You’ll have to forgive us if, at the zenith of such a viciously polarized election year, everywhere we look, everything we see is colored by politics.

It’s even in the Valley’s theater scene, waking from its summer siesta to campaign on a platform of comedies, dramas and musicals for local constituents — er, audiences.

There’s the liberal dose of political stage work happening at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, such as performance artist Reno’s one-woman show about 9/11, “Rebel Without a Pause,” on Thursday, and lesbian comedienne Kate Clinton’s own political humor show after the elections. But the mother of all scathing contemporary political plays, Tim Robbins’ “Embedded” comes to the SCA in the weekend before the November elections.

“I think Tim Robbins is so out there, no one should come unless they want to hear Bush-bash,” says SCA director Kathy Hotchner, referring to President George W. Bush.

Then there are the social message plays of Phoenix’s Actors Theatre, from October’s “Bordertown,” a 1998 culture clash satire piece about Mexican/American relations, to a staging in early 2005 of “Nickel and Dimed,” based on Barbara Ehrenreich’s book about going undercover to work minimum wage jobs as an ethnography of the lower class.

“This is stuff we should be talking about,” says Matthew Wiener, Actors Theatre artistic director. “Even though we’re a theater audience, we’re not just interested in the theater. I read the front page of the paper before I read the arts section.”

And, heck, is it just us, or does the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre’s upcoming production of “Miss Saigon” make you think of swift boats?

(Even Phoenix Theatre’s Michael Barnard wants to get in on the political angle, saying his “Cabaret” is relevant today because the Nazi-era musical illustrates “a desire to point a finger at one faction in order to gain support.” Whatever. We just want to hear “Don't Tell Mama.”)

But, though we’ve got politics on the brain, we can forget about elephants and donkeys. In the world of local theater politics, the party in power is Arizona State University’s Gammage Auditorium, with its behemoth Broadway in Arizona season. The hottest ticket in town is represented by skyscraping giraffes, swooping birds, a wacky meerkat and warthog, and one plucky lion cub — the touring Disney’s “The Lion King,” which stampedes into town in January.

Conventional wisdom says local theater companies are howling at the thought of losing their audiences to “The Lion King’s” seven-week run. But some Valley artistic directors, like Childsplay’s Steve Martin, say they anticipate the show introducing new patrons to theater, after which their own companies might see some residual boosts in ticket sales: The trickle-down economics of live theater.

But what will those new theatergoers see when they survey the Valley’s arts offerings? They’ll see many theater companies spending their 2004-2005 seasons playing the same old thing — Broadway tune reviews, obnoxious gobs of Neil Simon, a season at Phoenix Theatre that panders to the popularity contest even more severe than last year. Enough “Sound of Music” to send Maria running for the hills. A whole lot of Shakespeare, that grand Bard of Public Domain. A metro Phoenix that’s bookended by productions of “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the Hale Centre Theatre in Gilbert and Theater Works in Sun City. A string of non-Equity bus and truck shows (of wildly varying quality) lining up behind the Orpheum Theatre, and Trekkies waiting for Kate Mulgrew to grace their presence outside the Orph during Theater League’s “Tea at Five.”'

Oh, and they can expect more productions of “A Christmas Carol” than you can shake Tiny Tim’s crutch at.

Many shows that did well for theaters last season — the mega-hits “Cabaret” and “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” at Scottsdale Desert Stages Theatre, “The Pirates of Penzance” and “Man with the Pointed Toes” at the Hale Centre Theatre, Copperstate Dinner Theatre’s “Man of La Mancha” — are being repeated this season by other Valley theater companies.

Or, in the case of “Pointed Toes,” the Hale is bringing the original cast back together to remount the show.

“I didn’t think you could get much safer than last season,” says Damon Dering, artistic director of Nearly Naked Theatre. “Everyone says this is just what people want to see, and maybe that’s true. But you can’t put down ‘I want to see this new play’ because you don't know what it’s about. It's new!”

Surrounded by so many other theater companies with conservative programming, a few continue flexing their progressiveness — exploiting the niche of putting on newer, edgier works. Those with adventurous arts palates can find asylum in shows by companies like iTheatre Collaborative; gay-friendly troupes Alternative Theatre Company, Actors’ Theatre Project and Nearly Naked; Stray Cat Theatre; Theatrescape; and Theater in My Basement — but, then again, all those companies require a drive into central Phoenix to see their wares.

To find the bolder stuff in the East Valley, head back to school for ASU's Festival of New Works or repertory of “The Ash Girl” and “Reckless,” or saunter over to Scottsdale Center of the Arts for shows by gifted comic actor John Leguizamo and brilliant performance artist Laurie Anderson.

No matter which way you swing — conservative or progressive or, more likely, a mix of the two — the Valley's theater scene has something to offer this season.

Now get out your Visa and vote your choice.