When 19 people showed up at Natchez Little Theatre for a new eight-week adult acting course recently, Layne Taylor knew he had a hit.

That course, plus one for children later in the summer, is part of a plan that will keep the theater vibrant throughout the year, said Taylor, executive director at NLT.

&uot;In our 57th season, over 7,000 people came to the Natchez Little Theatre,&uot; Taylor said. &uot;In our next season, we expect 14,000 because we are doubling the number of our performances.&uot;

Indeed, the upcoming season includes not only a wide variety of plays and events but also something during each month of the year.

&uot;Bugsy Malone&uot; in August will feature the children who take part in the summer acting workshop. &uot;One thing I want to do is to have our children’s productions entertain an adult audience other than the parents and grandparents of the children,&uot; Taylor said. &uot;This is a wonderful, funny play.&uot;

In September, the theater will present &uot;The Royal Family.&uot; In October for Fall Pilgrimage, the musical &uot;Big River&uot; will replace the traditional October &uot;Mississippi Medicine Show.&uot;

&uot;We think it’s a good thing to offer something new,&uot; Taylor said. &uot;It’s good for locals and good for tourists, too.&uot;

The November production is &uot;Private Lives,&uot; and in December &uot;A Natchez Christmas Carol&uot; will have its second season.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting will tape the December production for state-wide airing, Taylor said. &uot;They will air it in its entirety.&uot; And MPB officials have expressed the same interest in &uot;Southern Exposure&uot; and &uot;Mississippi Medicine Show.&uot;

&uot;The Children’s Hour&uot; will be produced in January, and, in February, a series of one-act plays will fill the month, including &uot;27 Wagons Full of Cotton,&uot; &uot;Suddenly, Last Summer&uot; and &uot;Confessions of a Nightingale.&uot;

&uot;Southern Exposure,&uot; offered during Spring Pilgrimage for decades, once again will be the March and early April performance. &uot;Southern Exposure&uot; is a money maker for the theater, Taylor said. &uot;It pays for this theater. Over 4,000 people saw the show this year.&uot;

In May 2006, the NLT production will be &uot;Carmen and Martha,&uot; a student production.

In June, the musical extravaganza &uot;La Cage Aux Folles&uot; will be performed. And in July, as has become traditional, the Stan Dean Ovation Awards will honor NLT volunteers and provide &uot;one of the most entertaining evenings of the year,&uot; Taylor said.

Season tickets are on sale at the box office on Linton Avenue; and by phone at 601-442-9556 or toll free at 877-440-2233.