Life started out rough. “Growing up Latino with a single mother isn't easy,” she says and thanks her mom, who “raised me to be somebody,” for every success.

        Fresh from Boston Conservatory, Ms. Toro was Broadway's second Eponine (she went into Les Miz when it was still in its first year). She'd like to be Broadway's first Serena.

        “Every actor aspires to bring a show into New York,” she says, and because she's playing a new character in a new show, “a lot of Serena is a lot of Natalie.”

        Which parts would those be? “The gullibility,” she laughs. “And I'm honest and sort of deer-in-the-headlights.”

        In Ducky, Serena is of course not a duckling at all but a fabulous swan who has all sorts of musical comedy adventures, including befriending an ambiguous wolf, on her way to happily ever after.

        Serena and Natalie also have charm to burn. She has St. Louis Ducky reviews within reach. (“Isn't that insane?”)

        It turns out there are even some old Evita reviews filed nearby. (“Isn't that stupid?!'') What she had in common with Evita was a love of shoes. (“I'm not kidding, I have about 130 pairs.”) She can't go shoe shopping here because she bought so many in St. Louis, Ducky's first stop.

        She confides that she wanted to be a recording artist but when Boston Conservatory accepted her on the basis of her rendition of “Moon River” she thought she should try acting. She loved it, which is probably no surprise to her family, who have always called her “D.O.” (The Dramatic One.)

        Ms. Toro is a fledgling recording artist, and her CD Bialando en la Luz (Dancing in the Light) is on sale in the Playhouse lobby for the remainder of the Ducky run, through Nov. 17.

        Everybody connected with Ducky is hoping for a national tour that would land them in New York. You can see them in Cincinnati, call the Playhouse box office at 421-3888.

        Mock moves up: After performing in supporting roles for Children's Theatre and Downtown Theatre Classics and in Playhouse's A Christmas Carol, Loveland's Kate Mock will step up to her first professional leading role when she plays Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz for Children's Theatre. It plays Friday through Sunday at the Taft Theatre.

        Kate, a ninth-grader at Ursuline Academy, is the second generation of Mocks to perform for Children's Theatre.

        In the late '70s, mom Norah performed in shows, including Tom Sawyer and Wind in the Willows. “It was my only chance to be an ingenue,” she laughs. Joe Mock was in Robin Hood.

        The adult Mocks still do some performing. “We're pretty active with our church group, St. Margaret of York,” says Mrs. Mock. “That's where the kids got the bug. It's a great family activity.”

        Kate says she started dreaming about a career in the theater when she was in second grade. The hard part has been staying focused.

        This is news to her mom. “Kate is a very focused person,” laughs Mrs. Mock. As for needing help memorizing lines, “I always offer and she says. “If I need you, I'll let you know.”

        For reservations and information, call Ticketmaster at 562-4949.

        Puerto Rican playwright: Lauded Puerto Rica-born playwright Jose Rivera will spend 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday in Patricia Corbett Theater at the University of Cincinnati. He'll talk about his craft and read from his work (which includes Cloud Tectonics and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot). The event is free and open to the public, no tickets or reservations required.

        Mr. Rivera's Obie Award-winning Marisol (The Village Voice called it “ ... a cry from the poet's heart”) will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday in CCM's Studio. Tickets $10, seating limited, call 556-4183 for reservations and information.

        Got to start somewhere: Speaking of dreams, Marni Penning Minadakis' is moving right along.

        The Cincinnati Shakespeare co-founder and longtime leading lady headed for New York a few months ago to spend a year (or so) seeking fame and fortune.

        She happily reports she is making her New York debut Monday night. It's a free reading of a would-be screenplay, but, hey, says Ms. Minadakis, you've got to start somewhere.

        She plays the young wife with a baby of the film's hero, who's still obsessed with his high school girlfriend. The script is titled Past Is Prologue and is being read at the Currican Theatre on West 29th Street. She found her break when she was networking at a party and met the director.

        Ms. Penning's first paying gig brought her back to Ohio, sort of. Her local fans and friends can see how she's doing by tuning in to NBC's new Sunday night series Ed, which takes place in fictional Stuckeyville. Watch for her in Episode #8 (Open Mike) (probably airing right after Thanksgiving.) You can spot her near the stage getting splashed with watermelon. She made nice and gave the show's star a moo card from the Ohio State Fair to mark the occasion. He promised to treasure it.

        This and that: Cincinnati Shakespeare has been furiously at work all week with playwright Norma Jenckes and director Mary Lenning on Andromache in Baghdad, the first of three lab sessions scheduled for this season.

        The experience has been “marvelous,” says Ms. Jenckes. “I've been working very hard these last five years to become a serious playwright. This has been a wonderful affirmation.”

        The fruits of their labors will be on view at 7 p.m. Monday. The expanded reading will also be the final entry in Janus Project's Minerva reading series. Call 381-2273 for information.

        The Fever (the 1991 Obie winner for best play) gets its area premiere at 7 p.m. Saturday in the library at Old St. George's (42 Calhoun St., Corryville). By the erudite Wallace (My Dinner With Andre) Shawn, The New York Times called it “a work that asks, in a highly original way: is it possible, or even right, for a sensitive person to be happy in today's world?”

        E.Z. (Zed) Pine, who performed The Fever at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival, performs it here under the auspices of the National Conference for Community and Justice. A discussion will follow the play. Admission $12. Limited tickets available. Call 381-4660 for more information.

        Calling board members: The Arts Services Office is offering a free training session on The Fundamentals of Board Development from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6 at Raymond Walters College.

        Who should attend? New board members of young companies like Janus Project, Know Theatre Tribe, ARC Chamber Orchestra, and New Edgecliff Theatre Company — all new recipients of Community Arts Fund project grants — would be ideal candidates, and so would anyone new to the mysteries and responsibilities of arts boards.

        Registration deadline is Oct. 31. Call Heather Hallenberg at the Arts Services Office, 871-2787, ext. 28. Fax registration forms to 871-2706. The session will be held at the college's Science and Allied Health Building. Room 100.
       Jackie Demaline is The Enquirer's theater critic and roving arts reporter. Write her at Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati OH 45202; fax, 768-8330; e-mail jdemaline@yahoo.com.

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