Most regional theatres stage A Christmas Carol for the holiday seasons. Not so, Marietta, Georgia's Theatre in the Square. For the past 19 years, they've been putting on The 1940's Radio Hour every holiday season. This year's begins Nov. 21 and runs thorugh Dec. 31 on the Mainstage.

Set at the live broadcast of "The Mutual Manhattan Variety Cavalcade," The 1940's Radio Hour gives a backstage look at radio production in 1941, when the war is heating up in Europe and everyone knows someone in the armed services. While the show's young trumpet player readies himself for war, the torchy jingle singer waits tables and a young delivery boy hangs out at the station with hopes for stardom, Clifton A. Feddington, the band leader, announcer and general manager tries to keep the show running. Songs in the score include the favorites "Chattanooga Choo Choo," "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo" "That Old Black Magic" "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B" and the Duke Ellington tune "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good."

Tickets are $30-$17. The Theatre in the Square is located at 11 Whitlock Avenue. For reservations, call (770) 422-8369. Theatre in the Square is on the web at http://www.theatreinthesquare.com.

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A second holiday production, The Sanders Family Christmas, began performances Nov. 8 for a run through Dec. 24 on the Alley Stage. Sanders Family Christmas is the sequel to the popular Smoke on the Mountain, which features a rural gospel-singing Baptist family in wartime North Carolina. They are loving father Burl, the Bible-quoting mother Vera, Army-bound twin brother Dennis and his star-struck twin sister Denise, the former black sheep and cowboy Stanley, the non-singing June and Reverend Mervin Oglethorpe, head of the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.

Scott DePoy directs. Reprising their roles from last year's production are John P. Peterson (Burl), Karen Howell (Vera), Mike Masters (Dennis), DePoy (Stanley) and Alan Kirkpatrick (Oglethorpe). New to the cast are Suzanne Roush (June) and Amber Brooke (Denise).