Here's some good news for theater-loving families in range of Oakley. Award- winning children's playwright Kath ryn Schultz Miller is back in busi ness, and so is the Janus Project. Right now, it looks as if both may be based at the 20th Century Theater on Oakley Square.

        Ms. Miller is reviving a “dinner theater for kids” idea originally introduced in 1976 when she was one-fifth of the founding partners of American Repertory Theatre of Cincinnati.

        Peanut Butter Theatre debuts today and next Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Mary Tensing, George Alexander and Patrick Toon, all familiar faces on local stages, are featured.

        In the old days, “We got peanut butter and bread and cookies and milk donated and served little brown-bag lunches before the show. Everyone loved the concept.”

        Ms. Miller is bestknown as long-time artistic director of ArtReach, which tours theater to schools. Ms. Miller sold the operation to Theatre IV a few years ago. She's continued writing (she has 34 plays) but not producing.

        She acknowledges she “kind of” had a deal with Theatre IV to lay low after the sale, but “we became very friendly after a while.” Legend carries a “produced in cooperation with Theatre IV” credit, with the latter company loaning sets and costumes and helping with casting.

        “You can't be in theater as long as I was and hate it, but I didn't want to do what I did before and I didn't want to do big stuff at the Aronoff. I want the kids right up close to the actors.”

        “My husband has been promoting a Latin band at the 20th Century, and it occurred to us that this was the theater we'd been looking for all those years. Double whammy, we took on a partnership with the bagel shop next door, Wilfredo's. A great place to make peanut butter sandwiches! An old concept seemed to be suddenly right!” she says, laughing.

        As for the future of Peanut Butter Theatre, “I'll see how it goes.” If all goes well, “maybe a holiday show. We could present other theater companies from other states, and I have a slew of my own plays ...” Ms. Miller muses.

        Tickets $8 children, $9 adults available at the door. (Tickets include $1 off coupon for a bagel sandwich.) Call 351-9978 for more information.

        Meanwhile, the Janus Project, which used the 20th Century as a base for its children's programming and classes last year, is back in business.

        Artistic director Jay Apking moved away late last spring, reconsidered over the summer (clamoring of children and parents played a big role in the decision), and returned this fall.

        He's also writing and planning a holiday show for Janus Project, with December dates reserved at the 20th Century. Details to come.

        Timely issues: Even the organizers of play reading series Theatre of the Mind are stunned by the timeliness of the 2001-02 season's theme, Discover America. This year's series features acclaimed playwrights looking hard at subjects from the American Revolution to the welfare system.

        Several titles carry a whole new resonance since Sept. 11, starting with series opener Three Hotels on Oct. 22.

        Jon Robin Baitz's plays have been described as meditations on morality. In Hotels, a globe-trotting corporate trouble-shooter and his proper company wife (shown in three nondescript hotel rooms around the world), are caught up in career and personal issues.

        “It's about how decisions made in the board room — and, since the attack on the World Trade Center, even in a war room — takes a human toll in very private ways,” series co-founder Norma Jenckes says.

        Chip Smith and Sherman Fracher play the couple. Director is Roger Grooms, veteran teacher (Anderson High School), community theater director and performer and WKRC-TV theater critic.

        Ms. Jenckes, who leads post-reading discussions (after a buffet break), says that this year the series is making a push to attract high-school and college students with an interest in history, social studies and women's issues. Talking points are available for teachers.

        Readings are at 7 p.m. at Ensemble Theatre, 1127 Vine St. Tickets $5.

        For reservations, information and a series brochure call Ensemble Theatre at 421-3555. Teachers interested in the Theatre of the Mind series can contact Ms. Jenckes at University of Cincinnati, 556-3914.

        Thunder rumblings: Is Thunder Knocking on the Door, the Playhouse in the Park/Arena Stage “bluesical,” again knocking on Broadway's door?

        According to BroadwayOnline.com, much-respected director Marion McClinton (King Hedley II) has signed on and wants to have a late spring 2002 debut (after he transfers August Wilson's Jitney to London). New producers come with King Hedley and Full Monty credits.

        Thunder, with Mr. McClinton helming, is booked into the February-March slot at the prestigious Trinity Rep in Providence, R.I. That would make a timely brush-up for Broadway transfer before the Tony Award nomination deadline at the end of April.

        College "Projects': If you missed The Laramie Project in its regional debut in May by Playhouse in the Park's intern acting company, this season provides many more opportunities to catch the docudrama about the death of gay university student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyo,, and the investigation and trial that followed.

        Project has become a favorite with college theater departments. First up is Xavier Players' production Thursday through Sunday at the Armory (Winding Way off Victory Parkway; $8; 745-3205). Mr. Shepard's mother, Judy, will appear on Oct. 22 at the Cintas Center (call 745-2411 for ticket information).

        Project is also on the schedules of University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (April 18-21) and Wright State University in Dayton.

        Big finale: Human Race's very cool Musical Theatre Workshop gets even cooler for 2001-02 with George Takei (Star Trek's Mr. Sulu) booked to star in a workshop of Stephen Sondheim's rarely performed gem Pacific Overtures in June.

        But first things first. The Dayton theater's workshop series gets under way Oct. 28-29 with the seasonal Macabaret, a cabaret that takes a tongue-in-cheek (if not teeth-in-neck) look at the macabre, the spooky and the silly.

        Macabaret is by Dayton native Scott Keys and Robert Hartmann. Their musical Hereafter was workshopped two years ago, and the theater has commissioned a new musical by them in 2003.

        The show will get a cabaret-style presentation at Thomato's restaurant. Cast includes CCM faculty member Patricia Linhart (last seen locally in Hot Summer Nights' Once Upon a Mattress) and Michelle Zimmerman, very familiar to fans of LaComedia Dinner Theatre and the defunct Downtown Theatre Classics.

        Tickets $12, call the Human Race at (937) 461-3823.

        The series continues Feb. 10-11 with Convenience, about a mother and a twentysomething son who both have secrets; and Pacific Overtures on June 23-24, which ponders the impact of Commodore Matthew Perry's arrival in Japan in 1853.

        Theater management became acquainted with Mr. Takei when he was in Dayton speaking to the Japanese American Citizens League a couple of years ago.

        "Butter' talk: Meanwhile, Human Race debuts the regional premiere of Rebecca Gilman's much-hyped Spinning Into Butter on Oct. 25 (continuing through Nov. 11).

        Ms. Gilman writes “torn from the headlines” dramas. This one is about silent racism and political correctness at a small liberal arts college.

        CCM alum Juan-Carlos Diaz is among the ensemble. A “While We're on the Subject” open-forum discussion is scheduled after the Nov. 4 matinee.

        Butter plays in the Loft Theatre, 126 N. Main St. (in the Metropolitan Arts Center adjacent to the Victoria Theatre). Tickets: (937) 228-3630.

        E-mail jdemaline@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/demaline

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