Thanks to everyone who responded to my Sept. 22 column about the outstanding 2002-03 live theater season Cincinnati is enjoying. The majority of responses can be boiled down to: “. . . but it's so expensive!” It doesn't have to be, if you're willing to plan and be creative.

        With movies costing $8 and $9 (not counting concession stands and parking), at $20, live theater is a more than viable option. Usually more fun, too.

        The Enquirer buys subscriptions to all the theaters we review, but if I were buying my own tickets, here's what I'd consider doing:

        I'd invite some friends to join me for dinner and a show. (I often do. E-mail me if you want to join the list.)

        If you can pull together 10 people, you'll get a healthy discount. Downtown dwellers: consider getting to know your neighbors with regular dinner-and-show outings. (Like they do at the Emery.) You can even walk there.

        (My Gen X and Y buds add this piece of advice: Plan your theater-going group for a Final Friday so you can snack at gallery openings on the way to the show.)

        The Playhouse (421-3888) and Cincinnati Shakespeare (381-2273) have graded scales, so the more folks, the bigger the discount. (At Playhouse, 20 percent off for a really big group of 50 or more.) Playhouse also has group discounts for students and seniors.

        Get a group together from work. Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce surveyed its small business members to find out what they were most interested in, and the answer came back: the arts. (Hurray!) Start a theater-going group at your company.

        Some theaters, including Cincinnati Shakespeare and Ensemble (421-3555), offer a flexible pass. Split the cost with a friend. There's an initial outlay, but you'll see what you want when you want on the cheap.

        Best deal in town: Buy unreserved half-price tickets day of show at the Playhouse box office starting at 11 a.m. (noon on Sundays). Will they be the best seats in the house? No, but they'll likely be under $20. P.S., if you're a senior citizen, you don't have to come to the box office. You can call for tickets.

        Don't overlook the Playhouse's baby-sitter rebate. Buy a Tuesday or Wednesday subscription to the Marx Theatre and at the end of the season, be eligible for up to $100 in rebates. (You do need to hire a baby sitter for your kids 12 and under.)

        Playhouse also offers a sweet deal to teachers for preview performances in both the Marx and, this year for the first time, the Shelterhouse.

        Have an AAA membership card? Flash it at your local box office, it will probably buy you a couple of bucks off.

        If you've invested in a 20/20 passport card (still available at $50 through Enjoy the Arts, 621-4700) you'll get discounts all year long and e-mail updates of the latest deals for performing arts tickets.

        “Basically, if you show a tattoo you get money off,” says Ensemble's Sue Cohen. That's how happy theaters are to invite you to the show.

        Cincinnati Shakespeare's Greg Davis advises to look for money-off coupons wherever you see a Cincinnati Shakespeare poster.

        Immediately enroll your school-age child in Enjoy the Arts. Get a year's worth of steep discounts for an entire year for $25. (Making a night of it with my mom back in Cleveland was how I came to love theater. I was a lifer by the time I was 8.)

        Keep an eye out for Studio shows at College-Conservatory of Music on the University of Cincinnati campus. The choices are on a must-see list this year: a new translation of Antigone, The Shape of Things, A New Brain and more. The price couldn't be better; it's free.

        You do have to call on Monday morning (556-4183, the tickets go fast, not surprisingly.) With these savings, you can splurge and park in the CCM garage ($5).

        Or you can try your luck with street parking along Calhoun and have dinner at one of the wonderful ethnic and/or veggie storefront restaurants within walking distance of CCM's front door.

        Consider being adventurous and looking beyond the most obvious choices. Just about all the smaller downtown companies are priced under $20. (Make a habit of checking the Weekend section theater listings every Friday, along with Movie Guide.)

        This is the season to reframe the way you think about theater. It is affordable. It's worth checking out. It's worth talking about.

        We have the makings of a great theater scene, but it can't happen without you.

        Cirque du Soleil: Check the Cirque du Soleil Web site and you'll find Dralion down for a visit to Cincinnati next summer.

        “It is in the plans but not necessarily official,” tour development agent Carolyn Bercier said. She was in Cincinnati over the summer scoping locations for a cirque-sized tent with parking. “I can't talk right now.”

        She was escorted around town by reps from Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, who took her to the Xavier campus (adjacent to the Cintas Center), Coney Island and more. The preferred site would be downtown, between the two stadiums.

        Adopt-a-School: Seven years ago, Playhouse in the Park producing artistic director Ed Stern saw a need for arts education in at-risk schools.

        He could have done a lot of things. He could have talked about it. He could have asked for a study on it. He could have gotten buried in paperwork for funding, He could have asked for funding for a study.

        Happily, he made a few phone calls to arts colleagues and said, “We need to adopt some schools.”

        The Playhouse and a dozen other arts organizations found a way to just do it. Within months, Adopt-a-School was in 13 area schools. Now it's in 46 schools in 13 school districts.

        Soon Art Links was created to oversee Adopt-a-School, and shortly added the Arts Bus service, Taft High School arts mentoring program Yo! Arts! and a whole lot more to meet its mission of connecting kids to arts.

        Art Links will say a big “thank you” to Mr. Stern on Friday at the Phoenix Ballroom (starting at 6:30 p.m.). Proceeds from the tribute (promised to be quite dramatic) will benefit Art Links. For information and reservations call 475-4808.

        Casting news: Amy Warner, who made her regional debut in The Guys at ETC, will be seen next in A Christmas Carol at Playhouse in roles usually assigned to Dale Hodges (who'll be opening Wednesday in Bed Among the Lentils at Ensemble, 421-3555).

        Not to worry, laughs Ms. Hodges, who has performed in every Playhouse Carol but one. She's signed on to play the Spirit of Christmas Past for the first time. Carol performances begin Dec. 4, tickets are on sale at the Playhouse box office (421-3888).

        Ms. Hodges and Joneal Joplin (Ebenezer Scrooge) will move straight from Carol to the regional premiere of Copenhagen at Ensemble, playing Jan. 22-Feb. 9 and directed by Playhouse's Ed Stern.

        Joining them in Michael Frayn's Tony Award-winning Best Play (2000) about the mysteries of nuclear fusion and the human condition is Greg Thornton (a veteran of Someone to Watch Over Me, Dancing at Lughnasa and more at Playhouse).

        If, by chance, you saw the television version on PBS last week, all the more reason to buy a ticket. The TV adaptation was terrible.

        Together again: In 1980, Ginny Chizer became head of the drama department at Oak Hills High School and junior Dan Doerger was one of her star students.

        He was in her first Oak Hills production, The Odd Couple. As a senior Mr. Doerger was president of Drama Club and Thespians as well as appearing in and choreographing Bye, Bye Birdie and Damn Yankees.

        While he attended Northern Kentucky University and University of Cincinnati, Mr. Doerger returned to choreograph a string of musicals and co-directed Working. Mrs. Chizer was thrilled when he was assigned to be her student teacher.

        Mr. Doerger moved on to New York then Seattle, where he became head of a college theater department.

        “Three years ago, much to our amazement, he gave up all that to return to Cincinnati to work on his doctoral degree at UC,” reports Mrs. Chizer, who lured him into Drama Workshop while she served on his doctoral committee.

        Mrs. Chizer and Mr. Doerger are together again Friday-Oct. 19 in Over the River and Through the Woods at Drama Workshop. The comedy is about two sets of grandparents intent on keeping their beloved boy from moving to Seattle. “Life does parallel the story,” laughs Mrs. Chizer, who is delighted to be on stage with Mr. Doerger, “playing a loving grandma to someone who is truly like a son to me.”

        The only downside for Mrs. Chizer is that best friend Ginny Weil is directing the same show at Mariemont (closing today) and timing being what it is, “It will be the first show she's worked on that I won't see.”

        Drama Workshop performs at Westwood Town Hall, corner of Montana, Epworth and Harrison avenues. Tickets: 598-8303.

        Calling all volunteers: The Children's Theatre is looking for a few good men. And they need you now. The theater is recruiting volunteers for jury duty in To Kill a Mockingbird with performances beginning Oct. 17 at Xavier University.

        A dozen white men, 18 and older, are needed as jurors. Also needed are four African-American men and women to play parishioners in the court scene. Last minute conflicts ended the participation of several Xavier students, hence the last-minute scramble.

        Volunteers will be needed for rehearsals and performances Oct. 12-28, including some morning matinees. If you're interested, call production manager Alicia Reece at 569-8080, Ext.17.

        Tickets: 745-3939.

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

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