Going to the theater lets you take in dramatic scenes at a safe distance, much like listening to your neighbors argue about how to pronounce “gnocchi.” Hide behind the fourth wall with this deal to Poteet Theatre at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church. For $10, you get one ticket for general-admission seating (a $20 value). The house opens 30 minutes before each show. Choose from the following shows:

• The Color Purple, which runs March 2–April 1
• Cheaper by the Dozen, which runs April 20–May 6
• Hairspray, which runs July 13–August 5
• To Kill a Mockingbird, which runs September 14–30
• The Wizard of Oz, which runs November 16–December 9
  
  

Click here to see available dates for each play.

Poteet Theatre’s dedicated cadre of actors and technical wizards culled from the community delights audiences with five full-scale productions every year. The 2012 season kicks off with the musical The Color Purple, based on Alice Walker’s powerful novel of the life of black women in the American South during the 1930s. Cheaper by the Dozen ups the levity quotient with a tale about an industrial-efficiency expert and his efforts to whip his 12 children into a smooth-running unit that streamlines household chores, irons shirts while showering, and competes for the coveted Child of the Month spot on the wall. Following the adventures of plus-size dancer Tracy Turnblad in the rapidly changing Baltimore of the 1960s, Hairspray keeps audiences enthralled with upbeat songs and dances, and To Kill a Mockingbird weaves a tale of coming of age amid the racial strife of the early-20th-century South. The Wizard of Oz finishes off the year’s run, telling the famous story complete with such famous songs as “Over the Rainbow,” “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” and “Dark Side of the Moon.”