Plans are on track for the Covedale Performing Arts Center (the former Covedale Cinema). Thanks to a $250,000 long-term “extremely” low interest loan from the Hubert Foundation that matches the city's $250,000 grant, the building was purchased late last month, and renovations are under way.

        Big news — a four-production winter season that opens with a new musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol and finishes in April, just before the 2003 season aboard the Showboat Majestic.

        Tim Perrino, the guy who masterminds Cincinnati Young People's Theatre, the Showboat, and the new west side arts center is one happy — and one busy — fella.

        He's directing a cast of 76 in West Side Story, which will open the new theater July 26-Aug. 4. Showboat Majestic is midway through its summer season at the Public Landing, on the riverfront, downtown.

        Covedale will go dark in fall, then the doors open on the winter season: Dec. 18-29, A Christmas Carol; Jan. 16-Feb. 2, Noises Off; Feb. 13-March 2, Schoolhouse Rocks Live!; March 20-April 6, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

        Mr. Perrino didn't have any trouble choosing Season One. They are all shows he likes a lot, and most of them are shows that are friendly to his operation's base: Carol, Schoolhouse and Joseph are all youthful shows; they're also likely to appeal to the Showboat audience.

        Noises Off, which just enjoyed a Broadway revival, is “a laugh riot” Mr. Perrino says, and too technically difficult for the Showboat.

        It will be Mr. Perrino's adaptation of Carol that will play during the holidays.

        “I wrote my first version in college,” Mr. Perrino says, laughing. (That was a couple of decades ago.) He promises the script will be “a slave to Dickens,” whom he loves and quotes at length. He's written lots of songs (Ex: “Bring Back Christmas,” “Dear Mr. Scrooge” and “Finding My Way”). “And it's going to be scary!”

        Mr. Perrino promises a sneak preview aboard a float in the Price Hill Thanksgiving Day parade.

        Subscriptions ($64) are available for the Covedale winter season. Individual tickets will be $19 and $17.50. (“We're not going over $20,” Mr. Perrino says.) Call the Showboat box office at 241-6550. (Web site is expected to be up by early July.)

        Mr. Perrino and Co. have raised more than $100,000 additional funds for the Covedale. In an ideal world, he says, another $200,000 “would make it a baby Aronoff.” Many fund-raising projects are in the works, including a brick sale for the new theater's “walk of fame.” Watch for details later this summer. Naming opportunities are also being floated in front of potential funders.

        Behind the scenes: Cincinnati's Sara Lucas is touring into town with The Music Man, although you won't see her on stage.

        The 1997 School for Creative Performing Arts grad and Western Hills native works behind the scene as the show's stage manager. “During rehearsals, I'm responsible for overseeing everything that happens on the stage, including maintaining a safe environment for the actors, and for maintaining the quality and consistency of the show.”

        With no director along, that means she gives performance notes.

        When the show isn't performing, Ms. Lucas assists in the many, many administrative duties that keep Music Man on the road, moving from city to city sometimes every week.

        Former SCPA teacher Joyce Wehner introduced Ms. Lucas to stage management, and since then “I haven't really looked back.” She received her bachelor of fine arts degree from North Carolina School of the Arts in 2001.

        When she's not working, Ms. Lucas has been visiting with family, rollerblading on Sawyer Point and dipping into Graeter's.

        It's great coming home, she says. “I got much of my training by observing and working with members of the local stagehands union, and it's a pleasure to be working with them again.”

        Ms. Lucas is aiming for Broadway someday, “but for right now I love that touring allows me to see the country.”

        Unusual drama: Playwright Mia McCullough has been collecting writing awards, most recently Chicago's Joseph Jefferson citation (the Windy City's Tony Award) for best new work for Chagrin Falls. The drama continues at Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival through June 30 (381-2273).

        Ms. McCullough didn't discover theater until college. She was going to be a veterinarian. “People who work in theater are a lot more fun than people who work with animals,” she says, laughing. “They work with animals because they can't work with people.”

        Chagrin Falls is a haunting drama about a handful of friends — and a stranger — whose lives intertwine in a melancholy Oklahoma town where the death penalty is about to carried out. The subject of capital punishment is treated with an even hand.

        Ms. McCullough started thinking about the death penalty when she was working at a zoo, and one of her jobs was killing mice to feed birds of prey, because even killing mice wasn't easy.

        Not exactly standard summer fare, Chagrin Falls is one of the most memorable productions of Cincinnati's 2001-02 season, with performances (particularly Sherman Fracher's) that will resonate months from now.

        Ms. McCullough has three plays set to premiere next season, including Taking Care, due to debut at Chicago's renowned Steppenwolf Theatre. “It's terrifying and thrilling. It's all happening so fast I can barely keep track.”

        Kids needed: Playhouse in the Park will hold local children's auditions for A Christmas Carol and Ah, Wilderness! on July 10-11.

        A high-spirited 11-year-old boy is needed to portray Tommy in Ah, Wilderness! Children ages 8-13 are needed to fill speaking and non-speaking roles in Carol. A boy age 5-7 is needed to play Tiny Tim.

        Children cast in previous productions of Carol will need to audition again. To be eligible, children may not turn 14 before Dec. 30.

        Youngsters interested in auditioning should submit a resume of any experience and include birth date, height and a photo. (A good-quality school or family photo is acceptable.) Send to: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, ATTN: AUDITIONS, c/o Janet Wisner, PO Box 6537, Cincinnati 45206.

        Resumes and photos must be received by July 5. Children selected to audition will be contacted to schedule a time.

        Children must be available for all rehearsals, most of which are scheduled around school hours, and all performances. Rehearsals for Ah, Wilderness! begin Aug. 6. Performances are Sept. 3-Oct. 4.

        Rehearsals for Carol begin Nov. 15, the show runs Dec. 4-30.

        Talking arts: The Arts Advocacy Initiative will have its quarterly town meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in the Gallagher Student Center theater at Xavier University. Park along University Drive, behind the Gallagher Center or behind Cintas Center.

        Among the expected topicswill be: how the arts community can take advantage of the “festival” marketing campaigns planned by the Fine Arts Fund; revving up an arts advocacy presence; andenlisting government, business and civic leaders in a broad campaign to “brand” Cincinnati as a regional arts center.

        You can add to the agenda at cincinnatiartsadvocacy@fuse.net. Check www.cincinatiarts.com.

        Wexner winner: Choreographer William Forsythe, director of the Frankfurt Ballet, is the 10th recipient of the Wexner Prize, putting him in the company of theater director Peter Brook, composer John Cage, filmmaker Martin Scorcese and visual artist Robert Rauschenberg.

        The $50,000 prize will likely be awarded in fall at the Wexner Center on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus.

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

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