to reunite for a TV special, and the play generates hilarity as the cranky comedians spar for a chance to get the last laugh.

The 2014-2015 season closes with TPT’s production for children called “Bodyology.” The National Bodyology Tour is an exciting hour-long performance starring PBS’s Slim Goodbody. Aimed at grades 1-6, the show explores the inner workings of the human body along with the health practices required to care for it.

Beginning with this month’s run of “The Cocktail Hour,” TPT launches its PLAY PAL program. It is for people who love to go to the theatre, but often find they have no one to go with. The Public Theatre’s PLAY PAL program will connect solo theatre-goers with other solo theatre-lovers when they attend a 3 p.m. Saturday matinee performance.

TPT continues its youth price policy of only $5 to any show in the season for anyone 18 and younger.