How time flies! TV star Mark-Paul Gosselaar (pictured) who became very popular back in the late 1980s and early 1990s thanks to the TV show Saved by the Bell (which also starred Mario Lopez) will turn 36 in March. Gosselaar just made his stage debut this past December, co-starring with Julie White and Justin Kirk, in Theresa Rebeck’s newest comedy, The Understudy. The play’s successful off-Broadway run will come to an end on January 17. Rebeck’s other plays include Mauritius, The Scene, and Bad Dates, among many others.

The new company Red Thread Theatre will be making its debut on February 7 at the New Phoenix Theatre with the play Skirmishes, directed by Kelli Bocock-Natale, starring Josephine Hogan, Eileen Dugan, and Kathleen Betsko-Yale. The play runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through February 27. The company’s founding members are Bocock-Nalate, Hogan, Dugan, Colleen Gaughan, and Christina Rausa.

American Repertory Theater of WNY will continue its season with Matthew LaChiusa’s new play Red Clay, March 11-27 at the Main Street Cabaret. Directed by Drew McCabe, the production will star John Kaczorowski, Peter Jaskowiak, Sarah Brown, Chris Standart, Andrea Andolina, Patrick Cameron, and Dan Greer. Red Clay was first presented as a staged reading in the 2007 Buffalo Infringement Festival.

Jamie Doktor (of the Stripteasers fame) has joined the cast of BUA’s upcoming production of The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. The play is based on Ann Bannon’s classic lesbian pulp novels I Am a Woman, Women in the Shadow, and Journey to a Woman. Directed by Chris Kelly, the production will also star Nicole Cimato, Nick Cocchetto, Kate Elliott, Doug Weyand, and Katie White. The show runs February 19-March 13.

Lorna C. Hill will direct Theatre Plus’s upcoming production of Mark Wild’s Sweet Tooth. One of the three finalists in the Alleyway’s 2008 Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition, the show will run February 4-20 at the Alleyway Theatre. Andrea Andolina, Christopher S. Parada, and Dayatra Hassan are in the cast. The winner (The Careful Glover) and the other finalist (Left Holding the Mop) of the Mazumdar competition were produced at the Alleyway earlier this season.

The Subversive Theatre Collective is now accepting submissions for the upcoming Subversive Shorts showcase. The showcase is open to new plays by American playwrights that run up to thirty minutes in length. The deadline is February 1. Visit www.subversivetheatre.org for more information.

A benefit for the Jewish Repertory Theatre of WNY will be held on Saturday, February 6 at the Jewish Community Center’s Benderson Building Auditorium in Getzville. The evening will kick off with a staged reading of James Sherman’s comedy Beau Jest, starring Linda Stein, Paschal Frisina, Saul Elkin, Darleen Pickering Hummert, Jeffrey Coyle, and Steve Abbott. A basket raffle, coffee, and dessert will follow. For tickets call 688-4114, extension 391. Seating is limited.

Save the date! Shakespeare in Delaware Park’s 16th Annual Fabulous Feast and Auction will take place on Saturday, March 20.

Curtain Up Productions will present the classic comedy You Can’t Take it With You at the Palace Theatre in Lockport, January 21-24. Directed by David Bondrow, the production will star Chris Standart at Mr. Kirby, and Lisa Dee as Essie.

Hugh Davis will be Dr. Jekyll in Kaleidoscope’s upcoming production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which opens on January 29.

Frank Canino’s feature screenplay The Reunion (co-written with Alessandra Piccione) is the winner of Canada’s WILDSound International Competition which had over 300 entries from around the world. The screenplay will be read on January 29 at 7pm at the National Film Board Cinema in Toronto.

The New Phoenix will now finish its season with Neil LaBute’s In a Dark, Dark House, starring Drew Kahn and Richard Lambert, directed by Joe Natale. LaBute’s The Shape of Things will be presented by Buffalo State College, February 18-27, directed by Joseph Price. LaBute finally made his Broadway debut last season with his reasons to be pretty.