A couple of the most intriguing projects:

        Nick Mangano, who oversees the M.F.A. directing program, established the Garson Theatre Company (named for 1940s-'50s screen star Greer) at the College of Santa Fe.

        Between teaching and directing dazzlers at CCM, including Candide, Mr. Mangano also has been flying around the world with media opera Three Tales as it makes the rounds of international festivals.

        The new summer theater in Santa Fe will be devoted to new works on vital topics and reimagined classics with provocative themes that invite audiences to embrace the human condition, reports the tireless Mr. Mangano, who will be artistic director.

        Just as important, the theater will be a collaboration that will invite CCM faculty members and CCM and College of Santa Fe alums to be part of the company.

        “We want to give young professionals the opportunity to help bridge the gap to professional careers, and that extends to designers,” says Mr. Mangano.

        “Too many regional theaters don't associate with university theaters, and faculty members have to keep fresh by being in other scenes,” he notes. He's very excited by the potential for “cross-polination across the country.”

        The premiere 2003 season is expected to include one mainstage production and probably three readings. He hopes the featured playwright will make an appearance and emphasizes talkbacks with audiences.

        Mr. Mangano laughs that he hasn't had a lot of time to sleep lately “but when I do sleep I have really good dreams. If I weren't doing this, I'd be a wreck.”

        Michael Burnham, a member of the drama department, is hard at work on an opera libretto about Cincinnati's abolition debates at Lane Seminary in the 1830s.

        “It's a docu-opera,” Mr. Burnham explains, adding that, because he's never attempted anything like this, he'll enjoy the act of discovery. Collaborators are Charles Nucholls and Andrea Kornbluh.

        Hardy welcome: Northern Kentucky University's theater department welcomes Mark Hardy as guest artist for the 2002-03 academic year.

        Mr. Hardy is a veteran of Les Miz and Titanic on Broadway, A New Brain off-Broadway and Downtown Theatre Classics' The Music Man. (He was Harold Hill.)

Mark Hardy in a 1997 production of The Music Man

        Mr. Hardy has many friends in the department: He knows Ken Jones from his student days in Florida, Sandra Forman is a former instructor, and Joe Conger “was one of my first summer stock directors, in the mountains of North Carolina.”

        Among Mr. Hardy's first duties at NKU will be taking the title role in the musical Man of La Mancha, playing Sept. 26-Oct. 5. (Mr. Conger is directing him again.)

        Mr. Hardy, who lays claim to “a romantic streak a mile wide,” is delighted with the role. The toughest part, he adds, is “performing in front of students I'm currently teaching” whose hawk-like eyes he expects will catch any misstep.

        He took several moments to sing the praises of NKU senior Jen Myers who plays Aldonza.

        Box office: (859) 572-5464.

        Holiday sale: If you're like me, the holidays aren't complete without a visit to A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens' rip-snortin' ghost story that reminds us of our humanity.

        Here's a deal. This week only, Playhouse is offering a $5 discount on adult tickets for Dec. 5-11, the first week of production.

        Tickets go on sale Monday on the Playhouse Web site, www.cincyplay.com, and Friday at the theater's box office in person or by phone (421-3888).

        Carol will run Dec. 4-20. Regular prices range from $33 to $45, depending on time and seat location. Tickets for children ages 5-12 range from $15-$20.

        Amateur night: It's not American Idol, but if you win Amateur Apollo Night at Dayton's Memorial Hall, you'll get $1,000 and a pair of tickets to New York to appear on the national show.

        Cincinnati area amateur talent is welcome at next Sunday's auditions, from 2 to 5:30 p.m.

        To register in advance (a must), call (937) 228-7591, Ext. 3500.

        Those who make it through the audition — two minutes of family friendly performance — will perform at Dayton Apollo Amateur Night at 7 p.m. Nov. 3.

        Exit, stage right: Bob Rais, longtime fixture on stage at Ensemble Theatre (he starred in last year's solo hit Fully Committed) has quietly left the building and Cincinnati for his home state, Colorado.

        Meanwhile, ETC will extend its current production of The Guys through Sept. 29. Call 241-3555.

        Small theater scene: Women's Theatre Initiative's play readings resume with Lobster Alice by Kira Obolenski. The absurdist comedy is a fantasy about Salvador Dali's experiences at Disney Studios in the late 1940s. Michael Bath plays the artist, Dale Hodges directs. Reading is at 7 p.m. at the Performance Gallery, 3500 Eastern Ave.

        Popular community theater actor Eric Day takes the pivotal role of Juror #3 (originally played by Lee J. Cobb) in Queen City Off-Broadway's 12 Angry Men (Whatevuh), continuing Friday and Saturday at Plush (Upstairs at Carol's, 825 Main St.)

        The “Whatevuh,” says Queen City producing director Lyle Benjamin, refers to a 21st century updating of the white gentlemen of the jury to include women and ethnically diverse casting.

        The mid-20th century classic tells the story of a jury's deliberation, during a long, hot afternoon and stormy dusk, of a murder charge against a teenage boy accused of killing his abusive father. It's revived from last spring, and Mr. Benjamin is hoping to take 12 Angry Men on the regional road.

        Among the players: Brandon Brady, Bill Keeton, Lora Jost, Lynne Meredith, Curtis Shepard, Ellie Shepherd, Tara Guilfoil and Mike Ward. Curtain time is 7 p.m. Call 681-2043.

        Torn: Gay in America will begin a two-week tour of free performances at noon today on Fountain Square. The Know-to-Go performance features work by Allan Ginsberg, James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams, Walt Whitman, Jack Kerouac and many more.

        “It's about time!” says Know managing director Melissa Urriquia, whose day job is volunteer coordinator for Caracole Inc. “The show will feature national events but put a needed spotlight on gay and lesbian issues locally.”

        Next free performance is 7 p.m. Thursday at Xavier's Gallagher Student Center Theater, then Friday and Sept. 27 at the Aronoff Center's Weston Art Gallery.

        For the entire schedule, check www.knowtheatre.com.

        Dayton series: Human Race in Dayton, always on the list for savvy musical theater fans in the Midwest, has a save-the-date line-up for its 2003 Musical Theatre Workshop series.

        The theater is the place to go to view work in development, and what better way to start than with a whale of a tale on Feb. 9-10. The theater has been selected to develop Moby Dick: The Musical by no less a personage than Cameron (Cats, Les Miz) Macintosh.

        The wacky spoof from London's West End is in search of retooling for American audiences. The premise: The headmistress of St. Godley's School for Girls plans to end the school's financial woes by staging a musical version of the Herman Melville classic as a Parent's Day fund-raiser. I don't know about you, but I'm there.

        Green Gables by local writers Janet Vogt and Mark Friedman had its first area workshop at Ensemble a couple of years ago as part of the Off-Center series. Human Race will remount the revised family musical, based on Lucy Maud Montgomery's beloved 1908 novel, Anne of Green Gables.

        The series wraps with a full production of Human Race-commissioned musical Wild Blue, a cabaret evening of songs and sketches celebrating man's folly and fascination with flight.

        The world premiere by Robert Hartmann and Dayton native Scott Keys will be at the new Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center in June as part of Dayton's Inventing Flight Festival.

        Human Race executive director Kevin Moore is the series' ambitious and musical-loving mastermind. He's been nurturing the Hartmann-Keys team with two previous workshops, for Hereafter and Macabaret.

        For more information, call the theater at (937) 461-3823 or visit www.humanracetheatre.org. Ticket number is (937) 228-3630 or (888) 228-3630.

        Road trip alert: The Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival is under way through Saturday with troupes and individual theater artists from New York, Montreal, New Orleans, St. Louis and a lot of other places performing all over town. For more information check www.cngltf.com.

        Wanted: writers: WVXU is looking for established and aspiring writers to submit radio plays suitable for a 30-minute dramatization. Small cast preferable. Deadline for submissions is Oct. 7. A prize (unnamed) will be given for the chosen script. Send to Catherine Smith, WVXU Radio, 3800 Victory Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45207. Questions? E-mail csmith@wvxu.com or call 458-3169.

        e-mail jdemaline@enquirer.com

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