By JONATHAN HARRISON/ Staff Writer

The South City Theatre, currently located on Highway 26 in Columbiana, is moving to a new venue in Pelham.

The South City Theatre will be moving to Alpine Shopping Center on U.S. 31 in Pelham.

“We have been at the Columbiana location for three years now,” said Sue Ellen Gerrells, the artistic director for South City Theatre. “We have been looking for a more centralized location.”

Garrells said she has been looking for a new location for six months, and said Pelham is the perfect location.

“We sat down with the mayor, who couldn’t have been more wonderful,” said Gerrells “and he put us in touch with Terry Ponder, who bent over backwards to find us the perfect location.”

The new location will allow the theatre to double its audience size from 30 to 60.

“We hope to be able to continue to grow,” said Garrells. “Being in a more centralized location, we really hope to pull more people from the Birmingham area as well.”

The new space is currently being renovated to fit a theatre climate with new lighting being put in and seating being rearranged.

Tennessee William’s classic play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” will be the theatre’s final production in the Columbiana location.

The spring children’s workshop will be the theatre’s first project in its new home.

“We are really hoping that this move will grow our children’s program,” said Garrells. “Now that we are not so far out I think we might see even more growth there.”

The Children’s workshop will begin March 9 and is for children 9-16. The workshop will run through May and participants can register at Southcitytheatre.com.

The South City Theatre was established in 2000 and has numerous state theatre championships since then. The theatre troop will be competing at the Southeastern conference against 10 other states.