Because of suspected exposure to COVID at our home venue, we must cancel our production of Ken Ludwig’s BASKERVILLE.
Rather than postpone, we have made the hard decision to cancel the entire 2020-2021 season. We need your support more than ever. #StaySafe #SaveOurStages #Donate
Filed under Press Releases, Season Announcements
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY – Northern Kentucky University’s School of the Arts virtually produces the Emerging Choreographer’s Showcase (ECS) for its sixth season. The Dance Film Festival will premiere November 23 on the NKU ECS website and SOTA YouTube channel. This showcase is student produced and student led where dance students learn about choreography, stage design, and stage management and can grow in their artistic expression. ECS was founded in 2014 by dance alum, Kat Wolf, who graduated in 2016 and is the owner of NKY Dancewear.
Event Details:
This year, the panel of area industry professionals have selected twelve student choreographers’ pieces to be presented in the showcase. Due to the high volume of exceptional work submitted by the students, the executive team decided to categorize the pieces as formal and informal works, which is language appropriate to the discipline and used by the American College Dance Association. Formal works received a panelist mentor, while informal works are peer mentored.
Rhea Speights, choreographer and video artist, is the resident guest artist for the showcase. Much of her work intersects equal parts dance and video, either as multimedia performance or as video dance. Speights’ work has been presented in a dozen of the 50 states and internationally in Colombia and New Zealand. In making her work, Rhea uses ballet and contemporary dance forms, video, film theory, and her desire to fully integrate the imagination with the body.
The executive team includes Sylvia Chervus and DJ Bruegge as the Co-Artistic Directors, Olivia Martel and Carli Robinette as the Assistant Artistic Directors, Grace Vetter as the Head of Marketing, Molly Payne as the Stage Manager, and Payton Pearson and Jessica Shepherd as Production Assistants.
Student Choreographers Include:
Formal Pieces
Informal Pieces
Panelists Include:
About NKU School of the Arts: SOTA is the Creative Engine of NKU. The School of the Arts combines Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts to bring unparalleled artistic opportunities to current and future students. In a changing world, SOTA prepares students to be creative trailblazers in the Arts and their careers. Whether we are creating motion graphics, producing on the stage, or utilizing our dance classes to collaborate with therapeutic exercise in health sciences, we are on the cutting edge of transdisciplinary studies. SOTA offers 11 degrees with 30 specializations in addition to 7 minors to develop graduates that are personally engaged, innovative, and curious with advanced skill sets in collaboration and creative risk-taking. For more information, visit nku.edu/sota or follow on social media @NKUSOTA.
About NKU: Founded in 1968, we are a growing metropolitan university of more than 15,000 students served by more than 2,000 faculty and staff on a thriving suburban campus near Cincinnati. Located in the quiet suburb of Highland Heights, Kentucky—just seven miles southeast of Cincinnati—we have become a leader in Greater Cincinnati and Kentucky by providing a private school education for a fraction of the cost. While we are one of the fastest growing universities in Kentucky, our professors still know our students’ names. For more information, visit nku.edu.
Filed under Dance, Online Performance
Scott Unes & Susie Unes in A BETTER PLACE.
The Fourth Video in TDW’s Home View Theatre Series
[Cheviot, OH, November 9] — A Better Place, the latest installment of The Drama Workshop’s Home View Theatre video series is now available! The short film is based on an award-winning play by Eric Thomas and is directed by Scott Unes. Scott also stars in the video, playing a man who’s having trouble getting over a breakup. He asks for a ride from a rideshare driver, played by Susie Unes. She agrees to take him on a voyage of the heart to get him to a better place, emotionally.
Of her character, Ms. Unes says, “There is a spiritual aspect to the Driver, in that she ultimately understands where she needs to take the Rider, but she first needs to feel the different emotions that he needs to experience.” Actor/director Scott Unes says of the film, “I chose the work because I like the dynamics between the two characters. I wanted to show the character of the Rider turning inward and being led by the Driver on an inner journey.”
The theatrical staging of A Better Place was produced at The Drama Workshop as part of Home Brew Theatre in 2019. Tickets to stream the video of A Better Place can be purchased at www.thedramaworkshop.org/homeview.
A Better Place is the fourth installment of The Drama Workshop’s Home View Theatre series. Other offerings, all still available online, include Stranded Traveler, written and directed by Eric Thomas, a play about someone asking for money at a bus stop who is challenged to be honest about the request. It features Chris Bishop and Stephanie Klein. Local Legends was directed by Alexa Justice and features seven local storytellers relaying their favorite ghostly tales. Some of the stories are related to Cincinnati history. The storytellers are Adrianna Marie Boris, Jeb Brack, Greg Hand, Kat Jones, Kat Klockow, Carolmarie Stock and Bill Stringer. A Paranormal Investigation into The Raven, written and directed by Dennis Murphy, features Besty Bossart and CJ Bossart. Ms. Bossart plays the host of a paranormal investigation show, who is trying to get to the bottom of why a lovelorn man is being tortured by a phantom raven.
Two offerings remain in the six-video series. Amanda Emmons-Shumate will direct Denise’s Do-Over which will be released in early December. This comedy about video dating was written by Susan Decatur and features Peggy Allen, Chris Bishop, Rob Bucher, Kristy Rucker, Jim Swartwout and Jim Waldfogle. It is an online adaptation of the play that appeared on The Drama Workshop’s stage as part of Home Brew Theatre in 2019. The final video in this series will be The Gift of the Magi adapted for the screen and directed by Dennis Murphy and starring Ray Lebowski, Anna Hazzard and D’Waughn Hazzard.
Tickets for any of the Home View productions can be purchased at www.thedramaworkshop.org/homeview or by calling the box office at (513)598-8303. Single videos are $5 or you can subscribe to the whole series for only $25.
Filed under On Stage
David Armando as PJ & AJ Baldwin as Gina.
ZACK
Know Theatre of Cincinnati
Nov. 20-Dec. 13
[Live Stream | On Demand]
Directed by Andrew Hungerford
Cast: A.J. Baldwin as Gina & David Armando as P.J.
Teen fashionista, Gina, and lovesick surfer boy, P.J., find themselves hand-chosen to be members of an elite clique of cool students led by prank-happy new student, Zack. But when Zack plans a prank that crosses the line, can they stop him before it’s too late?
Inspired by the Saturday morning teen sitcoms of the early 90s, “ZACK” is a clever satirical comedy, set in 1991, that takes on race and tokenism from the rose-colored P.O.V. of two teens of color enrolled in a mostly white Southern California high school.
Live Stream
Video on Demand (available for 24 hours from start time)
Filed under Online Performance
Velveteen Rabbit Costume Rendering.
Featuring IN PERSON and online performances starting next week
Cincinnati – When The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati kicks off its 101st season next week, it may look and feel a bit different. But the company is thrilled to have the opportunity to continue creating life-long memories through its award-winning MainStage productions with both in-person, socially-distanced, LIVE performances, as well as digitally streaming shows to watch at home or at school through the online service, Broadway On Demand.
Starting November 12, THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, Margery Williams’ award-winning classic tale of a stuffed toy rabbit made real by a child’s enduring love will be retold in a modern and delightfully electric holiday musical staged live for audiences on TCT’s Ralph and Patricia Corbett Showtime Stage on Red Bank Road. The show will begin streaming for home and school audiences on Broadway On Demand the following week — on November 19.
In an era of virtual reality and Minecraft, this musical captures the joy and magic of the book children and adults know and love, with a 16-bit digital twist designed to get the entire family into the spirit of the season.
“TCT’s version of The Velveteen Rabbit is set within the high-tech concept of virtual reality. We live in a world of computers, smart phones, Zoom meetings, and gaming systems. Through these digital experiences, a child’s imagination can be exercised in ways we never imagined before,” said Roderick Justice, Producing Artistic Director and director of the stage production. “Virtual reality unlocks potential and draw parallels to what is real and what had the potential to be real.”
Mr. Justice adds, “The Velveteen Rabbit is a poetic lesson in a child’s ability to love. Children are often thrust into the same situations in which our Velveteen Rabbit finds himself. They can be made to feel insecure and inadequate, or not quite “real” when bullied or teased by others. Children are often left alone with their thoughts, worries, and vivid imaginations to fill in the blanks.”
In-person seating will be limited to 30% (or 44 seats) per performance. Demand is high and performances are expected to sell out quickly — some are already filled.
The TCT Team has been working diligently to create and debut new safety protocols to protect the audience, staff, and the actors on stage. Most exciting are specially designed nose and mouth coverings integrated into the costumes by Resident Costume Designer, Jeff Shearer, and pre-recorded vocal amplification used to reduce the amount of respiration created by actors in the theater during a performance.
“The health and well-being of our audience, students, and staff have been and always will be our top priority, said Kim Kern, TCT’s Managing Director and CEO. “In April, we assembled a committee of advisors, health professionals, and community leaders to guide our safety protocols. Through their constant guidance, we receive the most up-to-date information, implement strategies early, and continue to go above and beyond CDC, state, and local guidelines to keep everyone safe, happy, healthy, and creative.”
At all in-person shows, mandatory masks for the audience, as well as social distancing, will be required. For complete health and safely protocols, visit https://thechildrenstheatre.com/2020/08/safety-protocols/.
Live performances on TCT’s Ralph and Patricia Corbett’s Showtime Stage on Red Bank Road will take place Thursdays and Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays at 11am, 2pm, and 5pm, and Sundays at 2pm and 5pm November 12 through December 13. (Please note: shows will not take place the week of November 23 due to the Thanksgiving holiday.)
Tickets and digital passes are on sale now. For details visit www.thechildrenstheatre.com. Ticket prices for live performances range from $25 to $30 per ticket.
With the help of Macy’s as Virtual Production Sponsor, digital performances begin on Broadway on Demand on November 19. The presale price for a digital pass is $15.95. This presale price is only available until the production debuts online. After that time, digital passes are $18.95. Digital passes provide unlimited viewing over three days, which begin after the first view.
THE VELVETEEN RABBIT was adapted by William S. Kilborne Jr and Albert T. Viola, features music by Albert T. Viola and lyrics by William S. Kilborne, Jr., with additional orchestrations by Steve Goers. The show is directed by Roderick Justice and can be enjoyed by all ages.
The Cast includes:
UNDERSTUDIES
SWING
† Denotes TCT’s Young Artists Company
THE VELVETEEN RABBIT is made possible by the generosity of Production Sponsor, Edyth B. Lindner, Season Sponsors, ArtsWave, Ohio Arts Council, The Patricia A. Corbett Trust, The Charles H. Dater Foundation, The H.B., E.W. and F.R. Luther Foundation, and Virtual Production Sponsor, Macy’s. The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati is supported by ArtsWave and the generosity of tens of thousands of contributors to the ArtsWave Community Campaign. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.
** Live productions are subject to capacity restrictions and safety protocol through the CDC and the State of Ohio and may be converted to a digital ticket if the performance must be canceled for any reason due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Filed under Press Releases
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 