By Katrina “Kat” Reynolds
HEIST presented by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park through October 11th. I attended the Opening Night performance.
The Cast of HEIST presented by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park opens their 2026-2027 season at Moe and Jack’s Place – The Rouse Theatre with HEIST by Arun Lakra. Co-Produced with Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Gulfshore Playhouse, it is described as a “high-tech mystery for the stage” where a heist goes wrong, leading to broken trust and new danger.
Osborn Family Producing Artistic Director Blake Robison leads the brigade on this adventure. His direction of the action and his attention to detail are solid. Pacing could use some help, but this is of no fault of Mr. Robison’s (see my final paragraph). Set Designer Tim Mackabee gives us a sleek and versatile set with is complemented by Lighting Designer Jaymi Lee Smith’s bold and unique choices to fit the moods. Projection Design by Joe Payne is used in the right doses, but I do wonder if we needed so much of it to be AI-generated. Much of it could have been rendered by an animation artist, thus giving an independent artist the work. Food for thought.
Chemistry is key in a caper production and the performing artists satisfy the brief. Brian Vaughn is outstanding as Martin, the leader of the proverbial pack. His character is the narrator in this tale and Mr. Vaughn juxtaposes between breaking the fourth wall and being in the thick of things with seamless expertise. I’d love to have an Old Fashioned with him one of these days. Angel Lin is a stand-out as Fiona and I immediately picked up on the idea that she had to be a voice artist. (I was right, for the record.) Fiona is ridiculously smart to the point of being not-so-smart in less cerebral aspects and Ms. Lin commits to it.
The remaining ensemble members are no slouches, either. Alex Purcell is fundamentally believable as Ryan, Martin’s second-in-command – he has a certain “everyman” quality to him; Jessica Fishenfeld plays Angie with a plausible level of cunning and an exceptional physical prowess; Brian Thomas Abraham is appropriately both menacing and amusing as Kruger; and Kate Goehring’s turn as The Spider is masterful.
While HEIST is not altogether terribly original, I personally love a good bit of action and intrigue. The show is full of energy – which is why I question the motive behind the cadence of the flashbacks. Rather than giving the “behind-the-scenes” or “this is what really happened” point of view in larger increments, there is a constant switch between present and past day with every development. This not only slows the growing momentum, but it treats the audience like they aren’t very bright and feels a bit cheap. But even though some of it is what you might expect, even I was surprised by a thing or two. All in all, HEIST is well-executed, action-packed, and just plain good fun.
P.S. If we see each other out in the wild and you want to know the exact moment when I figured out one of the big mysteries, I’ll be happy to share – but this review, like all my others, will remain spoiler-free.
Click here for more information about the production.
