It's a

heady time to be a theater lover in Coweta County.

With

productions of the Newnan Community Theater Company

selling out on a regular basis, the theater company knew

it was time to find a new space to replace their

increasingly cramped location at the Manget-Brannon

Center for the Performing Arts on Hatchett Avenue in

Newnan.

Artistic

director Dale Lyles began looking for a new site three

years ago, but the momentum picked up last December when

Kevin McInturff volunteered to help the group find a

site.

"He

announced at our inaugural gala in January that we would

be in a new building in 18 months. He did it in

six," Lyles said.

The theater

company signed a lease on the old Johnson Hardware

warehouse late last month, just across the street from

its present location.

Lyles said

the company hopes to stage its annual musical version of

"A Christmas Carol" at the new facility in

December and is excited about the new possibilities for

the company.

The

warehouse is three times as big as the old theater

company's digs and provides 25,000 square feet of room.

In its

years at the Manget-Brannon Center, the company was

unable to do a children's theater program Saturday

mornings because the space was being used for set

construction.

"We

perform more than half the weekends of the year, with

four Mainstage shows and umpteen Second Season

productions popping up all the time. That schedule was

getting tighter and tighter with rehearsals overlapping

and set construction time at a premium," Lyles said.

The new

spacious setting will allow the theater to have more than

a 200-seat performance area, lobby space, a scene shop,

rehearsal studio, classroom space, costume shop and

storage.

Residents

who want to get a glimpse of the theater company's work

can sample Christoper Durang's "Beyond Therapy"

running this weekend and next weekend. Shows start at 8

p.m. and tickets are $6. The play is intended for mature

audiences only. For information phone 770-251-0571.

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