Kim Correll took the job as director of the Colonnade’s theatre only a few months ago, and she has big plans for the theatre’s future.

She said her first objective is to increase the theatre’s visibility in the community.

“This theatre is a wonderful opportunity for the county residents. People don’t have to go to Chattanooga for theatre anymore,” she said. “And the parking is free here.”

Correll recently started a newsletter specifically for the theatre and will soon be sending “massive e-mailings” to residents looking for quality entertainment, she said. To sign up for the newsletter, visit the Colonnade’s Web site at www.colonnadecenter.org.

Correll said she would also like to go into area school systems and help with existing drama programs and get programs started in schools that aren’t active in the arts.

Another project Correll looks forward to is a play festival she is hosting in March for area high schools. High schools from Catoosa, Walker, and Dade counties are welcome to participate, she said. Correll will work with the groups, helping each of them to develop a one-act play, then all the groups will perform their plays for the public in a central show. Tickets will be sold at a nominal fee for the event, she said.

Correll has an idea how to include younger children in the theatre, as well.

“I would like to develop an arts program for area children for a week or two in the summer,” she said. “They would learn about music, art and theatre while they’re here.”

One of her larger, long-term goals is to create a professional children’s theatre, which consists of adult actors going out to schools to perform for children. She was involved with similar projects in both Alabama and North Carolina, and said it was a wonderful experience.

“We would go to areas where these kids had never seen live performances,” she said, “and it’s such a different experience than going to the movies, seeing the live emotion right in front of you. Speaking from an actor’s point of view too, there’s just nothing like it.”

Correll said she would like to see area high schools utilizing the facilities at the Colonnade more often, “because not many high schools have a theatre or stage this nice.”

The theatre usually hosts about six plays a year — one about every two months. The cost is usually $8-$10 per ticket, although if it’s a musical production, the cost can be higher, she said.

Colonnade Community Players

The company of actors that puts on most of the plays is called the Colonnade Community Players (CCP). The group, led by director Kim Parrish, doesn’t have a set number of members. The company is constantly evolving, Correll said. Each production has open auditions, so there are different people in the CCP all the time.

“We use a lot of children and teens from the area in our productions,” she said.

Both Parrish and Correll emphasize that everyone in the community is welcome to volunteer with the theatre. If interested in acting, one can audition for parts in plays. The theater has a need for behind-the-scenes help too, she said.

Parrish, with help from Jim Lansing, started the Colonnade Community Players in fall 2001, just after the Colonnade opened. The theatre, which seats 536 people, is available to rent just like the Colonnade’s banquet rooms, and boasts all the latest sound and lighting technology.

Recent productions at the theatre include Grease, Wind in the Willows, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The theater’s next show, Smoke on the Mountain, runs Oct. 2-4. The play is set in Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in the 1930s during the great depression.

Correll promises, “Some of the best old gospel songs ever written will have you clapping, singing and laughing.”

Show tickets are $11, and can be purchased through the Colonnade box office at (706) 935-9000.

Other upcoming productions include The Foreigner, Quilters, and Nunsense.

Correll would like to eventually present a production of The Miracle Worker. Her all-time favorite part is that of Annie Sullivan, the play’s lead character.

“That was my thesis role in graduate school,” she said.

Correll’s hometown roots

Correll, daughter of former Ringgold Police Chief Charles Correll (still involved with Catoosa County law enforcement) and Mabel Correll, is originally from Ringgold. She grew up in the area with sisters Melody Mellinger and Valerie Gordon, and graduated from Ringgold High School, alongside her now husband Robin Christian. She and Christian were cited side by side in their senior yearbook as “Most versatile.”

After college, Correll traveled a lot, living in several different parts of the country. She lived in Los Angeles for 9½ years, working as a teacher as well as acting in plays and in several independent films. She also participated in a one-day shoot on the set of General Hospital, playing a flight attendant.

While in L.A., Correll taught English as a second language (ESL) to adults at the Burbank Adult School.

“That was one of the most rewarding jobs I ever had,” she said.

She started with these students at “level zero,” which meant they had no understanding of English whatsoever.

“I would have to literally start them with teaching them the alphabet and sounds just like kindergartners,” she said. Her acting skills came in handy with this job, in trying to communicate with her students, she said.

Correll said she loved the opportunities she found in California and all the other places she lived. Had she decided to stay around Catoosa County right after college, she said she might not have been happy, because she really wanted to experience more of the world.

“This is home, though,” she said. “My parents are here, and it was time to come home.”

The job at the Colonnade seemed to have been waiting just for her, Correll said.

While she was still in California, she and Christian had decided to get married, and she had planned on moving home, but didn’t yet have a job here. Christian was visiting the Colonnade one day, arranging to book the theatre for a band concert, when Colonnade director Dee Bridges mentioned that she was looking for a theatre director.

“He called me and said you’re not going to believe this,” she said. “I think it was divine intervention.”

Correll said leaving Los Angeles was difficult because she made close friends there and was involved with a church she loved. The two things she said she will not miss in California are earthquakes and traffic.

“It’s nice to be back in a more laid back atmosphere,” she said, “even though L.A. isn’t as crazy as everyone thinks.”

Her biggest adjustments here have been reacquainting herself with Georgia’s humidity and insects.

“There are no bugs in California, except for the occasional bee,” she said.

She isn’t complaining though.

“I’ve reinvented myself so many times over the years,” she said, “I’m very excited about this new chapter in my life.”

Upcoming events

September:

8,9 — Auditions for “Wait Until Dark,” 6 p.m.

10,11 — “A Pilgrim’s Prayer,” 7 p.m.

18 — James Rogers in concert, 7:30 p.m.

October:

2-4 — “Smoke on the Mountain,” 7:30 p.m.

4 — L’Abri Pops concert, 8 p.m.

23-25 — Wait Until Dark, 7:30 p.m.

31 — Wait Until Dark, 7:30 p.m.

November:

1 — Wait Until Dark, 7:30 p.m.

17,19 — Auditions for “The Foreigner,” 6 p.m.

27-29 — 1940s Radio Hour, 7:30 p.m.

December:

11 — String Connection, Chattanooga Boys Choir Christmas concert, 7 p.m.

18 — James Rogers in concert, 7 p.m.

For more information regarding play auditions, contact Kim Parrish at (706) 218-4757.