When Broadway touring evergreen Les Miserables, based on Victor Hugo's epic of obsession and redemption, returns to Cincinnati for the seventh time Oct. 1-6, it will be chock-full of performers who've spent time on stage at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

        Check the supporting players on the Aronoff's Procter & Gamble Hall stage and find: Seth Bowling ('98), loved him as Val in Babes in Arms among many, many other performances; Dan Bogart ('99), played Christian in Cyrano at CCM, he and elder brother Matt (CCM '94) have a CD “Simple Song” coming out next month.

        John-Andrew Clark (2002), had the title role in Dracula last year (it took him all of two weeks in NYC to land the role); Stephen Colella ('95) was a show-stopper as Booth in Assassins and Billy Bigelow in Carousel.

        Also, former students Betsy Werbel (Sister Hubert in Nunsense II); and Scott Hunt have just joined the cast — he replacing CCMer Matthew Teague Miller (Dickon in The Secret Garden), who's taking a leave of absence.

        Front and center will be Joseph Mahowald ('84), playing relentless Inspector Javert, who hounds heroic escaped convict Jean Valjean for decades, intent on bringing him to justice and back to prison for stealing a loaf of bread.

        Since graduating from CCM, Mr. Mahowald has put time in on Broadway in Les Miz and in the title role in Jekyll and Hyde. He has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall and with orchestras including St. Louis Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center.

        So what's going on here? Put it down to talent and training.

        Tickets: 241-7469.

        High schools: Here are a couple of wonderful opportunities for high school theater students that were featured in the Weekend section of Friday's Enquirer, but which bear repeating:

        The first annual Tri-State High School Playwriting Festival debuts this academic year, hosted by Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative with the support of Cincinnati Arts Association and coordinated by Mary Lenning of School for Creative and Performing Arts.

        Tristate high school students are invited to try their hand at writing a script. The winning script will be performed at 7 p.m. May 20 at the Aronoff's Fifth Third Bank Theater. Scenes from the other top finishers also will be performed.

        If you're interested but don't know how to get started, there will be a playwriting workshop 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 9 in the Aronoff Center's Rehearsal Hall.

        Local playwright and actress Mary Tensing will lead the workshop. Students who have written scenes already are invited to bring them. Cincinnati Arts Association will provide lunch. Registration deadline is Nov. 1.

        Script deadline is Feb. 1. Scripts must be original. Adaptations, screenplays and musicals are not eligible. Collaborations of up to three authors are permitted. Students must be between the ages of 14 and 19 on the deadline date.

        Scripts should be submitted to: Mary Lenning, c/o School for Creative and Performing Arts, 1310 Sycamore St., Cincinnati, OH 45210.

        Questions? Call CPI executive director Chuck Wente at (859) 291-6996.

        It's also time for the Cappies to resume, the high school theater awards program that recognizes excellence in performance, design and criticism from throughout the region. (Cappies stands for Critics and Awards Program.)

        An information session for schools, students and mentors is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Xavier University's new Gallagher Center theater.

        When the application deadline rolls around on Oct. 15, program director Susan Grubbs says she wouldn't be surprised if as many as 20 area high schools are signed up.

        Dinner and a player: October is Arts and Humanities Month. Show your support. Invite an actor to dinner.

        Schedule set: After getting off to a rousing start with a visit from Samm-Art Williams last week, Ensemble Theatre has set the remainder of the 2002-03 Theatre of the Mind play reading series.

        Playwrights will be in residence at ETC and will offer a local playwrights workshop, in association with Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative, the Saturday prior to every public reading, all scheduled for 7 p.m. Mondays.

        The schedule:

        Oct. 21, Orphan Train by Mary Murfitt, who closed last season at ETC as the author and an ensemble member of Cowgirls.

        Nov. 11, Greek Holiday by Mayo Simon, co-author of cult movie hit Westworld and University of Cincinnati playwright-in-residence later this autumn.

        Dec. 9, Cuttings by local playwright Thom Atkinson.

        Feb. 3, If You Don't Know Now by Brooks Appelbaum.

        March 24, Swordsong by David Richmond, who authored ETC's Zorro several years ago. The script is based on a true story of a woman who was a sword-wielding bandit by day and opera diva by night.

        More information: 421-3555.

        Collaboration: Jenny Timm and Christina Jennings started working on Freeing the Goddess when they were students at Julliard.

        Ms. Timm returned to Cincinnati and Ms. Jennings is pursuing a career as a classical flautist. But it was time, says Ms. Timm, to make time for a “music-play, exploring through movement, ritual, narrative, poetry and music the possibility of experiencing unity and balance in a world of duality.”

        The script includes text from Keats, Shakespeare and e.e. cummings, music includes Debussy, Thea Musgrave and a world premiere by Gail Jennings.

        Their collaboration is one half of Goddesses and Guys, continuing at Performance Gallery (3500 Eastern Ave.) through next weekend. For information and reservations call 333-8482 or e-mail ticketsperformancegallery.

        Real deal: For West Side Story at Footlighters, opening Thursday at the Stained Glass Theatre, Eighth and York streets in Newport, director Jay Woffington wanted the real deal.

        The musicalization of Romeo & Juliet pits the Sharks against the Jets in a turf war between Puerto Rican and white gangs. So Mr. Woffington spent a lot of time recruiting Hispanic cast members.

        He took advantage of Procter & Gamble's staff network, and “there were a lot of salsa nights at the Corinthian and Mad Frog,” Mr. Woffington laughs. “Start time is 11 p.m. We'd (he and wife Julie, the show's music director) be leaving the house at 11 on a Monday night and I'd think, “I haven't done this since college 10 years ago.”

        Thanks to the Woffingtons' efforts, and those of choreographer Michael McCormick (“we're a three-headed directing team,” says Mr. Woffington), this production of West Side Story will have one happy ending — the multiethnic cast they were working toward.

        Holly Schrier, who plays Maria, is of Mexican descent; Joy Rolland, an African-American grad of the School for Creative and Performing Arts, plays Anita.

        Venezuela-born Yenny Ho is Teresita. Ms. Ho became a U.S. citizen in July and, she says, “The song "America' means so much more to me now.”

        The ensemble also includes Guatemalan and American Indian performers. “I think this West Side Story has a hugely relevant message for Cincinnati,” says Mr. Woffington. “The themes of racial tension and inner-city violence blended with the hopeful, if tragic, ending are important messages for our city.

        “In the theater's lobby art gallery, we are highlighting individual cast members' experiences with race growing up and there will be an exhibit of artwork and creative writing by SCPA students about race and inner-city violence.”

        Brian Anderson, who received accolades as Che in Cincinnati Music Theatre's Evita in 2001, plays Tony.

        The run is mostly sold out. At press time there were tickets for Oct. 10 and Oct. 17 and an Oct. 16 performance has been added. Box office: 474-8711.

        In Mariemont: Community theater faves including Ann Baker, Doug Berlon, Norma Niinemets, Jack Kuresman, Kristy Rucker and Arny Stoller open Mariemont Players season in the romantic comedy Over the River and Through the Woods, in which grandparents scheme to keep their beloved (but upwardly mobile) grandson from moving to Seattle.

        Another well-known community theater name, Ginny Weil, directs. The show continues through Oct. 6 at the Walton Creek Theatre. For reservations call 684-1236.

        At Miami: Miami University department of theater has scheduled preshow discussions for Execution of Justice by Emily Mann, playing Oct. 3-12.

        Working from transcripts and media interviews, Execution is “theater of testimony” that documents the 1978 trial of Dan White for the murders of San Francisco politicians Harvey Milk, the city's first gay supervisor and Mayor George Moscone.

        On Oct. 4, Jimmy Heath, photographer and editor of Cincinnati Street Vibes, and Roy Ford of Stonewall Cincinnati will discuss “The Role of the Artist in Social Justice Movements.”

        On. Oct. 10, “Education for Tolerance” will address the topics of gay and lesbian history and movements and the climate on Miami's campus. Discussion leaders will be Yvonne Keller, professor of interdisciplinary studies and Steve DeLue, professor of political science.

        Miami box office: (513) 529-3200.

        E-mail jdemaline@enquirer.com.

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