It's official. New Edgecliff moves to The Artery in Newport (913 Monmouth St.) with a three-show season including two regional premieres.

        The season opens in December with the return of David Sedaris' Santaland Diaries, the National Public Radio star's wry observations on life as a Macy's elf.

        Making a local debut are Three the Hard Way by Cleveland playwright Linda Eisenstein and Steve (Breaking Away) Tesich's Square One.

        Three the Hard Way, says artistic director Michael Shooner, is “a very sweet story about three sisters who travel to Vegas to bury their pool shark father. His ghost hangs around and comments.”

        Square One, a dark, absurdist comedy written in 1990, takes place in the wake of an unnamed national disaster.

        “It just hit me between the eyes,” says Mr. Shooner. “It's more relevant now than when it was originally written.

        “I'm as excited about this as I was about I Stand Before You Naked,” which was a sleeper hit for New Edgecliff last spring.

        For more information call 763-3844.

        Fall readings: Students are back to the Three R's but happily theater fans have to think about only the first one: reading.

        Autumn is high season for staged readings. Well-regarded playwright Samm-Art Williams will spend a week in Cincinnati starting Sept. 16. His visit will include a reading of his Conversations on a Dirt Road Sept. 23 for Ensemble's Theatre of the Mind series. He'll also lead a local playwrights workshop.

        In the 1980s, Mr. Williams delved into his North Carolina roots to help transition African-American theater from “the angry black man” to “the hungry black man.” He had Broadway successes with Home (a Tony Award nominee) and First Breeze of Summer.

        Conversations is about two brothers arguing (with plenty of love and laughter) about whether to sell their late father's general store.

        It was brought to the attention of Ensemble producing artistic director D. Lynn Meyers by Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative's Chuck Wente. He'll co-direct with Patrick Deavy.

        More information: 421-3555.

        Women's initiative: Women's Theatre Initiative announces its series of four Monday staged readings. One will be selected for production in June, although WTI productions lately have been victim to “best-laid plan” syndrome.

        Last year's winner, Fall by Bridget Carpenter, never did get a local showing because regional producing rights were pulled even as WTI producer Kristin Dietsche was searching for a space to set the show. This year, “Everyone who heard or read (great contemporary British playwright) Caryl Churchill's Far Away had his or her heart set on seeing it produced here. Between June, when we originally read it, and early this month, the regional performance rights became unavailable.

        “We have a knack for choosing what's just about to become interesting to major markets,” Ms. Dietsche happily points out.

        Ms. Dietsche promises the upcoming WTI readings, which invariably feature some of Cincinnati's best actors and directors, will be equally intriguing. All readings are at 7 p.m.

        The lineup:

        Sept. 16: Lobster Alice by Kira Obolenski, at Performance Gallery, 3500 Eastern Ave. The comedy imagines what happened when surrealist painter Salvador Dali arrived at Disney Studios in 1946 to work on an animated short.

        Sept. 30: In Flame by Charlotte Jones, Playhouse in the Park Shelterhouse. The drama brings together two overlapping stories about women, love, pain, insanity and desire, one set in Yorkshire in 1908, the other in modern-day London.

        Oct. 14: The Waiting Room by Lisa Loomer (rights pending), location TBA. Women from 18th century China, Victorian England and contemporary New Jersey meet in a doctor's waiting room in a dark comedy about issues of body image, power and the American health care system.

        Oct. 28: The Unexpected Man by Yasmina Reza (rights pending), Xavier University Gallagher Center Theater. The author of Art follows the interior monologues of two strangers on a train.

        Also under consideration are two one-woman plays, In a Smoke Filled Room by Kwakiutl Dreher and Jodie's Body by Aviva Jane Carlin. If either is chosen, the playwright will be invited to perform the work here.

        “While WTI will produce one of the plays,” says Ms. Dietsche, “our real goal is to find homes for as many of them as possible in the 2003-04 seasons of other Cincinnati theaters.

        “We would especially love to see people connected with other companies, including regular audience members, at our readings. What we'd most like to hear is another group saying “We'd like to do this play' or “We'd like to bring this show to Cincinnati.' ”

        Ms. Dietsche's goal isn't out of reach. Suzan-Lori Parks' In the Blood was selected for the 2002-03 Cincinnati Shakespeare season after a reading by Theatre of the Mind. In the same series, Dale Hodges' performance in Wings sent up a clamor for a production, as yet unrealized.

        Steiner productions: Cincinnati's favorite Broadway producer, North Avondale resident Rick Steiner, is on a roll.

        Last year he was among the folks on stage accepting a Tony Award for Best Musical for phenom The Producers; earlier this year his faith in Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog was rewarded with a Pulitzer Prize; now he's backing Hairspray, which opened Aug. 15 to super-duper reviews.

        Mr. Steiner predicts a longer theatrical life (beyond Broadway) for Hairspray, more of a giddy, pastel “Necco Wafer” of a show than The Producers. I wouldn't bet against him.

        P.S. Not that we wish any ill will to Hairspray's leading lady, but understudy is CCM musical theater grad Shoshana Bean.

        Ms. Bean will be part of the Broadway Spotlight Series on Sept. 9 at ArtsNova Theater in New York. Matt Bogart, CCM alum fresh from Company at the Kennedy Center in Washington, is on the bill Oct. 7. Tickets $12, if you're going to be in New York, call (212) 977-1700 for reservations.

        Lebanon's "Leading Ladies': Lebanon Theatre Company joins in its city's bicentennial celebration over Labor Day weekend with a new play saluting Lebanon's The Leading Ladies.

        Company member Jill Davis was recruited to write about 200 years of women who were important to Lebanon, starting with Sarah Corwin who, with her husband, were the first settlers.

        There were hardships. “When Mr. Corwin's horses were stolen by Indians, he left Sarah, who was pregnant, on her own in the wilderness with their three children while he walked to Kentucky to buy oxen to replace the horses.”

        The research was a lot of fun, says Ms. Davis. A Vassar grad (drama) and a veteran of the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, she's written plays and screenplays but never been produced.

        She figures she was given the job of scripting “because I'm a reliable volunteer.” Ms. Davis has been making her living as an ad copywriter for 16 years.

        Staff at Warren County Historical Society were helpful with a list of names including late historian Hazel Spencer Phillips, who also plays a prominent role in Ladies.

        The Leading Ladies is a big endeavor, with a cast of 46 taking on 60 characters. There's live and recorded music and an original song by Lebanon resident David Thompson.

        Ms. Davis moved here six years ago and joined Lebanon Theatre Company “when I was casting about to make friends.”

        She made friends and “I'm so surprised and happy to have this opportunity.” She advises everybody to “get involved with community theater - you never know what can happen!”

        Ms. Davis is thinking about trying her hand at a play for young people.

        Performances of The Leading Ladies are Friday through next Sunday. Saturday includes an inside picnic prior to the show. (513) 494-1932.

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

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