THEATER REVIEW:

A decade ago, one of the surprise hits on the silver screen was a story about six unemployed English steelworkers who — following the lead of a traveling male strip show and its effect on their wives and girlfriends — decide to create their own version to raise some needed cash.

The traveling Chippendale types peeled down to their G-strings, but the amateur dudes figured they could hit it big and raise some needed extra cash by going “the full monty” — all the way to their birthday suits.

“The Full Monty” was nominated for an Oscar back in 1997, and playwright Terrence McNally elected to turn it into a musical comedy, with a change of venue from Sheffield, England, to Buffalo, N.Y., to be more in tune with American audiences.

It’s this version that will be unveiled, pardon the pun, this weekend at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, where pushing the envelope (“Falsettos,” “Urinetown”) has become a way of life.

“The show is about friendship, about being a parent,” McNally has been quoted as saying. “It’s also about an image-obsessed society that says you have to look like Brad Pitt. This show says quite the opposite. It celebrates everybody for exactly who they are.”

The Costa Mesa production — directed by David A. Blair with musical direction by Stephen Hulsey and choreography by Edward Bangasser — will spotlight Jason Holland, Marc Montminy, James Goodrich, Ryan Holihan, Jaycob Hunter and Austin Nation as the stripping sextet.

Rounding out the cast are Barbara Duncan Brown, Landon Zwuick, Cru Jones, Jen Aedo, Dawn Marshall, Jaimie Jean, Joshua McKinney, Emily Price, Tiffany McQuay, Stephanie French, Tony Sanchez, Damian Kerr and Kathleen Gray.

Performances will be offered Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through Nov. 11 at the playhouse, 611 Hamilton St., Costa Mesa. Call (949) 650-5269 for ticket information.

Meanwhile, a few miles away, Orange Coast College’s thespians will be back on the boards this weekend with a pair of one-act plays, both focusing on the performing arts.

Kitty Felde’s new drama “The Man With No Shadow” and Doug Rand’s comedy “The Auditioners” will be staged in tandem in OCC’s Drama Lab Theater under the direction of Alex Golson.

In Felde’s play, set in the 1950s, television is taking control of the airwaves and actors in a popular radio western face an uncertain future.

Rand’s story centers on a harried stage director auditioning actors for a new play and facing a bizarre succession of would-be actors.

Performances will be given Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 until Oct. 20. Reservations are being taken at (714) 432-5880.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Thursdays.