RABBIT HOLE
Oxford Area Community Theatre
April 20-29
Oxford Community Arts Center
Directed by Rebecca Howard
Cast: Teresa Gordon as Becca, Matt Benzing as Howie, Jen Holan as Izzy, Deb Richardson as Nat & Tony Giuffre as Jason
Filed under On Stage
A version of this article was originally published March 30, 2018
By Rob Bucher
D. Lynn Meyers, Artistic Director.
Each year, Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers asks her season subscribers to take a leap of faith and renew their subscriptions prior to the season announcement. The reason: Meyers’ dogged pursuit of regional and world premieres that can delay the announcement until the 11th hour. She jokes, “The ink isn’t even dry on some of these contracts. They are confirmed, but the paperwork is in the mail.” She must be doing something right as 80% of this season’s record high 2,655 subscribers have already renewed their subscriptions prior to this announcement.
“I only go after plays if I care deeply about the value,” confides Meyers. When possible, she uses ETC’s long history with so many writers to approach the playwrights themselves. “Being able to go directly to a writer and tell them how much you loved the script is always my first line if I can.” ETC also enjoys good relationships with theatrical publishing and licensing houses Dramatists Play Service and Samuel French, Inc. “They know us, they know our work, and they know the number of seats we’re selling.”
Each year Meyers chooses a unifying theme for the season. For 2018-2019, Meyers wanted scripts that “talk about people being placed in difficult moments in their lives and how they determine ‘what’s next,’ coming off an accomplishment or a disappointment.” This is exactly the position ETC finds itself in today, “because we’re not talking about building the building anymore. We did that. It’s pretty cool…but where do we go?”
Meyers is referring to the October 2017 completion of the $6M expansion and renovation of ETC’s Vine Street home. The theatre proper boasts new and larger seats, additional hand rails, and a new elevator which also allows access to seating from the top of the audience. Patrons can now enjoy an expanded, spacious lobby; a new bar and lounge area; and additional restrooms. Other changes include larger administrative offices and the addition of a spacious rehearsal hall.
The 33rd season opens with “Fly By Night,” a darkly comic rock-fable musical. This ode to young love is set during the Northeast blackout of 1965. A gypsy prophecy propels a melancholy sandwich-maker and two bewitching sisters through a star-crossed journey of love and connection. Winner of the 2011 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award and nominated for four Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical, performances of “Night” run Sept. 1-29.
Deb G. Girdler as The Queen of Hearts in ETC’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND.
For their annual holiday, family-friendly musical, “Alice in Wonderland” returns Nov. 29-Dec. 30. From the local creative team of Joseph McDonough and David Kisor, join Alice and her bubbly friends for an unforgettable tea party. This production features an updated score from Kisor and exuberant, colorful costumes.
In “Ripcord,” a sunny room on an upper floor of the Bristol Place Senior Living Facility becomes the battleground in a dangerous game of one-upmanship between two tenacious golden girls. When cantankerous Abby is forced to share her quarters with happy-go-lucky Marilyn, she has no choice but to get rid of the infuriatingly chipper woman by any means necessary. This wickedly funny and deliciously inappropriate comedy by Pulitzer prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire runs Jan. 19-Feb. 16.
March brings the regional premiere of the wildly inventive American comedy “A Doll’s House, Part 2” to Cincinnati. Nominated for eight Tony awards, including Best Play, this unauthorized sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 groundbreaking classic takes place 15 years after iconic heroine Nora famously slammed the door on her marriage, leaving her husband and children behind. In “Part 2,” Nora returns a changed woman with an incredibly awkward favor to ask of the family she abandoned.
Bryant Bentley as Lank & Burgess Byrd as Bunny. (background) Leslie Goddard as Caroline in DETROIT ’67. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.
Meyers describes “Skeleton Crew” as “one of the best plays I’ve read in ten years.” Penned by acclaimed, rising star playwright Dominique Morisseau, the funny, tough and tender American drama follows a tight knit group of employees facing the realities of big business bureaucracy in one of Detroit’s last-standing auto plants during the 2008 Great Recession. Morisseau’s “Detroit ’67” was part of ETC’s 2014-2015 season. “Skeleton Crew” runs April 13-May 11.
The season concludes with the regional premiere of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist, “The Wolves.” The widely-acclaimed firecracker of a debut by writer Sarah DeLappe takes the stage from June 1-29. With their undefeated winter season on the line, this pack of elite teenage female athletes are battling their way to the national indoor soccer championships. As the final game of the season approaches, will pressures on—or off—the field prevent the team from reaching their goal? Meyers calls the work “very real, brutally honest, and fiercely contemporary.”
As a bonus to the season, ETC is offering a two week limited run of “St. Nicholas” by Conor McPherson. A jaded theatre critic spins a tale beginning with obsession and ending with a descent into a macabre world of vampires. Is it all a drunken lie? A tantalizing fairy tale? Or is it his own version of a higher truth? This one-man show welcomes back audience favorite Bruce Cromer. “We didn’t get to have [Bruce] on our stage this year due to scheduling conflicts and I didn’t want another year to go by without him.” A perfect fit for Halloween, the show runs Oct. 12-28.
Subscriptions for the 2018-2019 season are now on sale. Individual tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, July 30th at 10 a.m. For more information visit www.ensemblecincinnati.org or call the Box Office at 513.421.3555.
2018-2019 Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati Season
*Season Extra
Filed under Press Releases, Season Announcements
MOON OVER BUFFALO
Milford Theatre Guilde
April 20-28
Day Heights Memorial Fireman’s Building [Milford]
Directed by Micheal R. Kiser
Cast: Tom Cavano as George, Becky Cole as Charlotte, Betty Coulter as Ethel, Karson McCall as Rosiland, Stephen Beck as Howard, Stephanie Russell as Eileen, Paul Brockman as Paul & Alan Kootsher as Richard
Moon Over Buffalo centers on George and Charlotte Hay, fading stars of the 1950s. At the moment, they’re playing Private Lives and Cyrano De Bergerac in rep in Buffalo, New York with five actors. On the brink of a disastrous split-up caused by George’s dalliance with a young ingénue, they receive word that they might just have one last shot at stardom: Frank Capra is coming to town to see their matinee, and if he likes what he sees, he might cast them in his movie remake of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Unfortunately for George and Charlotte, everything that could go wrong does go wrong, abetted by a visit from their daughter’s clueless fiancé and hilarious uncertainty about which play they’re actually performing, caused by Charlotte’s deaf, old stage-manager mother who hates every bone in George’s body.
Filed under On Stage
THE MEMORY OF WATER
Wright State University
April 20-22
Herbst Theatre [Dayton]
Three sisters; Teresa, Mary and Catherine, come together before their mother’s funeral, each haunted by their own demons. The play focuses on how each sister deals with the death and how it directly affects them. The three each have different memories of the same events, causing constant bickering about whose memories are true. As the three women get together after years of separation, all their hidden lies and self-betrayals are about to reach the surface.
Filed under On Stage
We are proud to announce Loveland High School’s production of the Broadway hit, INTO THE WOODS, presented in the high school auditorium on April 11-14th at 7 pm. There will be a special “Happily Ever After” matinee on Saturday at 2 pm, accompanied by a meet and greet for the children who want to step into their favorite fairy tales.
This musical entails the story of a baker and his wife, who are sent on a wild goose chase into the woods to break a curse placed upon them by a vengeful witch. Meanwhile, Cinderella longs to go to the royal festival while Red Riding Hood is off to visit her grandmother. Many other fairy tale characters, including Snow White and Jack with his beanstalk, interweave their stories throughout this riveting show. Despite what you believe will happen midway through, the main characters end up realizing that you need to be careful of what you wish for…
Tickets are $10 for students and senior citizens, $12 for adults if bought ahead of the show time. Tickets at the door are $11 for students and senior citizens, $13 for adults. Children 4 and under are free.
Tickets are available at our website: http://lovelandhstheater.wixsite.com/lhsdrama
We hope to see you in the woods!
Filed under Events, Press Releases
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