Monthly Archives: December 2015

December 16, 2015 · 6:31 am

Applications Being Accepted for JumpStart Theatre

EdTA_logoI’m working on a pilot program with the Educational Theatre Association, called JumpStart Theatre. It’s a program designed to build sustainable theatre programs in underserved middle schools. The first three schools were chosen earlier this year (Holmes Middle School, James N. Gamble Montessori, and Finneytown Middle School) and we are now accepting applications for the second class of schools!

If you know someone at a Cincinnati-area middle school without a theatre program, please encourage them to apply. The application (and more info) is located here: https://www.schooltheatre.org/programs/jumpstarttheatre

If you have questions or want to receive monthly updates about our progress with the first three schools, contact Ginny Butsch at gbutsch@schooltheatre.org. To support JumpStart Theatre with a donation, visit https://www.schooltheatre.org/support/donate.

Also, if you have any questions about this program please feel free to contact me.

Dee Anne Bryll
bryllcohen@gmail.com

Leave a comment

Filed under Casting Call

Tagged as ,

December 16, 2015 · 6:12 am

PICNIC Runs Jan. 14-30

FLI_Picnic promoPICNIC
Footlighters Inc.
Jan. 14-30
Newport

Directed by Dennis Murphy

Cast: Justin Spencer  as Hal, Amanda Emmons-Shumate  as Madge, Kristy Rucker as Flo, Erin Miller  as Millie, Sam Kerns as Alan, Linda Roll as Helen, Rose Vanden Eynden as Rosemary, Chris Bishop as Howard, Christian Straub  as Bomber, Gretchen Gantner as Irma & Ilona Piaskowy as Christine

“In a small town, all dreams seem big…” It’s a balmy Labor Day in the American heartland, and a group of women are preparing for the annual town picnic…but they’ll have to lay a lot on the line before they can lay out the checkered cloths. When a handsome young drifter named Hal arrives, his combination of uncouth manners and titillating charm stirs up everything. Sensual, charming, passionate and delightfully funny, PICNIC is a timeless American classic about life, about love, about dreams…and about the line between restraint and desire.

  • Thu-Sat, Jan. 14-16 at 8pm
  • Sun, Jan. 17 at 2pm
  • Thu-Sat, Jan. 21-23 at 8pm
  • Sun, Jan. 24 at 2pm
  • Wed-Sat, Jan. 27-30 at 8pm
    Sign language interpreted performances are Jan. 15 & 24

Official page |

Leave a comment

Filed under On Stage

Tagged as

December 15, 2015 · 6:42 am

THE NAUGHTY LIST With OTRimprov Opens at Arnold’s Bar & Grill

KTC_The Naughty List promoYou better watch out, because OTRimprov is back at Arnold’s Bar & Grill for our favorite annual tradition–THE NAUGHTY LIST!

Opening Dec. 14 at 7:30 PM, THE NAUGHTY LIST is an improvised comedy event that skewers all your favorite holiday memories. Using suggestions from the audience, OTRimprov presents a completely unscripted show each night that springs off of your love – or disgust – for the Holiday Season.

An annual tradition at Cincinnati’s favorite bar, this year’s show is fully revamped and features brand new games, a rotating cast, and action that is decided by YOU the audience. So bring your holiday cheer or your humbug: You decide!

The courtyard at Arnold’s Bar & Grill is the perfect setting for this raucous and rowdy holiday event, and Arnold’s has prepared a special menu just for the occasion! If you want to enjoy dinner before the show, please arrive between 6 – 6:30pm to be seated and place your dinner orders. The roughly 90 minute show will begin at 7:30pm.

And don’t forget: If you want to make sure you’re seated with friends who got tickets under another order just let us know by calling 513-300-5669 in advance.

THE NAUGHTY LIST is directed by Paul Wilson and features a rotating cast including Mike Hall, Kirk Keevert, Sean Mette, Dave Powell, Charlie Roetting, Dylan Shelton, and Kat Smith.

So, whether you’ve been naughty or nice, we’ll see you at Arnold’s!

For tickets and more information, call 513-300-5669 or visit www.knowtheatre.com.

About Know Theatre
KNOW THEATRE OF CINCINNATI, now in its 18th season, is Cincinnati’s Theatrical Playground. The Know showcases unexpected voices, new works, and plays that embrace the inherent theatricality of the live experience. Know Theatre seeks to be a place where artists and audiences feel welcome to take artistic risks, creating work that is cutting edge and accessible.

Know Theatre’s work is made possible, in part, by the generosity of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign. The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Know Theatre with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. Know Theatre is also supported by The Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, helping to change our communities for the better through collaboration and innovation, and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, which provides a simple, powerful, and highly personal approach to giving.

Know Theatre is a member of Theatre Communications Group and an Associate member of the National New Play Network.

Leave a comment

Filed under Press Releases

Tagged as ,

December 15, 2015 · 6:32 am

Tony Award Winner Karen Ziemba Cast in Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s World Premiere of NATIVE GARDENS

PIP_Native Gardens logo(CINCINNATI) – Veteran Broadway actor Karen Ziemba, who received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for her portrayal of The Wife in Contact, has been cast in the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s upcoming production of NATIVE GARDENS.

Ziemba’s additional credits include the Kander and Ebb musical Curtains, for which she received an Outer Critics Circle Award and Tony, Drama Desk and L.A. Ovation award nominations; Never Gonna Dance (Outer Critics Circle Award, Tony nomination); Steel Pier (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle award nominations); And the World Goes ’Round (Drama Desk Award); and I Do! I Do! (Drama Desk nomination).

NATIVE GARDENS is a world premiere by Karen Zacarías, author of The Book Club Play, which was a smash hit at the Playhouse in 2013 and at theatres across the country. In the show, gardens and cultures clash, turning friendly neighbors into feuding enemies. NATIVE GARDENS uses comedy to dig into deeper issues of taste, class, privilege and entitlement with hilarious results.

Zacarías’ world premiere — one of five of her plays debuting this season throughout the country — was commissioned through the Playhouse’s Jerome A. Fey Endowment as part of its ongoing commitment to the development and production of new plays. NATIVE GARDENS, which will be directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Blake Robison, runs Jan. 23 through Feb. 21 in the Robert S. Marx Theatre.

In NATIVE GARDENS, Ziemba will portray community denizen Virginia Capanini Butley. She will be joined by John Lescault as her husband and avid gardener Frank Butley and by Gabriel Ruiz and Sabina Zuniga Varela as Pablo and Tania Del Valle, a new-to-the-neighborhood couple with fresh ideas for landscaping their yard next door.

Tickets to NATIVE GARDENS are on sale now. For more information, call the Playhouse Box Office at 513-421-3888 (toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana at 800-582-3208) or visit www.cincyplay.com. Call 513-345-2248 for Telecommunications Device for the Deaf accessibility.

The 2015-16 Robert S. Marx Theatre season is presented by The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation, and Macy’s is the Robert S. Marx Theatre season design sponsor. The season sponsor of new work is The Lois and Richard Rosenthal Foundation.

The Playhouse is supported by the generosity of the community contributors to the ArtsWave campaign. The Ohio Arts Council helps fund the Playhouse with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

The Playhouse also receives funding from the Shubert Foundation.

# # #

Leave a comment

Filed under Press Releases

Tagged as

December 14, 2015 · 6:08 am

Auditions Announced for THE NERD at Fairfield Footlighters

fflTHE NERD
Directed by James C. Davis

Monday and Tuesday, January 4 & 5, at 6:30 p.m.
Auditions will be held in the Classroom on the 2nd floor of the Arts Center

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

  •   Cold readings from the script.
  •  Bring your calendar and be prepared to list all conflicts.
  •   All roles are available. Color-blind casting.

IMPORTANT DATES:

  • Performances:   February 19-20 & 26-27 at 8PM, February 21 & 28 at 2PM

About the Play
One of the funniest plays ever written, this extraordinarily inventive, side-splitting comedy was first presented by the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, then produced in Great Britain, then went on to Broadway. The action centers on the hilarious dilemma of a young architect who is visited by a man he’s never met but who saved his life in Vietnam—the visitor turning out to be an incredibly inept, hopelessly stupid “nerd” who outstays his welcome with a vengeance. “Shue delivers a neatly crafted package that uses some classic comic forms to bring the audience to its knees, laughing.” —The Milwaukee Journal. “…the audience almost never stops laughing—handkerchiefs wiping away tears of merriment…” —Variety. “…a spring tonic of side-bruising laughter…” —The Milwaukee Tribune.

Role Breakdowns

  • Willum Cubbert (age: 30’s): Willum is an architect, currently designing a hotel for Mr. Waldgrave, and a pushover. He’s kind and intelligent, but Tansy says he “could use a little gumption.” He lacks the backbone to stand up for himself. He rents two rooms in his house to Tansy and Axel.
  • Thor Waldgrave (age: able to look 11 or younger): The Waldgraves’ terror of a son. “Poster child for planned parenthood,” as Axel calls him. Spends most of the play hiding in a closet or bedroom.
  • Clelia Waldgrave (age: 40’s): Mr. Waldgrave’s high-strung, put-upon wife. She holds back all of her emotions, and only releases her stress when she can break “something small.”
  • Warnock Waldgrave (age: 40-50’s): A boisterous, slightly dim businessman, owner of eight hotels, with no creativity and no tact. He never smiles.
  • Rick Steadman (age: 30-40’s): The titular “nerd.” He’s oblivious to insult and lacks manners or sensitivity. He tells Willum that he works as an inspector at a chalk factory in Wisconsin.
  • Axel Hammond (age: 30-40’s): Willum’s best friend and Tansy’s ex. He’s a pretentious, often-inebriated drama critic, always ready with a sarcastic comment.
  • Tansy McGinnis (age: 25-30s): A smart woman who is as attracted to Willum as he is to her, but who has been offered her dream job as a television weather forecaster in Washington, D.C., and feels guilty for leaving Willum behind. Idealistic, perky, and just as kind as Willum.

Note: Color-blind casting

Leave a comment

Filed under Auditions

Tagged as