Mr. Rais, one of Cincinnati's favorite actors, has been felled by a compression fracture in his back that will probably keep him off-stage for the remainder of the season. “Ah, well,” he says philosophically. ""Fully Committed (the solo show in which he opened the ETC 2001-2002 season) was like doing four shows.”

        Mr. Rais is managing to teach, oversee ETC's intern company and direct. “I do have to elevate my legs by about three in the afternoon,” he sighs.

        He directs a staged reading of General at 7 p.m. Monday, the latest entry in the Theatre of the Mind series at ETC.

Rais

        The general of the title is Benedict Arnold, and Richard Nelson's superb drama is an historical with a contemporary feeling.

        The playwright puts a face on history — and a young face. General catches most of our forefathers in their late 20s into their 30s, the recruits fighting and dying with little food and less equipment, were very often high-school age.

        “The whole period is the foundation of what America is,” says Mr. Rais, an avowed “history nut.”

        “Benedict Arnold was a truly great man. His name is synonymous with "traitor,' and the play questions our perceptions of betrayal.

        “There are things that lead people to places. Spiritually, financially. We've deified these men — George Washington, John Hancock — but we forget they were human beings, and they had a goal and would do anything to achieve it.”

        For anybody who has an interest in American history, this is the one, Mr. Rais promises. There will be a post-performance reception and discussion.

        Tickets $5; 421-3555. ETC is at 1127 Vine St. There's parking across the street from the theater.

        Double duty: Lyle Benjamin is busy as busy can be this month. He's producing Lee Blessing's hostage drama Two Rooms at Queen City Off-Broadway (Upstairs at Carol's, 825 Main St., downtown) even as he appears a few blocks away in provocative black/white power one-act The Dutchman at Know Theatre Tribe, continuing through Feb. 23 at Gabriel's Corner in Over-the-Rhine.

        That means he starts the night at Know and races straight to Carol's so he can run the lights for Two Rooms. “I told (Know artistic director) Jay (Klagayan), "You can't go up late,' ” Mr. Benjamin says, laughing.

        That double duty is some of a very full agenda for Mr. Benjamin, whose Queen City is part of a theater series starting this month that plays off the upcoming Midwest Black Theatre Festival in April.

        “In February, it's New Edgecliff with Slave Shack (opening Feb. 21 in the Aronoff's Fifth Third Bank Theater) and The Dutchman;in March, Queen City presents Master Harold...and the Boys and in April Know will do True West with an African-American cast. People can bring a ticket stub from one show to get $2 off another.”

        Queen City is also doing a ticket deal with Women's Theatre Initiative. Buy a ticket to Two Rooms and get a free admission to WTI's staged reading of Fur, a contemporary Beauty and the Beast fantasy by Magdalia Cruz, at 7 p.m. Feb. 25, also Upstairs at Carol's.

        Meanwhile, Queen City is issuing “industry” passes to area theater companies good for $10 admission to 5 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday performances for the remainder of the season.

        Information: 681-2043.

        Race panel: High school students will sit in on a special panel on race relations in the Tristate on Tuesday. Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen, Cincinnati Black United Front President Damon Lynch, Cincinnati City Councilman Jim Tarbell and Tom Lee of the Drop-In Center are among the participants scheduled following a performance of Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities.

        Fires in the Mirror is a collection of monologues taken from interviews with residents of Crown Heights following a race-related riot in 1991. Playhouse in the Park and Cincinnati Arts Association's education department collaborate on the event.

        In competition: Northern Kentucky University's theater department is wrapping up a week in Spartanburg, S.C. NKU is participating in the southeast regional of the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival and is one of six schools vying to take a performance to the nationals.

        The NKU entry is faculty member Ken Jones' Thy Brother's Keeper, which debuted last fall.

        North and South: Showbiz Players is “thrilled,” to be marking its 15th anniversary with the Cincinnati amateur debut of Frank Wildhorn's The Civil War (which had a Fifth Third Bank Broadway Series run a couple of years ago).

        The show uses journal entries from soldiers, poetry by Walt Whitman, writings of the famous and infamous to tell the story of the battle between North and South.

        “We are striving to make this a citywide event,” Players president Bunny Arszman says.

        Civil War has a large cast of black and white performers, including principal roles for four African-American men, three African-American women, 16 Caucasian men and six Caucasian women.

        Auditions are noon-3 p.m. Feb. 23 and 3-6 p.m. Feb. 24 with callbacks from 6-8 p.m. Feb. 25 at St. James Church (basement), Hubble and Cheviot roads in White Oak.

        Those auditioning should bring sheet music and be prepared to read from the script for principal roles. An accompanist will be provided. Check www.showbizplayers.com or the theater line at 981-7888.

        Civil War will run from June 13-23 at Salerno Center for the Performing Arts at Mount Notre Dame High School in Reading.

        Artists' grants: Reminder: Deadline for City of Cincinnati's new, improved (more money, less paperwork) individual artist grant program is Friday.

        Arts allocations committee chair Don Corathers hopes the changes will be “enough of an incentive to get some serious people to apply who wouldn't normally.”

        Funding priorities this grant period (2002-04) will be new works and public art in neighborhoods.

        Applications are available at many locations, including Art Academy of Cincinnati, Arts Consortium, Enjoy the Arts, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Weston Art Gallery, Westwood Town Hall.

        Meanwhile, applications for the city's small arts organizations are available at the same locations. Deadline is March 15. Maximum award level has also increased to $7,500.

        A free grant-writing workshop is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 14 (Valentine's Day? Whatever happened to romance?) in the first-floor conference room of Two Centennial Plaza (805 Central Ave.) Registration required, call the Department of Community Development at 352-6146 by Tuesday.

        For more information contact Carolyn Gutjahr at 352-4985.

        Contact Jackie Demaline at 768-8530; fax: 768-8330; e-mail jdemaline@enquirer.com.
       

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