Monthly Archives: June 2022

2023 Season Titles Announced by Mason Community Players

MCP_logoMCP President Lara Gonzalez announced the 2023 Season of productions that will occur in the group’s 50th year. The official announcement was made at the group’s picnic on June 11, 2022.

PUFFS
The first show of MCP’s 50th Season of Shows will be Puffs directed by Trish Courtney. Puffs is a parody. It’s subtitle is Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic. Popular off-Broadway, it was written by Matt Cox and came to the stage in 2015. It is the story of the “others” who populated a famous wizarding school; specifically the Hufflepuffs. It has been dubbed “a fast-paced romp” and acclaimed as “never going more than a minute without a laugh.” The show requires a cast of varied ages from 14 to infinity. Puffs will occupy the winter slot.

THE DINING ROOM
The Spring show will be The Dining Room by A.R. Gurney. It will be directed by Gail Rudolph. The Dining Room is comedy of manners. It is set in a single dining room where 18 scenes from different households overlap and intertwine. Each story is focused around a different family during different time periods who has in their possession the same dining room furniture set, manufactured in 1898. It is the setting for breakfasts, dinners, and all special occasions for each of the families who gather round the table. Traditionally, a cast of only six actors portray of 50 characters, though directors choose to invite as many actors as they desire to bring the characters to life.

COMPANY
Company, a popular work by Stephen Sondheim, will be the summer musical. It will be directed by Jim Cronin. This show is a fitting choice because it was first produced in 1970, and that is the decade that MCP was born. The show was awarded Best Musical in 1971, garnering five other Tony Awards from its 14 nominations. It was considered one of the first popular concept musicals and one of Sondheim’s most beloved works. Company is a treatise on marriage as seen through the eyes of a bachelor. All of his friends are married or engaged as he approaches and celebrates his 35th birthday. The reflections of the bachelor and of his friends are both comic and thought-provoking.

ESCANABA IN DA MOOLIGHT
The Fall show will be Escanaba in da Moonlight directed by Ray Lebowski. Dubbed a “super Yooper comedy” and “a hunting story to beat all hunting stories,” Escanaba is a tall tale set in  Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The story is based upon the woes of thirty-five-year-old Reuben Soady, who is the oldest member of the Soady clan to have failed to bag a buck. Filled with humor, this unique play by Jeff Daniels, also provides thoughtful introspection. Escanaba promises to hit home and hit you in the heart!

GENDER BENDER 5.0
Closing out the 2023 Season will be Gender Bender 5.0. It will be slated to take the boards during the Halloween Season and will be under the direction of Bonnie Emmer, Jon Scheiding, and Peyton Hahn. Those who were slated to appear in the 2021 version of the show will be invited as performers for this version. In addition, the song selections will come from shows that MCP has performed over its 50 year history. It will be a fitting closure to a wonderful year of celebrating MCP and its contributions to the arts in Mason!

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Performance Options for June 11 & 12 at Cincy Fringe

CFF2022 logoNew Fringers can be a bit intimidated by the overwhelming number of choices available on the Fringe Show Schedule.

This year performances are scheduled so that you have at least 15 minutes to travel between venues within the Art Academy and Know Theatre.

Below I have broken down your options in each time block. You can choose one show in each block.

For a complete list of performance information, visit my Fringe page or the Cincy Fringe website.

CF22_Father Daughter Holy Toast logoSATURDAY JUNE 11

Block I (2pm start time)

  • FATHER, DAUGHTHER & HOLY TOAST

Block 2 (3:15, 3:30pm or 3:45pm start times)

  • meSSeS
  • EXPERI-MENTAL
  • MAKE A F*CKING SHOW YOU P.O.S.

Block 3 (5pm, 5:15pm or 5:30pm start times)

  • WUTHERING: A Musical on the Moors
  • THE SEX LIFE OF BUTTERFLIES
  • CHANGING MY MAJOR TO JOAN
  • ROSEGOLD
  • HELP ME HELP YOU HELP YOURSELF
  • SADEC 1965: A Love Story

Block 4 (6:45pm, 7pm or 7:15pm start times)

  • SEXY SEXY MATTRESS TIME
  • A MORGUE OF THE FORGOTTEN
  • HEDY! The Live & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr
  • THE BARN IDENTITY
  • BANNED FROM HEAVEN, BARRED FROM HELL
  • LAETRES WORD

Block 5 (8:30pm, 8:45pm or 9pm start times)

  • AN EVENING WITH KEVIN THORNTON
  • SALEM SALLY AND THE SPOOKTACULAR BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA
  • FIRE IN THE METH LAB
  • JINKIES!
  • SOFT
  • THE REAL BLACK SWANN: CONFESSIONS OF AMERICAN’S FIRST BLACK DRAG QUEEN

SUNDAY, JUNE 12

Block I (2pm start time)

  • JINKIES!

Block 2 (3:15PM, 3:30pm or 3:45pm start times)

  • TEXAS ANNIE: The Legend of the Moan Ranger
  • OUT OF CHARACTER
  • THE BARN IDENTITY
  • THE REAL BLACK SWANN: CONFESSIONS OF AMERICAN’S FIRST BLACK DRAG QUEEN

Block 3 (5pm, 5:15pm or 5:30pm start times)

  • MESSES
  • A MORGUE OF THE FORGOTTEN
  • DESTINY U.S.A.
  • EXPERI-MENTAL
  • BANNED FROM HEAVEN, BARRED FROM HELL
  • LAETRES WORD

Block 4 (6:45pm, 7pm or 7:15pm start times)

  • AN EVENING WITH KEVIN THORNTON
  • THE SEX LIFE OF BUTTERFLIES
  • CHANGING MY MAJOR TO JOAN
  • FATHER, DAUGHTHER & HOLY TOAST
  • HELP ME HELP YOU HELP YOURSELF
  • SADEC 1965: A Love Story

Block 5 (8:30pm, 8:45pm or 9pm start times)

  • SILVER HAMMER
  • SALEM SALLY AND THE SPOOKTACULAR BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA
  • FIRE IN THE METH LAB
  • ROSEGOLD
  • JUNKMAIL ORACLE
  • MAKE A F*CKING SHOW YOU P.O.S.

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Cast Announced for JEKYLL & HYDE at INNOVAtheatre

INNOV_logoINNOVAtheatre is excited to announce our cast of JEKYLL & HYDE the musical.

Congratulations to all those that showed us what was behind their facade!

Running Aug. 18-21, tickets are on sale now at www.SorgOperaHouse.org.

The cast includes:

  • Jekyll/Hyde……Tanner Brown
  • Lucy…….Liz Lindon
  • Emma……..Laura Bay
  • Sir Danvers……Brian Laughlin
  • Utterson……Jacob Nichols
  • Bishop of Basingstoke…Forrest Fairley
  • Lady Glossop………Terry Neack
  • Sir Archibald Proops.Matthew Ebersbach
  • Spider & Stride…..Davis Byrd
  • Lady Beaconsfield…..Jeannine Parson
  • Bissett/Ensemble….Spencer Jones
  • Poole/Ensemble….. Robert White
  • Featured Engagement Party Dancer/Ensemble…Joey Mason
  • Nellie/Featured Red Rat Dancer/Ensemble…Bri Landrum
  • Dance Captain/Featured Red Rat Dancer/Featured Engagement Party Dancer & Ensemble…Michaela Pandorf
  • Featured Red Rat Dancer/Featured Engagement Party Dancer &
  • Ensemble…Christyn New
  • Featured Red Rat Dancer/Featured Engagement Party Dancer &
  • Ensemble…Krista Schaeffer
  • Ensemble…Bridget Sciartelli
  • Ensemble….Jamie Pavlofsky
  • Ensemble….Tamar Fishbein
  • Ensemble…Joanie Marie Kienlen
  • Ensemble….Michelle Bellamy
  • Ensemble….Melanie Brown
  • Ensemble….Thomas R. Coop

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Acting Up Presents Disney’s DESCENDANTS The Musical June 10-12 

Mason High School Theater

ACTUP_Disney Descendants PromoRotten.  To.  The.  Core.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the baddest of them all, welcome to my wicked, wicked world” as you find out just how rotten Cruella De Vil, Jafar, the Evil Queen Grimhilde, and the spectacular Maleficent’s children are in Acting Up Young Performers Community Theater’s production of Disney’s “Descendants The Musical.”

Acting Up is excited to present, through special arrangement with Music Theater International, this modern-day spin on several of Disney’s classic characters as the children from the Isle of the Lost become part of Auradon, the idyllic land of the fairy tale kingdoms.  Come find out if you are an Evil or an Auradon Prep fan as you watch Nick Blaemire’s book brought to life by Madeline Smith and Matthew Tishler’s music in four performances at the Mason High School Theater, June 10 – 12th. Acting Up’s production includes 55 local, talented young performers from across the tri-state area ranging in age from 7-18 years.

Reserved seating tickets are only $15 and are available at ActingUp.com and are also available for purchase one hour before each performance at the box office. Groups of 10 or more attending the same performance can purchase group tickets in advance for a discounted fee of $12 by emailing ActingUp@ActingUp.com and completing a group order form with a single payment.

  • Acting Up is a non-profit, all-volunteer, young performers community theater based in Mason. We are in our 17th year of producing high quality musical productions which involve hundreds of volunteers.

  •  Acting Up is a member of ACT Cincinnati and has won hundreds of Orchid awards from the Association of Community Theatre for numerous productions, including Overall Technical Quality, Overall Performance Quality, Excellence in Dance Execution, and Excellence in Chorus, Choreography and Ensemble.

  • All authorized performance materials are supplied by Music Theater International.

Acting Up presents Disney’s Descendants: The Musical.

Four shows are held over one weekend:

  • Friday, June 10th at 7:00 pm

  • Saturday, June 11th at 2:00 pm (sign-language interpreter will be provided and costume parade before the performance for all costumed youth audience members)

  • Saturday, June 11th at 7:00 pm

  • Sunday, June 12th at 2:00 pm (costume parade before the performance for all costumed youth audience members)

All performances will be at the Mason High School Theater, 6100 Mason-Montgomery Road, Mason OH 45040.

Tickets are available at ActingUp.com or at the door starting one hour before each performance. See our website at http://www.ActingUp.com for additional details and information!

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Follow Alice Down the Rabbit Hole at Sunset Players’ Children’s Show ALICE IN WONDERLAND

SSP_Alice in Wonderland logoCINCINNATI, OH – June 1, 2022 — Sunset Players presents its annual children’s show Alice in Wonderland based on the Lewis Carroll classic, dramatized by William Glennon, and directed by Bob Kelley at the Art Center at Dunham at 1945 Dunham Way, Cincinnati, OH 45238.

Alice in Wonderland comes to life as a group of performers seeks out Alice to provide “her turn” in Wonderland. As her adventure unfolds, Alice encounters many unforgettable characters who everyone will grow to love.

Performances are June 17, 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26. Friday night performances are at 7:00 pm and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $6 or $25 for a group of 5.

The cast includes:

  • Mak Kelley as Alice
  • Brianna Doyle as Mad Hatter/Mouse
  • Amelia Andriacco as Queen of Hearts/March Hare
  • Nora Andriacco as Cheshire Cat
  • Lenora “Nora” Braukman as Duchess/Gryphon
  • Corbin Hazlett as White Rabbit
  • Dashiell Suess as Fish Footman/Knave of Hearts
  • Lilly Ahlers as Frog Footman/Two of Hearts
  • Megan Weber as Cook/Mock Turtle
  • Jake Courter as King of Hearts/Dormouse
  • Ella Knochelman as Seven of Hearts/Juror

Tickets are $6 or $25 families/groups of five or more and can be ordered online at https://www.sunsetplayers.org/current-production—tickets or at the door. Tickets can also be reserved by calling 513-588-4988. 

Sunset Players, Inc. is a community theater group located on the west side of Cincinnati. Founded in 1979, the group performs at the Arts Center at Dunham and has produced more than 148 shows. Its mission is to bring a smile, and its plays include comedies, farces, dramatic comedies, and musical comedies—as long as there is some “comedy” in the performance. For more information about the 41st season, visit our website at www.sunsetplayers.org or like us on Facebook.

Sunset Players is a proud recipient of a grant from the Hamilton County CARES Relief Program for assistance to arts and cultural organizations and a recipient of the Catalyzing Impact Grant from ArtsWave.

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