With an ACT-Cincinnati Orchid tucked in his belt for his work in Mariemont Players' Lost in Yonkers, Mike Heffron steps into a starring role this week at Playhouse in the Park.

        Mike, 12, will play Tommy Miller in Eugene O'Neill's blissfully bittersweet classic Ah, Wilderness, starting previews Tuesdayfor a Thursday opening.

        “I'm probably going to be an actor,” Mike confides.

        He has attended Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival's summer youth camp and belongs to the drama club at St. Jude School in Bridgetown, where he is a seventh-grader. He tried out for sports but had to cancel when Ah, Wilderness came along.

        Professional theater is a lot more work than community, Mike says. “We rehearse for seven hours every single day except Monday!”

        It's a challenge, he agrees, “but I'm up for it.” The “thrill of being in front of an audience, getting them to laugh, to applaud” makes the work worth it.

        He's been getting a lot of good advice from his co-stars, who include Joneal Joplin, Bob Elliott and Lynn Milgrim.

        The best advice, he says, “is that I should do what feels natural, because the audience will notice if I don't.”

        For reservations and information, call the box office at 421-3888.

        Fire museum a natural: Ensemble Theatre will host its post-performance opening night party for The Guys at the Fire Museum on Wednesday. Nothing could be more appropriate, given the show's subject matter — a fire captain and a journalist writing eulogies for men lost in the World Trade Center attacks.

        The theater will donate a portion of proceeds of the run, through Sept. 22, to New York Fire 9-11 Relief Fund and IAFF Counseling Support Fund. Box office: 421-3555.

        Economic impact: There were some real ouches on the summer box office scene.

        Curiously, the show that flattened at the box office didn't lose money. Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Cincinnati decided to try its luck at cashing in big-time by moving the return of the low-cost Vagina Monologues into the large 2,700-seat Procter & Gamble Hall.

        Because ticket sales were running under 20 percent capacity, they shifted to the 440-seat Jarson-Kaplan Theater and filled the place for a week.

        Playhouse in the Park saw a 22 percent decrease from last year's attendance of its PNC Advisors Summer Season. Audiences of 62 percent capacity saw Wingfield Unbound, The Reducers and Honkytonk Angels.

        Producing artistic director Ed Stern isn't thrilled with “the softening economy,” but it's not taking Playhouse management by surprise.

        “We already had approached the upcoming season in a fiscally conservative manner, so the overall impact should be minimal.”

        Hot Summer Nights at University of Cincinnati saw overall attendance drop by 30 percent between 2001 (89 percent capacity) and 2002 (59 percent capacity).

        Bad economy or bad calls or both?

        Hot Summer Nights producer/director Richard Hess points the finger of guilt solely at the economy. The season, made up of Violet, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill and We Tell the Story, “was an artistic success,” he says.

        Casting news: Cincinnati-based Sherman Fracher, winner of the Enquirer Theatre Award for best actress for 2001-02, has landed her first Actors Theatre of Louisville gig. She's been cast as Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol.

        • For anyone heading to Dayton's Victoria Theatre for Same Time, Next Year, '80s TV personality Jeff Conaway (Taxi) has been replaced by '80s TV personality Adrian Zmed (T.J. Hooker, Dance Fever). Mackenzie Phillips (One Day at a Time) co-stars. Tickets go on sale ˆTuesday. (937) 228-3630 or (888) 228-3630.

        • Also in Dayton, catch College-Conservatory of Music grads Tori Ross, Dominic Bogart and Juan Carlos Diaz in the regional premiere of off-Broadway musical spoof Bat Boy, opening Oct. 31 at Human Race. Same box office number as above.

        Come to the cabaret: The Los Angeles Times says “chanteuse (Mary) Setrakian is dazzling!” You can decide for yourself when she performs two cabaret sets next Sunday at the Monmouth Theater (636 Monmouth St.) in Newport.

        Her local appearance is in support of her new All I know CD, which she recorded in response to 9-11.

        Isaac Turner, who books the Monmouth, met Ms. Setrakian in their summer stock days and thinks she's terrific, so he extended the invitation.

        Her song cycle is a range, he says, including Lennon and McCartney's “Blackbird,” Carly Simon's “Let the River Run,” “a sing-along section so everybody can feel good” and an a capella “Amazing Grace.”

        “It's a reflective group of songs about intimacy, pain, faith and hope,” he says.

        This isn't Ms. Setrakian's first visit. She's been to Cincinnati in national tours of Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and Evita.

        Performances are at 5 and 7 p.m. Admission is $10. (859) 655-9140.

        Theater leader: Steve Ewing has been hired as executive manager of the Gaslight Theater in Georgetown, bringing the historic theater a step closer to a presenting calendar.

        Mr. Ewing, a 1992 graduate of Thomas More College with a background in acting and technical design, will spend the next few months meeting with local groups and businesses, making marketing plans, putting together a volunteer staff, setting up a box office and booking events for 2003.

        “I believe this position requires a leader, someone who provides purpose, direction and motivation to shape and build the Gaslight Theater,” Mr. Ewing says. “I have a strong sense of who I am and what I think theater should be.”

        "Rocky' recognition: The rush of curtains going up the week following Labor Day includes a first entry on the community theater scene: The Rocky Horror Show by Falcon Players, opening Friday for a three weekend run.

        Fans of long-ago local editions of the “transvestite science-fiction rock 'n' roll comedy” Rocky will recognize some faces.

        Al Short, who appeared in the title role in the Playhouse in the Park production in the '80s, resumes the role for Falcon. And isn't that Tony Wright as Riff Raff, who spent a lot of time in front of the Skywalk Cinema screen when the movie Rocky Horror was a cult picture show?

        Director Ted Weil is gleeful that WEBN-FM morning guys Eddie Fingers and Bob the Producer will be making a video appearance.

        Falcon's production is the new, improved version that came to Broadway two seasons back. “The biggest difference is the orchestra,” judges Mr. Weil. “They took the '70s sound out. It's much stronger rock. It kicks.”

        Rocky Horror Show will play at 8 p.m. at Westwood Town Hall (Harrison and Montana avenues), with additional midnight performances on Saturday and Sept. 14. Now that's rock 'n' roll. 481-9042.

        One-woman benefit: Ann Randolph, a Loveland native now living in L.A., had a big hit in the Playhouse alteractive series with her charmer of a one-woman show Squeeze Box, a tale of love, sex, nature, music, spirituality and a very weird guy.

        Ms. Randolph offers a benefit performance of Squeeze Box for Loveland Stage Company at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the newly renovated Old Crist Theater, 111 Second St., Loveland. Tickets $20. (513) 683-9687.

        Ensemble returns: Back to Broadway returns with a 44-member amateur ensemble putting on a show for area charities.

        Opening weekend performances benefit: Sept. 13, St. Antoninus Community (347-0142); Sept. 14, Caracole, which provides safe, affordable housing for families and individuals living with HIV/AIDS, call 761-1480; Sept. 15, Thomas Rebold Foundation for the Performing Arts provides grants to junior high and high school theater programs, call 385-1631.

        Back to Broadway moves to a new home this year, Rapid Run Middle School (6345 Rapid Run Road, Delhi Township).

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

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