Category Archives: Events

January 31, 2019 · 12:23 pm

ONE FUNNY MOTHER | Thu., March 21 | Cincinnati Music Hall Ballroom

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CINCINNATI, OH – One Funny Mother Dena Blizzard, the viral video star and off-Broadway comedy sensation, will bring her hit one-woman show to Cincinnati’s Music Hall Ballroom on Thursday, March 21, 2019 at 7:30 PM. Dena’s hilariously relatable collection of stories will make you realize you’re not crazy, but motherhood sure is! The show is part of Cincinnati Arts Association’s 2018-19 Presenting Season.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 8 at 10:00 AM at www.CincinnatiArts.org, (513) 621-ARTS [2787], and the Aronoff Center and Music Hall Ticket Offices. Due to adult themes, language, and alcohol use, One Funny Mother is suitable for mature audiences ages 18 and over.

One Funny Mother stars comedian, former Miss New Jersey, and married mother of three, Dena Blizzard, in her hilarious solo comedy show about the trials and tribulations of motherhood and marriage. An outrageous and side-splitting 80 minutes of sass follows Dena on her hilarious journey through a typical day as a mom as she prepares for her big “Girls Night Out.” Along the way, she laments how her life and marriage have changed since becoming a mother of three, wrestling with the eternal question, “Have I gone crazy since having these kids?” The answer is a hysterical, “laugh ’til your face hurts” comedy that you won’t want to miss!

Dena Blizzard first gained notoriety as the “Target mom” from her “Back to School Rant” (96 million views) and “Chardonnay Go” (24 million views) viral videos. She is a comedian and mother of three who has starred Off-Broadway in her one-woman show One Funny Mother, created “Chardonnay Go, The Board Game for Wine Lovers, Moms and Other Shameless People” and “Shiraz on the Shelf, a New Christmas Wine Tradition,” and can be found drinking in her living room on her weekly Facebook LIVE show, “Tipsy Tuesday.”  A LIVE with Kelly Top 5 Co-Host Winner, she has served as the official host of the Miss America Pageant Preliminaries for ten years, has co-hosted with Anderson Cooper, was a warm-up comic for four years, and had her own talk show on NJ 101.5 FM. She can be found on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram @OneFunnyMother and online at OneFunnyMother.com.

Before hitting the road for a national tour, One Funny Mother was named “Best One Woman Show” at the 2015 United Solo Festival in New York City.

One Funny Mother is a great “Girls Night Out” or date night for anyone that IS a mom, HAS a mom, or is MARRIED to a mom.

CINCINNATI ARTS ASSOCIATION SPONSORS

SEASON SPONSORS:  AMERITAS (Founding Season Sponsor), FIFTH THIRD BANK (Lifetime Endowment Partner),CINCINNATI-NORTHERN KENTUCKY HONDA DEALERS, FURNITURE FAIR, LOCAL12 WKRC, The  P&G FUND of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation

SEASON PRESENTING SPONSORS:  21C Museum Hotel, Cincinnati Herald, CityBeat, Courtyard Marriott & Residence Inn-Rookwood, Graphic Village, Heidelberg Distributing, Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Cincinnati Downtown, Macy’s, Millennium Cincinnati, Pepsi, Skyline Chili,
TriHealth, Ultimate Air Shuttle

Founded in 1992, the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) is a not-for-profit organization that oversees the programming and management of the Tri-state’s finest performing arts venues – the Aronoff Center for the Arts and Music Hall – and is dedicated to supporting performing and visual arts. Each year, CAA presents a diverse schedule of events; serves upwards of 600,000 people in its venues; features the work of talented local, regional, and national artists in the Weston Art Gallery (located in the Aronoff Center); and supports the work of more than one dozen resident companies. Since the inception of its acclaimed arts education programs in 1995, CAA has reached more than 1.6 million students. For more information, visit www.CincinnatiArts.org.

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January 29, 2019 · 12:28 pm

Dancing for the Stars 2019 | Sat., April 13 | Music Hall Ballroom

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CINCINNATI, OH – Who will be voted Cincinnati’s best celebrity dancer?  Which stars have the right moves to rule the dance floor?  Find out on Saturday, April 13, 2019 when the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) celebrates season thirteen of its annual fundraiser Dancing for the Stars at the Music Hall Ballroom to benefit CAA’s Overture Awards – the nation’s largest locally-run high school arts scholarship competition – and Arts Education Programs. 

Inspired by the hit ABC-TV show Dancing with the Stars, Dancing for the Stars will feature seven Cincinnati celebrities paired with some of the area’s finest professional dancers in a competition program, at which the audience will vote for their favorite celebrity dancer. The competitive dance for the evening will be the cha cha and each dance pair will have ninety seconds to woo the crowd and the judges.

In addition, Dancing for the Stars will feature:

  • Online silent auction
  • Dance music by guest DJ “Rockin’ Ron” Schumacher, 103.5 WGRR-FM
  • Pre-event reception and wine tasting
  • Open dancing before and after the competition
  • Lite bites provided by some of Cincinnati’s finest restaurants and caterers
  • Cash bar

In addition to the winner of the dance competition, Dancing for the Stars will crown a Fundraising Champion – the celebrity dancer who raises the most revenue toward the event’s fundraising goal through table/ticket sales and donations. Fans may add a donation under their favorite celebrity’s name at the time of ticket purchase, or simply make a donation if they cannot attend the event. These direct donations (outside of the event ticket price) will help one of the fans’ favorite celebrities win the Dancing for the Stars Fundraising Champion award – which will be announced the evening of the event – and are 100% tax deductible.

Tickets are currently on sale at the following levels (a portion of the ticket price is tax-deductible):

  • $150 – Patron (pre-event reception and two drink tickets)
  • $1,500 – Corporate Table (ten Patron level tickets and a half-page program ad)
  • $2,000 – Celebrity Circle Table (premium “first-row” viewing of competition area, ten Patron level tickets, full-page program ad, recognition on event signage)

SCHEDULE FOR THE EVENING

  • 6:00 PM – Wine & Cheese / Meet-and-Greet Reception with the Stars and the Pros
  • 7:00 PM – Dancing, Dinner by the Bite, Cash Bar
  • 8:00 PM – Celebrity Dance Competition
  • 9:30 PM – Dance the Night Away

RESERVATIONS AND INFORMATION:

THE STARS:

  • Michael Betz (Senior Brand Manager, Strategic Brand Marketing,  Gannett, Cincinnati Enquirer)
  • Heidi Dejonckheere (Dental  Hygienist, Eastgate Dental Excellence)
  • Phillip Gill (General Sales Manager, Tom Gill Chevrolet)
  • Jan-Michelle Lemon Kearney (President & CEO, Sesh Communications)
  • Halle Quinn (Community Volunteer)
  • Jeff Thomas (Owner/President, Jeff Thomas Catering)
  • Rhonda Whitaker (Vice President, Community Relations, Ohio & Kentucky,  Duke Energy) 

THE PROS (WITH STAR PAIRING):  

  • Doreen Beatrice (Independent Dance Instructor) – Michael Betz
  • Bonita Brockert (Independent Dance Instructor) – Jeff Thomas
  • Brandon Etheridge (Independent Dance Instructor) – Heidi DeJonckheere
  • Desiree Mainous (Arthur Murray Dance Studio – Cincinnati) – Phillip Gill
  • Jozsef Parragh (Independent Dance Instructor) – Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney
  • Josh Tilford (Independent Dance Instructor) – Rhonda Whitaker
  • Alyenendrov (Lenny) Tsorokean (Phoenix Rising Ballroom) – Halle Quinn 

THE HOSTS:  Chris O’Brien & Janeen Coyle (“Married With Microphones,” 103.5 WGRR-FM) 

THE JUDGES:   

  • Douglas Beal (Independent Dance Instructor)
  • Barbara Hauser (2015 Dancing for the Stars alum; Manager, Ohio Government & Community Relations, Procter & Gamble)
  • Pam Kravetz (2018 Dancing for the Stars third place winner; nationally-recognized artist, arts educator, and Project Manager for ArtWorks)
  • Steve Valerius (2018 Dancing for the Stars alum; President Individual Division, Ameritas Life Insurance)

EVENT COMMITTEE:  Amal Daoud, Terry Foster, Sue Gilkey, Jim Howland, Ginger Loftin, Rosemary Schlachter, Phil Schworer, and Tracey Skale. 

EVENT SPONSORS:  TriHealth – Presenting Sponsor, Arthur Murray – Cincinnati, Doreen Beatrice, Bonita Brockert, Brandon Etheridge, Graphic Village, Pebble Creek Group, Jozsef Parragh, Phoenix Rising Ballroom, Josh Tilford. 

TWELVE YEARS OF DANCING FOR THE STARS WINNERS:

  • 2007:     Dr. O’dell Owens (former Hamilton County Coroner)
  • 2008:     Jenell Walton (former WCPO-TV9 Anchor and Reporter)
  • 2009:     Phil Schworer (past President, Cincinnati Bar Association; Environmental Lawyer, Frost, Brown and Todd)
  • 2010:     Donna Speigel (Owner, The Snooty Fox)
  • 2011:     Dr. Tracey Skale (Chief Medical Officer, Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services)
  • 2012:     Regina Russo (former Director of Marketing and Communications, Cincinnati Art Museum)
  • 2013:     Chris Seelbach (Cincinnati City Councilman)
  • 2014:     Neal Schulte (Founder & President, Schulte Financial Group, LLC)
  • 2015:     Johnny Chu (Owner, AmerAsia Kungfood Restaurant)
  • 2016:     Jay Lame (Financial Analyst, Lenox Wealth Management)
  • 2017:     Rohan Hemani (Procter & Gamble Fabric Care Intrapenuer)
  • 2018:     Dr. Marcia Bowling (Gynecologic Oncology, The Christ Hospital Network)

CINCINNATI ARTS ASSOCIATION’S ARTS EDUCATION PROGRAMS

CAA’s Education Department promotes life-long learning through its programs, which are diverse, multidisciplinary, and accessible to all ages and cultural groups. SchoolTime presents a series of programs that feature nationally-recognized artists at CAA’s two venues (the Aronoff Center and Music Hall), and Artists On Tour brings the finest local artists in the region to Tri-state schools for interactive arts experiences aligned with the curriculum.

The Overture Awards Scholarship Competition is the largest locally-run arts scholarship competition in the country.  The program annually provides a $4,000 scholarship to six area high school students for education and training, with 18 finalists each winning a $1,000 scholarship. Each year, nearly 500 students are nominated by their schools to compete in one of six artistic disciplines: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theater, Visual Art, or Vocal Music. There are three levels of competition: Regional, Semi-Finals, and Final.

The Overture Awards was developed to recognize, encourage, and reward excellence in the arts among Tri-state students in grades 9-12. It also provides students an opportunity to share their talents and interests among their peers in a supportive environment outside of their individual schools.  Now in its 22nd year, The Overture Awards was launched in 1996 by the Cinergy Foundation and Leadership Cincinnati (a Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce program).

Founded in 1992, the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) is a not-for-profit organization that oversees the programming and management of two of the Tri-state’s finest performing arts venues – the Aronoff Center for the Arts and Music Hall – and is dedicated to supporting performing and visual arts. Each year, CAA presents a diverse schedule of events; serves more than 600,000 people in its venues; features the work of talented local, regional, and national artists in the Weston Art Gallery (located in the Aronoff Center); and supports the work of more than one dozen resident companies, including Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Symphony/Pops Orchestras, May Festival, and Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Cincinnati, presented by TriHealth. Since the inception of its acclaimed arts education programs in 1995, CAA has reached nearly 1.6 million students.

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January 29, 2019 · 9:58 am

Anderson High School’s SHE KILLS MONSTERS Celebrates Geek Culture

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The students of Anderson Theatre have steeped themselves in 90’s rock music, daring stage combat, and medieval fantasy as they prepare for their production of Qui Nguyen’s SHE KILLS MONSTERS on February 8th through 10th. The comedic play explores the world of role-playing games when the lead character, Agnes, learns to play Dungeons & Dragons in an attempt to understand her deceased sister, Tilly.

“Through the game, my character learns not only about her sister, but also about bullying, creativity, and the struggle many people face to be accepted.” says Senior Hailey Mauk, who plays Agnes. “In reality, she is afraid to be different and have fun, but in the fantasy world she can be whoever she wants. And there’s a lot of humor!”

The play, which is best suited to adults and children age 12 and up, is directed by Theatre Teacher Hannah Linser-Wilder who is a D&D player and admitted geek herself. “Everyone is geeky or nerdy in some sense,” she says, “Meaning that they have something they are deeply passionate about, whether that be games or football or cooking. But then Society decides that certain things are socially acceptable to be obsessed with, and others are not.”  The beauty of this play, says Linser-Wilder, is that it reveals “how important passion is. The most important thing is to be passionate, and be proud of your passion. No one should be judged for the things, or people, they love.”

SHE KILLS MONSTERS really is for everybody,” says Junior Caitlin Walsh, who plays Kaliope, an elven adventurer who fights alongside Anges. “For the D&D geeks, there are little nuances in the script and the design that true fans will understand. For everyone else, there are lovable characters and comedic romps intertwined with serious, real-world topics. It’s hard not to fall in love.”

Griffin Maraan plays Chuck, the DM who teaches Agnes the game, and says, “Everyone should come see it, because it is a hugely funny show, so fun to watch. The music is great. My favorite parts are when we do the on-stage battles.”

Walsh agrees. “My favorite has to be the final battle,” she says. “It’s technically challenging, and it engages practically the entire cast. It’s the ultimate hero’s battle truly come to life on stage.”

The play also examines the personal secrets that sometimes even sisters cannot share. “LGBT issues have advanced so far now from the way they were in the 1990’s,” says Linser-Wilder, “But there is still a long way to go. This play helps remind us of both where we were, and what we still struggle with.”

“I hope people will leave with a different perspective of the world and the people around them,” says Mauk, “I hope this show helps them be more accepting toward others.”

Walsh adds, “At the end of the day, SHE KILLS MONSTERS is a compelling play that will make you laugh until you hurt, then inspire tears you didn’t know you had. The audience should just have fun, because, to quote the show, ‘That’s the point in all this.’”

Tickets for SHE KILLS MONSTERS at Anderson High School are $10, and can be purchased at the door or at www.ShowTix4U.com. Visit www.AndersonTheatre.com for more information.

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January 28, 2019 · 2:59 pm

Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati Presents BACKSTAGE @ ETC

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(Cincinnati, OH) Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati (ETC), Over-the-Rhine’s premiere theatre, is excited to present Backstage @ ETC on March 1, 2019 at 5:30pm. At this behind-the-scenes fundraiser event, you’re invited to venture offstage to see how ETC creates the productions and community programming you love, plus enjoy a sneak peek at A Doll’s House, Part 2 and musical selections from productions which have been or MAY be on the ETC stage in the coming season.

Backstage @ ETC includes the opportunity to view usually restricted areas of ETC to see how the theatrical magic is made—from scenery construction to painting to costumes to education. While attendees tour the premises, dinner-by-the-bite will be offered in various spaces, and opportunities for participants to fund a variety of needs from each department will be presented. The evening will end with a sneak-peak performance of an excerpt from A Doll’s House, Part 2 (the day before the first public preview performance!), as well as musical selections from past shows and possible future productions.

Ticket Prices
Guest Tickets are $100 and include admission to Backstage @ ETC and 1 drink ticket. All tickets can be purchased online or at the Box Office.

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Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati is supported, in part, by the generosity of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign.

The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati also receives funding from the Shubert Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati is a professional theatre dedicated to producing world and regional premieres of works that often explore compelling social issues. We fulfill our mission through our stage productions and educational outreach programs that enlighten, enliven, enrich and inspire our audiences.

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January 24, 2019 · 11:48 am

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM on the WHHS Stage Valentine’s Day Weekend

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By Mikki Schaffner Photography.

“Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be.”

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By Mikki Schaffner Photography.

Cincinnati OH – Join us this Valentine’s Day weekend at Walnut Hills High School for a retelling of a famous play but in a way you’ve never seen it before. Senior high students take on the classic comedy A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM with its usual twists and turns, but this time everything is in the 1970’s. Accompanied by a live band, you get to follow the story through the faeries, the “rude mechanicals,” and the quartet of lovers as their plots converge in hilarious twists and turns (the course of true love never did run smooth, right?). This show is not one you will want to miss, so dig out your bell bottoms and tie dye shirts, and join us on a magical journey.

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By Mikki Schaffner Photography.

The show will run February 14th through February 16th at 7pm. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students and children.

Show Synopsis
By William Shakespeare
One of the greatest comedies ever written, A Midsummer Night’s Dream revolves around the adventures of four young lovers and their interactions with the fairies that inhabit a mysterious forest. Their romantic intrigues are confused and complicated still further by Puck, a mischievous fairy, who causes hilarious bouts of confusion. Other visitors to the enchanted forest include Nick Bottom, the weaver, and his friends Snug, Snout, Quince and Flute: the amateur dramatists who want to rehearse their terrible (but hilarious) version of the play Pyramus and Thisbe that they will perform for the Duke of Athens upon his wedding day. Set in the 1970s and integrated with music and dance, this production will be a comedic spectacle that brings The Bard to our larger venue.

Directed by Michael Sherman, Assistant Directed by Lydia Noll.
Production Stage Manager: Reeya Dighe

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By Mikki Schaffner Photography.

Featuring De’Ariss Hope as Theseus, Naomi Stoner as Hippolyta, Sam Frank as Egeus, Oliver Vockell as Demetrius, Louis Martini as Lysander, Caroline Yaeger as Hermia, Katie Sutkamp as Helena, Milan Parikh as Philostrate, Grace Davis as Titania, Jowon Briggs as Oberon, Peter Godsey as Puck, Colby James as Moth, Kennedy Nadermann as Cobweb, Lincoln Messerly as Mustardseed, Tamir Gray as Peasblossom, Lily Adams as Patty Quince, Jack Giglia as Nick Bottom, Matthew Eggers as Francis Flute, Elle Bisheimer as Tina Snout, Clare Brennan as Robin Starveling, Brando Donaldson as Snug, and ensemble members Cam Hogue, Ingrid Kindel, Anna Gavin, Grace Kelly Fulton, Sarah Mansfield, Joanna Acio-Alele, Christina Picklo, Kendal Cooke, Kyra Krumins, Charlie Patterson, Owen Cummings, Bettina Ernst, Rehme Leanza, Olivia Busche, Talia Raider-Roth, Piper Sauerbrunn, and Derrick McHale

Performance Dates:
February 14-16 @ 7pm

WHHS Auditorium

Buy Tickets:
https://sites.google.com/view/whhstheatredepartment/tickets

By Chloe Burwinkel
January 20, 2019

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