OPENING

"The Importance of Being Earnest": By the Mid-Pacific School of the Arts, 3:45 p.m. March 6 and 13, 7:30 p.m. March 7, 8, 14 and 15, and 4 p.m .March 9 and 16, Kawaiaha'o Recital Hall, Mid-Pacific Institute Campus. Cost: $5 general, and $3 students and seniors. Reservations at 973-5071.

"The Music Man": A traveler sells his vision of a marching band to a small town, 7 p.m. March 6, Mamiya Theatre, St. Louis School. Presented by the Iolani School Dramatic Players. Repeats 8 p.m. March 7 and 8. Admission $8. Information: 943-2213 or 943-2238.

"Prelude To A Kiss": A bride switches souls with an old man on her honeymoon, 7:30 p.m. March 12 and 15-17. Additional showings 4:30 p.m. March 15 and 16. Cost: $9 general, $7 students, seniors and military. Call 623-1244.

"Welcome To The Moon": Four short pieces about the aspects of love by playwright John Patrick Shanley, 10:45 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through March 22, Earle Ernst Lab Theatre. Cost: $5 general, $4 students, senior, military, UH faculty/staff, and $3 UHM students with validated ID.

"Yankee Dawg You Die": Backstage comedy traces the growing friendship and rivalry between two Asian American actors in Hollywood, March 6, Kumu Kahua Theatre. Dann Seki and J. Martin Romualdez.

CONTINUING

"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves": Tale of wit and wonders from the Arabian Nights, 7:30 p.m. March 8 and 15, Kaimuki High School Auditorium. Students from Kaimuki, Palolo Elementary and Jarrett Intermediate schools act, sing and dance. Directed by Peggy Anne Siegmund, with original music by Nelda Alvarez and Lenny Kleyner. Final show will benefit the Kaimuki Alumni Scholarship Fund. Admission $8 adults, $4 students; $10 on March 15. Information: 733-4913.

"Guys & Dolls": Musical comedy takes a romantic view of hard-boiled gamblers and ladies, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through March 15, Richardson Theatre. Kalani Brady, Mary Chesnut, Jim Etters and Carole Cooper star in the Army Community Theatre production. Directed by Glenn Cannon, with musical direction by Lina Jeong Doo and choreography by Grace Bell. Admission $12 and $15 general; $6 and $8 children. Information: 438-4480 or 438-5230.

"It Had To Be You": Theda, a failed actress, health food nut and aspiring playwright, holds a hugely successful director hostage in her apartment on Christmas Eve. ASATAD's husband-and-

wife team, Diana Carter Anderson and Gary Anderson, star in the comedy. Repeats 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through March 8 at Weaver Hall, Church of the Crossroads. Admission $15 general, $13.50 seniors, $10 students. Information: 247-6939.

"Mardi Gras Follies": Lavish cabaret revue, with Veronica Kelly, Howard Bishop, Bruce Black and other performers. Directed by Jack Cione. Dinner buffet at 6:30 p.m., show at 7:45 p.m., at the Banyans at Pearl Harbor. Repeats Feb. 28 and March 1, 7-9, 14-16 and 21; performances March 9 and 16 begin 1:30 p.m., with lunch at noon. Admission $30; matinees $25. Information: 471-1703.

"The Woman in Black": A lawyer hires an actor to help him recreate events on the night he saw a dreaded specter, 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 4 p.m. Sundays, through March 23, Manoa Valley Theatre. Chilling ghost story features Walter Eccles, David Farmer and Tamatha Perryman. Admission $23 to $25. Information: 988-6131.

DANCE

"Impulse! Dance and the Drum": 8 p.m. March 14, Kennedy Theatre

"Coppelia": Hawaii State Ballet presents the full-length ballet, 7:30 p.m. March 15, Mamiya Theatre, St. Louis School. Repeats 2:30 p.m. March 16.

"Holo Mai Pele": Epic dance drama tells of the travels of sisters Pele and Hi'iaka from the Big Island to Kauai, May 30 and 31 at Kahilu Theatre (885-6017 Big Isle?).

Iona Pear Dance Theatre: Contemporary dance drawn from mythologies and Butoh's inverted sense of reality. Company's performance series will conclude with the premiere of a new work -- "Hawaiian Myths and Legends" -- 8 p.m. May 30 and 31 at the Hawaii Theatre. Admission $25 and $30 general, $20 seniors and students. Information: 528-0506 or 262-0110.

SPECIAL

Black Umfolosi: April 26 at Kahilu Theatre 885-6017

Urban Bush Women: May 17 at Kahilu Theatre 885-6017

AUDITIONS

Diamond Head Theatre: For George and Ira Gershwin's "Crazy For You." Dance auditions 7 to 10 p.m. March 14; singing and reading auditions, 2 p.m. March 15. All auditions will be held in the Rehearsal Hall. Rehearsals begin March 18. Call 734-8763.

Kumu Kahua: For Edward Sakamoto's "A'ala Park," 1:30 to 4 p.m. March 8 and 7 to 9 p.m. March 9. Director James A. Nakamoto is looking for local types of different ethnicities to play two men in their 40s, four in their early 20s, one in his mid-teens, a woman in her 40s and one in her 20s; and a Caucasian man in his mid-20s and a Japanese man in his 60s. Call the office at 536-4222 or Nakamoto at 536-7533.