THEATER
Collective Project announces 2012-13 season
Next Stage Theatre Company, which has leased the Alley Stage, the smaller space in the Marietta building that formerly housed the now-defunct Theatre in the Square, has announced its 2012-13 season:

• Aug. 10-25: “Avenue Q,” the Tony-winning musical with puppets.

• Sept 13-22: “Venus Rotates Clockwise,” a romantic comedy.

• Oct. 19-Nov.3: “Rocky Horror Show.”

• Dec. 14-31: “Cabaret.”

• Feb. 8-23: Neil Simon’s “Laughter on the 23rd Floor.”

• April 5-20: “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

• May 3-18: “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

• June 14-29: “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

But first, the “community/semi-professional” troupe, as it describes itself on its Web site, will celebrate its second anniversary with the musical “Assassins” June 15-24 at its old space in Blackwell Square shopping center, 3380 Canton Road, Marietta.

Next Stage founder and artistic director Rob Hardie said, “I suppose we should simply call ourselves professional. We pay more in many cases than theater companies that do claim a professional status.” And he leaves open the option of offering contracts to Actors’ Equity union performers, one measure of professional status.

“I just never want us to lose our sense of who we are,” Hardie said, “a theater for our community — our surrounding community and a community of artists.”

Information: 678-744-6398, www.nextstagetheatre.net.

Meanwhile, another young company also will call Alley Stage home: Out of Box Theatre, guided by Carolyn Choe, will be a company-in-residence, performing three shows next season. With exact dates to be announced, the lineup is: “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged” (”Revised”) in July, “Santaland Diaries” in December and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in March. Information: www.facebook.com/gotnoboxtheatre.CQ

THEATER
Collective Project’s season
The troupe behind what www.artsatl.com pegged as the top production of 2011 (”The City of Lions and Gods”) has announced its 2012 season. The Collective Project’s three shows will be presented at the Goat Farm arts center on the Westside, where it has become the resident theater company.

• July 14-29: “The Red Herring,” world premiere of Greg Garrison’s comedic noir. To mount the production, the troupe is attempting to raise $3,000 on www.kickstarter.com by Thursday.5/31

• Oct. 13-28: “The Devil Tree,” a folklore piece set in fictional Laurel County in South Georgia, where ghosts and secrets live.

• Dec. 8-23: “The Theory of Everything,” a series of shorts in which the audience votes on which ones get performed.

Information:   http://on.fb.me/eJ04Bd