With the passage this month of Vista's Proposition L -- a half-cent sales tax increase to fund various city projects -- Vista's Moonlight Stage Productions moved much closer to its plan of upgrading its Moonlight Amphitheatre.

But Moonlight showgoers shouldn't expect to see any changes soon at the hillside theater in Brengle Terrace Park. The new theater project won't get under way for two years and won't open until the summer of 2009.

Cathy Brendel, spokeswoman for the Moonlight Cultural Foundation, said in a letter to foundation members that even though the funding for the Moonlight project is now secure, the planning process will take time.

The goal is to have the plans and construction documents submitted by mid-2007, with construction beginning at the conclusion of the 2008 summer season. Because of the time needed to complete the project, the 2008 season will be shortened from four shows to three, Brendel said.

The Moonlight renovation will include the construction of a new stage house, which will include a fly loft, an orchestra pit and a permanent backstage support area with dressing rooms, rehearsal space, a set shop and storage area. Another project that is needed is a new handicap-accessible parking lot, which could open on its own a year before the stage house is built.

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Filmmaker Nick Broomfield is looking for a few good men.

The maker of "Jarhead" and "Fast and the Furious 3" will be in San Diego Dec. 2 looking for U.S. Marines, soldiers, Navy, Coast Guard and National Guardsmen who have served in Iraq for a film documentary he's planning on the Iraq war experience for U.S. servicemen.

Men ages 17 to 30 who've served in Iraq are invited to attend the open casting call from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Holiday Inn, 1617 First Ave. in San Diego. Applicants should be prepared ot talk about their motivation for joining the military and why they chose their particular branch, what combat they experienced and specific memories from Iraq.

Men chosen for the documentary project will be paid for their services and filming will take place next January through March. For more information, call the film hotline at (310) 535-1404.

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Junior engineers will gather Dec. 2 at Legoland California for the eighth annual FIRST Lego League Tournament. FIRST (which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) brings together 56 teams of Lego fanatics (ages 9 to 14) who will compete in a robot-building challenge.

The object of the FIRST challenge is for each team to build an autonomous robot out of LEGO Mindstorms products and then guide it through an obstacle course. The teams have had eight weeks to build and test their robots, which will be unveiled at the obstacle course challenge Saturday at the Carlsbad theme park.

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An unusual folk instrument concert will take place on Dec. 3 at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad.

David Weiss will perform a concert on his "singing saw" with piano accompaniment by his wife, pianist Alpha Hockett Walker.

Weiss -- whose day job is teaching oboe at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music and recently retired from his post as principal oboist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic -- uses a violin bow to play the household tool. It's an art he has performed on "The Tonight Show," "A Prairie Home Companion," at Disneyland and in movies (including "O Brother Where Art Thou?").

Weiss and his "singing saw" will be featured in a one-hour concert at 6 p.m. Dec. 3 at the museum, 5790 Armada Drive in Carlsbad. Tickets are $10. Call (760) 438-5996.

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One of San Diego's newest theater venues is shutting down just months after it opened.

New World Theatre on Eighth Avenue in downtown San Diego opened earlier this year as a home space for Claudio Raygoza's Ion Theatre. Ion was set to open a series of classic plays this month as its first home production ("The Grapes of Wrath" has been postponed twice from a planned mid-November opening), but city building inspectors and structural analysts decided the space wasn't suitable for public assembly. After weeks of negotiations with the city and the landlord, Raygoza announced Monday that the New World Theatre is closing.

To salvage the "Grapes of Wrath" production that has already been cast and rehearsed, an abbreviated run will open Dec. 2 at the Tenth Avenue Theatre just two blocks away. Raygoza said he hasn't given up on the New World Theatre, but for now the project is dead.

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If you who can't get enough of the Old Globe Theatre's annual holiday musical "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" can take part Dec. 3 in the fourth annual "Grinch Family Experience."

The fundraising event, designed for children ages 4 to 12 (and their parents), includes a program of hands-on activities, lunch and a matinee performance of the show. The event begins at 11 a.m. at the Globe's rehearsal studios in the House of Charm in Balboa Park. Ticket-holders will be able to take part in "Grinchy" craft projects, then enjoy a buffet lunch and VIP seating for a 2 p.m. performance of the musical. After the show, these ticket-holders will be invited onstage to meet the cast and get autographed Grinch memorabilia.

Tickets to the event are $150 for adults and $100 for children 12 and under. For information or reservations, call (619) 231-1941, Ext. 2308.

Pam Kragen is the entertainment editor of the North County Times.