March is a busy month for theater at the Chilkat Center. Two plays – a locally written, “grounded” musical fairy tale and a modern comedy – will be staged.

Hannah Bochart’s “Rusty Compass, Dusty Rose” will be performed March 17-18 and Lynn Canal Community Players’ production of Neil Simon’s “Last of the Red-Hot Lovers” is set for three shows March 31-April 2.

Bochart is teaming up with childhood friend and neighbor Amy Weishahn to stage the original work. Bochart said growing up near 40 Mile Haines Highway without television may have stoked her imagination, and Weishahn’s.

Weishahn is a professional actress and director who has worked on the East Coast and has performed in numerous productions. Bochart earned a degree in theater in 2013. She’s been writing and performing in local shows for years, including as a member of the Gepetto’s Junkyard puppet troupe.

Bochart said the two-act play predates the local coffee shop. “I’ve been working on it 10 or 15 years. I’ve only just finished it.”

It’s a story of unrequited love inspired by myths and fairy tales. “If you put real people through the classic, American fairy tale, this is what you’d get, I suppose,” Bochart said in an interview. “It’s about remorse, and seizing the chances you have, and telling the people you love that you love them.”

Weishahn and Nicholas Szatkowsky are the show’s lead actors. Other actors include Hannah, Merrick Bochart, Rene Hoffman, Gregg Bigsby, Joey Jacobson, Jess Crowe, Jake Bell, Susie McCartney, Alissa Beske, Brian Harmon, Dave Routh and Stojanka Lynch.

Bochart also wrote the show’s songs, which she described as “folk and bordello-inspired gypsy rock.” Musical performers include Sylvia Bieberich, Greg Horner, Eric Holle, and Tim Harkin.

Lynch is the show’s choreographer and dancer. Two puppets make an appearance in one scene, Bochart said. “That was my rule. We’re taking a puppet break.”

But in line with some of Gepetto’s shows, there will be some special effects, she said. “We’re hoping to have some fun visuals for everybody.”

Shows are at 7 p.m. March 17 and at 10 p.m. on March 18.

Veteran actor and director Tod Sebens will be directing “Last of the Red-Hot Lovers.” Tony Habra, a newcomer to the local stage, plays Barney Cashman, the male lead. The three women he woos are portrayed by Tara Bicknell, Margaret Sebens and Madeline Witek.

The three women actors are veterans of LCCP productions. “They’re all very comfortable on stage…I think people will find it really funny… A guy attempting to have an affair with three different women, and failing miserably,” Sebens said.

Sebens directed last year’s LCCP production, “The House of Barnarda Alba.” Showtimes are pending.

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