Whether you prefer a large traveling company production with elaborate costuming and staging or you favor a one-act student performance, local theaters and theater groups will have something to suit your fancy in the next month.
These range from “Peter Pan” at the Tivoli Theatre to a revival of “Godspell” at Chattanooga State to readings at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre as part of its Festival of Plays.
“PETER PAN”
Humble Swan Productions presents J.M. Barrie’s famous story of the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, using the set from the national touring production and the harnesses that flew Cathy Rigby. Join the Darling children, Tinkerbell, Capt. Hook and the Lost Boys in Neverland.
* When: 8 tonight and Saturday.
* Where: Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St.
* Admission: $34.50-$42.50.
* Phone: 642-TIXS.
“WEST SIDE STORY”
Presented by the Department of Music and the Musical Theatre Club at Covenant College, the musical based on “Romeo & Juliet” is set in 1950s New York, where rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, battle for dominance.
* When: 7:30 p.m. tonight, Saturday and March 25-26.
* Where: Dora Maclellean Brown Memorial Chapel, Covenant College, 14049 Scenic Highway, Lookout Mountain.
* Admission: $10 kids and students and $15 adults
* Phone: 706-419-1428.
“NIADA”
Written and directed by Covenant College senior Alysha McCullough, “Niada” is an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.” It follows a mermaid who rescues a prince from drowning and wishes to be human so she can be with him. The one-act play is presented by the campus Drama Association.
* When: 8 p.m. April 8, 10, 15 and 16; 2:30 p.m. April 17.
* Where: Sanderson Hall, Covenant College, 14049 Scenic Highway, Lookout Mountain.
* Admission: $3 students, $5 adults.
* Phone: 916-642-3430.
“GODSPELL”
Written by John-Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz, “Godspell” is directed and choreographed by Sherry Landrum, who along with husband and fellow theater teacher Rex Knowles, appeared in the national tour of “Godspell” in 1972. The production will be as close to the original as possible, including set, costumes, direction and choreography.
* When: 7:30 p.m. March 26-27; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. March 28.
* Where: Bond Humanities Building, Chattanooga State Community College, 4501 Amnicola Highway.
* Admission: $10.
* Phone: 697-3113.
“ROMEO & JULIET”
Shakespeare’s classic tale will be presented by The Acting Company from New York City as part of the Patten Performances series.
* When: 3 p.m. March 28, 7:30 March 29.
* Where: UTC Fine Arts Center, Vine and Palmetto streets.
* Admission: $22 adults, $19 seniors, $15 students.
* Phone: 425-4379.
“THE PAJAMA GAME”
The UTC Department of Theatre and Speech will present the 1955 Tony Award winner for Best Musical. Set in 1954 in a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, pajama factory, the musical follows the head of the union’s grievance committee and the new foreman as they negotiate a labor dispute amid a budding relationship. The production includes such memorable songs as “Steam Heat,” “Hey There” and “Hernando’s Hideaway.”
* When: 7:30 p.m. April 2-3, 7-10.
* Where: UTC Fine Arts Center, Vine and Palmetto streets.
* Admission: $10 students and seniors, $12 general admission.
* Phone: 425-4264.
“THE PRIMITIVE STREAK”
The grand-prize winner of Chattanooga Theatre Centre’s biennial Festival of Plays, written by Hunter Rodgers of Dayton, Tenn., will be performed, and three runners-up will have staged readings. The play is about a collection of characters, including an angry young man who has just lost his mother, a crooked state senator running for re-election, an odd pair of star-crossed lovers, a lively prostitute and a ruthless businesswoman, who meet in a bordello.
* When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays March 26-April 10, with awards ceremony at 7:30 p.m. April 10 in the Circle Theatre lobby.
* Where: Chattanooga Theatre Centre, 400 River St.
* Admission: $15.
* Phone: 267-8534.
* Readings in the Studio: Dakota Brown’s “Sunday in the South,” March 26-27; Lee Wright’s “Fortunes of Warren,” April 2-3; and Logan Lee’s “Life Without Tom,” April 9-10. All start at 8 p.m. Admission is $5.
SONRISE RESURRECTION PAGEANT
This free, interactive journey, produced annually since 1996, presents the last days of Christ’s life, death and Resurrection and takes hundreds of volunteers to produce. It begins at Collegedale Seventh-day Church and features a short walk through the campus of Southern Adventist University. The final two scenes — burial and Resurrection — are being produced by Ripple Productions of Chattanooga with such special effects as pyrotechnics, flying rigging, lighting and sound.
* When: First tour at 8:45 a.m., then every 30 minutes between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. April 3.
* Where: Collegedale Seventh-day Adventist Church, 4829 College Drive East.
* Admission: Free but tickets required for all but the 2 p.m. walk. Tickets will be available starting at 7 a.m. Monday in front of Barnie’s Coffee & Tea Co. in the food court at Hamilton Place.
* Phone: 954-2220, 396-2134.
* Web site: www.collegedalechurch.com.
“MIXED MEDIA”
Ensemble Theater of Chattanooga commissioned Thomas Spake to create a sculpture, which was used as the inspiration for four new short plays by Peter Macklin, Derek Van Barham, Anthony Garcia Copian and Rob Smith. Then their scripts were used as inspiration by visual artists Shaun LaRose, Cat Collier, Matthew Dutton and Chandra Morgan. “Mixed Media” combines those elements into a theatrical presentation directed by Garry Lee Posey.
* When: 7:30 p.m. April 2-4, 9-11; 2 p.m. April 3 and 10; 3 p.m. April 4 and 11.
* Where: St. Andrews Center, 1918 Union Ave.
* Admission: $8 students, $10 adults.
* Phone: 987-5141.
* Special event: “Mixed Media” will presented at 6 p.m. April 1 at the Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View. Admission is $5 for members, $14.95 for nonmembers.
“THIS IS NOT A PIPE DREAM”
This short family play by Barry Kornhauser from Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga explores the life of surrealist painter Rene Magritte, specifically how the artist used his imagination to see the world in whimsical, humorous way. Combining vaudeville, theater magic and costumes inspired by his paintings, the play has a fast-paced, Three Stooges feel.
* When: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday and March 27.
* Where: St. Andrews Center, 1918 Union Ave.
* Admission: $6.
* Phone: 987-5141.
* Web site: www.ensembletheatreofchattanooga.com.
“DELIRIUM OF INTERPRETATIONS”
Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga describes this play as an “anti-biography” of Camille Claudel, the featured student and mistress of August Rodin, who sculpted “The Thinker.” It attempts to explore the many interpretations of her life story, with an angle on her undiagnosed mental illness, paranoia.
* When: 7:30 p.m. today and March 26, 3 p.m. Sunday and March 28.
* Where: Ensemble Theatre, St. Andrews Center, 1918 Union Ave.
* Admission: $10 students, $8 adults.
* Phone: 987-5141.
* Web site: www.ensembletheatreofchattanooga.com.