A Picasso, which imagines Pablo Picasso being interrogated during the occupation of Paris during World War II, kicks the series off next Sunday. The pre-show fun starts at 5:30 p.m. at The Wine Cellar in Mount Adams where scenic artist Lisa Molyneux will lead a discussion about the work of Picasso and about the art of scenic painting.

Stage Left events are also matched to A Christmas Carol, Bad Dates, The Underpants, Crowns and The Last Five Years.

Tickets for all Stage Left events are on sale now individually ($25) or in a package ($120, paid in advance). The cost includes a show ticket.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call the box office at (513) 421-3888 or (800) 582-3208 or visit www.cincyplay.com.

Anniversaries

The community theater season begins with a couple of big anniversaries:

• Sunset Players marks 25 years on the West Side with the daffy small-town comedy The Miss Firecracker Contest, opening Friday for a three-weekend run at the Arts Building in the Dunham Recreation Complex, West Price Hill.

It's worth noting that Sunset is one of the last remaining community theaters on the West Side: Falcon Theatre is now in Newport;, the Drama Workshop is working at the Columbia Performance Center in Columbia Tusculum; and Showbiz Players has moved to Xavier University.

Call (513) 588-4988 for Miss Firecracker reservations.

• In Wyoming, the Agatha Christie mystery Black Coffee opens the community theater's 120th anniversary season. "In 1885, a theater was performing in Wyoming," the theater's president (and show's director) Clint Bramkamp asserts. "We claim to be the oldest in Ohio and no one has contradicted us."

He's not saying Wyoming Players has been in continuous production since then, but the theater has playbills that are close to 100 years old. Players was officially founded in 1933 - 70-plus years making theater is plenty of reason to celebrate.

For Hercule Poirot fans, Coffee is the only Christie play that features the Belgian detective.

There's a 2 p.m. matinee today. Black Coffee continues at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Wyoming Civic Center (1 Worthington Ave.) For reservations and information, call (513) 588-4910.

E-mail jdemaline@enquirer.com