Category Archives: Press Releases

The Black Theatre Coalition/Broadway Across America Fellowship Announced

BTC_logoTHE BLACK THEATRE COALITION /
BROADWAY ACROSS AMERICA
FELLOWSHIP

SPONSORED BY THE JOHN GORE ORGANIZATION 

BIC_logoNOW ACCEPTING APPLICANTS THROUGH OCTOBER 15 

FELLOWSHIP POSITION AVAILABLE WITH BROADWAY IN CINCINNATI

STARTING JANUARY 2022

Cincinnati, OH (10/1/21) – The John Gore Organization (JGO) the leading presenter, producer, distributor, and marketer of Broadway theater worldwide, has partnered with Black Theatre Coalition (BTC), an organization dedicated to eradicating racial inequities in the theater industry, to create a comprehensive paid fellowship program for Black-identifying undergraduate college juniors, seniors and recent college graduates.

This landmark program, called The Black Theatre Coalition/Broadway Across America Fellowship, sponsored by the John Gore Organization, is now accepting applications through October 15, 2021 for ten paid 14-week part-time positions across the United States with training in the business of commercial theater.

One position will be available in Cincinnati, working with the Broadway in Cincinnati team in the area of Marketing & PR for Broadway touring shows at the Aronoff Center.

In addition to on-the-job training, the program includes a comprehensive educational curriculum taught by BTC, BAA and other Broadway professionals, providing an invaluable, in-depth education in the business of commercial theater.  The program also features a trip to New York City for regional fellows where the cohort will gather for in-person shadowing and networking opportunities.

“We at Broadway Across America want to take meaningful steps to create change in our industry in regards to equity, diversity, access and inclusion,” said Genevieve Holt, Vice President Midwest.  “We believe that one important way to do that is to generate opportunities for students and young professionals to learn about the theater business from the inside, through on-the-job training and opportunities to learn and network with leaders in the industry.  We’re excited to partner with Black Theatre Coalition to give these Fellows insight to the wide range of roles that exist in our business off the stage.”

Interested Black-identifying applicants should submit contact information, current school enrollment information, a personal statement, resume and one letter of recommendation at BroadwayFellows.com.

Recognizing the underrepresentation of BIPOC professionals in the commercial theater industry, this program will be dedicated to fostering and preserving a culture of equity, diversity, access, and inclusion.  BTC-BAA Fellowships will initially be available in New York, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, and Louisville.

The goal of this fellowship program is to provide undergraduate and postgraduate students with an opportunity to develop the job skills, industry-specific knowledge and network connections necessary to begin a professional career in the commercial theater industry.

At the John Gore Organization, we believe that live theater is for everyone. Everyone means people of all races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations and people with disabilities. We specifically want to increase participation for those that have been historically underrepresented in the commercial theater industry.

FELLOWSHIP POSITIONS AVAILABLE

  • Atlanta, GA – Marketing & PR (1 position)
  • Baltimore, MD – Operations & Marketing (1 position)
  • Cincinnati, OH – Marketing & PR (1 position)
  • Fort Lauderdale, FL – Marketing (1 position)
  • Houston, TX – Marketing & Ticketing (1 position)
  • Louisville, KY – Ticketing Operations (1 position)
  • New York, NY– Finance (1 position)
  • New York, NY – Marketing & PR (1 position)
  • New York, NY – Operations (1 position)
  • New York, NY – Ticketing & Business Intelligence (1 position)

For more information and to apply, please visit www.BroadwayFellows.com.

ABOUT BLACK THEATRE COALITION

Black Theatre Coalition was founded by T. Oliver Reid and Warren Adams during the Summer of 2019. They identified the disparity between the growing inclusivity onstage, versus the almost non-existence of Black professionals off stage. They invited their colleague, Reggie Van Lee, (Chief Transformation Officer of the Carlyle Group) to join them as Co-Founder and Chairman of The Board. Afton Battle is the Executive Strategist and Tamica Clanton is Digital Marketing Strategist.

BTC’s mission is to remove the “illusion of inclusion” in the American Theatre, by building a sustainable ethical roadmap that will increase employment opportunities for Black theatre professionals. Their vision is to reshape the working ecosystem for those who have been marginalized by systemically racist and biased ideology.

Black Theatre Coalition officially filed as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) in June of 2020.
www.BlackTheatreCoalition.org

ABOUT THE JOHN GORE ORGANIZATION

The John Gore Organization is the leading presenter, producer, distributor, and marketer of Broadway theater worldwide. Under the leadership of 14-time Tony-winning theater producer and owner John Gore, its family of companies includes Broadway Across America, Broadway.com, The Broadway Channel, BroadwayBox.com, and Group Sales Box Office. The company presents shows in 48 cities across North America as well as on Broadway, Off-Broadway, London’s West End, Japan, and China. It has won Tony Awards in every producing category as well as numerous other Drama League, Drama Desk and Olivier Awards.  The John Gore Organization is committed to supporting theater access and education programs that introduce Broadway to the next generation of audiences and theater professionals. www.johngore.com

Broadway Across America (BAA) is part of the John Gore Organization family of companies, which includes Broadway.com, The Broadway Channel, BroadwayBox.com and Group Sales Box Office.  Led by 15-time Tony-winning theater producer John Gore (Owner & CEO), BAA is the foremost presenter of first-class touring productions in North America, operating in 48 markets with over 400,000 subscribers. Presentations include Disney’s The Lion King, Wicked, The Book of Mormon, The Phantom of the Opera and Hamilton. Current and past productions include Ain’t Too Proud, Beautiful, Cats, Chicago, Dear Evan Hansen, Mean Girls, Moulin Rouge! and To Kill A Mockingbird. 

Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Cincinnati presented by TriHealth is committed to bringing the very best of Broadway to the Tri-State, presenting touring Broadway plays and musicals in Cincinnati since 1987. For over twenty years, Broadway in Cincinnati has presented all shows at the Aronoff Center. The Broadway in Cincinnati series brings more than 185,000 people downtown to the Aronoff Center each year, and contributes an average of $30 million to the local economy each season. Broadway in Cincinnati is a member of the Greater Cincinnati Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and The Broadway League. Fifth Third Bank is the sponsor of the Cincinnati 21/22 Season and the season is presented by TriHealth.

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Cincinnati Opera Announces 2022 Summer Festival

co_logoThe company comes home to Cincinnati Music Hall after two seasons away, with live, in-person performances from June 18−July 31, 2022 

The lineup includes two world premieres (Castor and Patience, Fierce), two classic love stories (La Bohème, Aida), and Gilbert and Sullivan’s rollicking comedy, The Pirates of Penzance 

The season stars a thrilling roster of world-class singers, including Raven McMillon, Lauren Snouffer, Talise Trevigne, Mary Elizabeth Williams, Tichina Vaughn, Zachary James, Gregory Kunde, Ji-Min Park, Rodion Pogossov, Reginald Smith Jr., and Matthew White

Cincinnati, Ohio—After two seasons away, Cincinnati Opera today announced plans to return to Cincinnati Music Hall and the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) next June and July for its 2022 Summer Festival. The company celebrates this special homecoming with a full, five-opera season—including two world premieres and new-to-Cincinnati productions—plus creative collaborations with renowned singers, conductors, directors, and designers, as well as the Cincinnati Opera Chorus, Cincinnati Ballet, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

The 2022 season includes Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème (June 18, 23, 25), Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance (July 7, 9, 10m), and Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida (July 21, 23, 29, 31m) at Music Hall, and two world premiere operas at SCPA’s Corbett Theater: William Menefield and Sheila Williams’s Fierce (July 6, 8) and Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith’s Castor and Patience (July 22, 24m, 26, 28, 30).

“As the arts reopen and stages in Cincinnati once again come alive, we can’t wait to get back home to Music Hall and SCPA,” said Evans Mirageas, The Harry T. Wilks Artistic Director. “We know how lucky we are to do what we love in such extraordinary venues, and to share with our community all that opera can be. Our 2022 season has been planned to do just that—to bring us together and remind us what it feels like to fall in love, to give us a reason to laugh out loud, and to move us with compelling stories that reflect the modern American experience.”

Continued Mirageas, “For the audience, we hope it will feel like both a welcome return to form and an exciting leap forward—a not-to-be-missed chapter in Cincinnati Opera’s vibrant history.”

Renewing subscribers will be contacted with purchase information in October, and new subscriptions go on sale in January 2022. Single tickets will be available beginning spring 2022. For additional information, visit cincinnatiopera.org.


Cincinnati Opera
2022 Summer Festival

La Bohème

Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Saturday, June 18, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, June 23, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 25, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Springer Auditorium | Cincinnati Music Hall

The 2022 season sweeps in on a romantic high with one of the most famous love stories ever sung. Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème has captivated audiences for generations with its unforgettable music and its sweetly sentimental tale of young bohemian lovers in Paris. It all begins in a cold apartment on Christmas Eve, where the penniless poet Rodolfo prepares to celebrate with friends on the city’s bustling streets. But with a quiet knock on the door, he meets Mimì, whose single candle has gone out. While searching for a match in the dark, hands touch, sparks fly, and lives change forever.

Soprano Talise Trevigne, who dazzled Cincinnati audiences in the title role of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (2019), portrays Mimì with tenor Ji-Min Park (Alfredo in Cincinnati Opera’s La Traviata, 2018) as Rodolfo. Soprano Raven McMillon, a 2021 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, sings the role of Musetta, and baritone Rodion Pogossov (Marcello), bass-baritone André Courville (Colline), and baritone Ethan Vincent (Schaunard) appear as Rodolfo’s trio of artistic friends. Mark Gibson, director of orchestral studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, will conduct.

Featuring the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Opera Chorus

Sung in Italian with projected translations


World Premiere
Fierce
Music by William Menefield
Libretto by Sheila Williams
Wednesday, July 6, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Friday, July 8, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Corbett Theater | School for Creative and Performing Arts

Cincinnati Opera proudly presents the world premiere of Fierce during summer 2022. With authenticity and sensitivity, Fierce tells the stories of four teenage girls struggling with school, family, and friendship, as each embarks on a transformative journey toward empowerment and self-assurance. A collaboration with WordPlay Cincy, the Music Resource Center−Cincinnati (MRC), and i.imagine—three arts organizations serving Greater Cincinnati youth—Fierce was originally slated to debut in summer 2020 and has been rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Northern Kentucky-based novelist Sheila Williams interviewed WordPlay and MRC participants to inspire the opera’s libretto, while Cincinnati native William Menefield employs jazz, modern, and classical music styles in the work’s high-energy score. Teenage girls participating in i.imagine’s photography program will partner with Cincinnati Opera to promote the production to their peers. D. Lynn Meyers, producing artistic director of Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, makes her Cincinnati Opera debut as Fierce’s stage director and dramaturg. Production design is by Samantha Reno, with lighting design by Thomas C. Hase and wig and makeup design by James Geier.

Featuring the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Sung in English with projected titles


CO_Pirates of Penzance promo

Jeff Roffman, Atlanta Opera

New-to-Cincinnati Production
The Pirates of Penzance
Music by Arthur Sullivan
Libretto by W.S. Gilbert

Thursday, July 7, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 9, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 10, 2022 | 3:00 p.m.
|Springer Auditorium | Cincinnati Music Hall

Gilbert and Sullivan’s perfectly preposterous comic operetta The Pirates of Penzance sets sail at Music Hall in July 2022. Frederic, an orphan apprenticed to a lively band of pirates, is soon to celebrate his 21st birthday, when he’ll be free to pursue a life—and love—all his own. The charming Mabel catches his eye, and she’s supremely smitten in return. But the crafty Pirate King finds a loophole in Frederic’s contract, setting the young lovers’ future upon stormy seas. Will Frederic and Mabel steer their way to a happily-ever-after?

Bursting with memorable tunes and rapid-fire laughs, our production of The Pirates of Penzance is a modern, major spectacle, featuring vivid sets and costumes originally created for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis by designer James Schuette. David Agler conducts, with stage direction and choreography by Seán Curran. Zachary James brings a “striking bass voice and a tremendously magnetic presence” (Opera News) to the role of the swashbuckling Pirate King. Tenor Matthew White, who last appeared with Cincinnati Opera as Gounod’s Romeo, joins soprano Lauren Snouffer, who offers “beautifully clear, unaffected singing … informed with intelligence and wit” (Opera News), as the lovebirds Frederic and Mabel.

Featuring the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Opera Chorus

Sung in English with projected titles

Production originally created for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis


CO_Aida promo

Opéra de Montréal, Yves Renaud.

New-to-Cincinnati Production
Aida
Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni

Thursday, July 21, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 23, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Friday, July 29, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 31, 2022 | 3:00 p.m.
Springer Auditorium | Cincinnati Music Hall

The 2022 season continues with the grandest of grand operas, Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida. As war rages between enemy nations, a forbidden love burns brightly between Radamès, an Egyptian warrior, and Aida, his captive. But Aida’s keeping a secret of her own—she’s the daughter of the Ethiopian king and deeply devoted to her people. Will she betray Radamès to save her nation or risk everything to follow her heart?

From its passionate romance to its thunderous “Triumphal March,” which features a 60-voice chorus, Aida is the definition of “epic.” Our production evokes the opulence of Ancient Egypt with its “lavish design” (Pittsburgh Theater) by Claude Girard and Bernard Uzan and will be helmed by stage director Crystal Manich with Christopher Allen conducting. Making her company debut in the title role is soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams, who possesses a voice with “a gleaming top and luxuriant richness” (The Guardian, U.K.), and tenor Gregory Kunde brings a “robust voice” with “clear, strong, focused tone” (The New York Times) as Radamès. Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano and Metropolitan Opera regular Tichina Vaughn is the imperious Egyptian princess Amneris, while baritone Gordon Hawkins, who appeared as Amonasro in the company’s 2013 production, reprises the role. Bass Morris Robinson, Cincinnati Opera’s artistic advisor, is Ramfis, with bass Peixin Chen as the King of Egypt and soprano Jennifer Cherest as the High Priestess.

Featuring the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Opera Chorus, and Cincinnati Ballet

Sung in Italian with projected translations

Production by Opéra de Montréal, Pittsburgh Opera, and Utah Opera


World Premiere
Castor and Patience
Music by Gregory Spears
Libretto by Tracy K. Smith

Friday, July 22, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 24, 2022 | 3:00 p.m.
Tuesday, July 26, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 28, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 30, 2022 | 7:30 p.m.
Corbett Theater | School for Creative and Performing Arts

Originally commissioned for Cincinnati Opera’s 100th anniversary in 2020 and postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Castor and Patience receives its much-anticipated world premiere in July 2022. With music by Gregory Spears, composer of the company’s acclaimed 2016 commission Fellow Travelers, and an original libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winner and former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith, the opera centers on two cousins from an African American family who find themselves at odds over the fate of a historic parcel of land they have inherited in the American South. Deeply relevant to ongoing calls for racial justice, Castor and Patience probes historical and continuing obstacles to Black land ownership in the United States.

At the podium is conductor Kazem Abdullah, and Kevin Newbury (Fellow Travelers) directs. The new production will be created by Vita Tzykun (scenic design), Jessica Jahn (costume design), Rachel Eliza Griffiths (image design), S. Katy Tucker (projection design), Thomas C. Hase (lighting design), and James Geier (wig and makeup design). A renowned interpreter of contemporary opera, soprano Talise Trevigne is Patience, and baritone Reginald Smith Jr., this year’s U.S. representative at the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, is Castor. They’re joined by a stellar supporting cast: mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano (Celeste), soprano Victoria Okafor (Willie), baritone Benjamin Taylor (West), tenor Frederick Ballentine (Judah), and soprano Raven McMillon (Ruthie). Mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams, tenor Victor Ryan Robertson, and baritone Phillip Bullock make up the opera’s ensemble.

Featuring the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Sung in English with projected titles


Tickets and Information

Renewing subscribers will be contacted with purchase information in October, and new subscriptions go on sale in January 2022. Single tickets will be available beginning spring 2022. In September, the company joined several of Cincinnati’s performing arts organizations in announcing COVID safety requirements for audience members, including mask-wearing and proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test. For more information, visit cincinnatiopera.org.


About Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera’s mission is to enrich and connect our community through diverse opera experiences. Founded in 1920 and the second-oldest opera company in the nation, Cincinnati Opera presents a thrilling season of grand opera every summer and engaging programs throughout the year. The company’s repertoire includes beloved classics and contemporary masterworks brought to life by some of the world’s most dynamic performers and creative artists.

Cincinnati Opera is supported by the generosity of tens of thousands of contributors to the ArtsWave Community Campaign. Cincinnati Opera also receives general season support from the Ohio Arts Council, The Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund, Patricia A. Corbett Estate and Trust, and the Harry T. Wilks Family Foundation, along with general season and project support from many other generous individuals, corporations, and foundations. Cincinnati Opera is a proud member of OPERA America.

To learn more, visit cincinnatiopera.org. 

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Fierstein’s TORCH SONG Kicks Off NKU’s Theatre & Dance Season

NKU_Torch Song 1

Photo by Michael Hatton.

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY – Northern Kentucky University’s School of the Arts presents Harvey Fierstein’s TORCH SONG as the start of their 21/22 Theatre + Dance academic season. TORCH SONG will run Sept. 29-Oct. 9, 2021 at NKU’s Stauss Theatre. TORCH SONG is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc., a Concord Theatricals Company.

  • What: “Torch Song” by Harvey Fierstein
  • When: Sept. 29-Oct. 9, 2021
  • Where: NKU Stauss Theatre
  • Tickets: nku.edu/sotatickets

TORCH SONG is the two-act revival of Harvey Fierstein’s Tony Award-winning Torch Song Trilogy. The life of Arnold Beckoff, a torch song-singing, Jewish drag queen living in New York City, is dramatized over the span of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Told with a friendly, human voice, Torch Song follows Arnold’s odyssey to find happiness in New York. Along the way, Arnold experiences love, loss, and misadventure. A visit from his overbearing mother reminds him that he needs one thing more: respect.

The NKU cast features Gabriela Barbosa Paul, Alec Harrison, Emily Hilbrecht, Nick Rohr, Evan Rogers, and Jayvon Shack; understudies are Linnzie Hays and Elizabeth J. McClure. The show is directed by Michael Hatton. The Music Director is Damon Stevens. The Stage Manager is Alyssa Taylor and Assistant Stage Managers are Julie Fellinger and Savanah Scott.

Health & Safety Guidelines
With safety in mind, SOTA is moving to touchless mobile ticketing and print-at-home options. If you do not have a mobile device or home printing capabilities, please call the Box Office (859) 572-5464 for alternative options.

Starting Jan. 1, 2022 all sales will become credit card only to create a “touchless” payment environment for improved health and safety of our guests.

NKU is following all CDC and government guidelines, and continues to monitor the COVID situation. Masks are required indoors on campus for all persons, vaccinated and unvaccinated. The vaccines are safe and effective in preventing serious disease. Please get vaccinated if you have not done so already. Visit nku.edu/covid19 for more information.

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.

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MOAN ALONE Dinner Theatre Event Opens Oct. 8

BTPE_Moan Alone logoZombies and October go together like peanut butter and jelly- candy and costumes- carmel and apples! Come out and see the hilarious new dinner theatre comedy, MOAN ALONE by Mark Aloysius Kenneally. The show runs October 8 – 22, 2021.

We all know that Zombies spend day in and day out seeking human brains to chow down on. But– How would they spend their time if they were stuck in a cabin on Halloween night, in a freak blizzard, hundreds of miles away from the nearest human brain? Laugh the night away in a show that has been compared to a comedy muddle up between the television show FRIENDS and the cinematic classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

This COVID safe production requires masks and will continue with the COVID menu in the same fashion as our show last spring. All actors and staff have been vaccinated. Continuing our shows and keeping our patrons safe is importand to us.

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
Ticket Cost: $44.50 + Tax
Ticket Order Line: (513) 999-BTPE (2873)
Location: The Liberty Exhibition Hall, 3938 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45223 (Next door to Casblanca Vintage Clothing Shop in Northside)
Entree Choices: 1) Beef Tips in a Mushroom Gravy 2) Penne Chicken Alfredo 3) Vegetarian Lasagna
Time: 6:30 – 9:30 P.M.

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Get Lured into Miss Spidra’s Web with SHOCK!: THE SPINE-TINGLING TALE OF MISS SPIDRA

KTC_Shock promoBy Joseph Zettelmaier

October 8 – 24, 2021

The Night Parlor is open; don’t touch that dial

What happens when you start living a dream you didn’t know you had? Step into the den of a sexy hostess of shlocky horror at Know Theatre with Shock!: The Spine-Tingling Tale of Miss Spidra, running October 8 – 24, and see how the story behind the story has all the thrills.

In the late 1950’s, young actor Joyce is given the opportunity to take her love of horror movies to the next level, as a Horror Host of an campy late night television B Movie Extravaganza: Miss Spidra’s Night Parlor. Now, some 50 years later, an older Joyce reflects on the challenges, the fun, and the schlock, when a documentary considers her legacy.

We kicked off our return to in-person theatre this season with back-to-back outdoor productions, but as autumn arrives, we’re delighted to welcome you back into our Jackson Street MainStage with this production by one of our favorite playwrights, Joseph Zettelmaier, who also wrote the scripts for previous MainStage productions All Childish Things (2015), Pulp (2016), and The Man-Beast (2018).

Shock! tells of the rise and fall of a “horror host,” the costumed emcee of late-night television broadcasts of campy horror films. This fictionalized account is based on a real-life pop culture phenomenon: in the 1950s, cities all over the country showcased their own homegrown spins on the smash-hit success of LA’s Vampira TV show. And as it turns out, Ohio had the most local TV horror hosts of any state in the nation. (Perhaps YOU grew up watching The Cool Ghoul, Fritz The Nite Owl, or Ghoulardi, yourself?)

Andrew J. Hungerford, Producing Artistic Director of Know Theatre of Cincinnati, will direct this production. He says about Shock!: “I remember as a kid the inherent thrill in staying up late at night to watch something scary, or silly, or both, in the waning hours before the local station ended their broadcast day. It was a magical time and place that felt outside of reality, like anything could happen. It’s the same kind of feeling I still get when I walk into an empty theatre. This play, which threads connections through theatre, film and television, celebrates creativity, and the joy of making something that is your own, while never shying away from what it can all cost.”

Tess Talbot returns to the Know MainStage to play Joyce, creator and performer behind “Miss Spidra.” Ms. Talbot’s many appearances on our MainStage include (most recently) as an aspiring MMA fighter in The Girl in the Red Corner (2019) and as an occult shopkeeper in Mercury (2018). Paul Riopelle will play Ray, the producer who’s pinned all his hopes on Miss Spidra; Mr. Riopelle has previously appeared at the Know as a private eye in Pulp (2016). Brianna Bernard returns to the Know as Lucy Lupnicki, Joyce’s sexy sidekick-turned-rival. Audiences may recognize Ms. Bernard from her appearances as Lady Glethien in this summer’s touring musical All’s Faire or as Sally Perks in the smash-hit satire Puffs (2019).

Also joining the cast is Terry Neumann as Older Joyce, who appears in video footage, several decades after the play’s main action, as she speaks to a documentarian about her life as Miss Spidra. Ms. Neumann makes her Know Theatre debut in Shock!, but she’s certainly been seen around our theatre before – often in the company of Ms. Talbot, her real-life daughter.

Rounding out the cast in a cameo appearance is Daniel Winters, usually found behind the camera as our in-house stage photographer but also familiar to Know audiences from his role in 2014’s Moby Dick, as co-director of Neverwhere (2017), and as director of Whisper House (2018).

Shock! will also be available to watch online as a high-quality video-on-demand experience, filmed by cinematographer and Director of Photography Ryan Lewis.

So join us in Miss Spidra’s Night Parlor, and discover what can happen when you take a chance on a wild idea and set out to build your own legacy.

Tickets are available on our website, knowtheatre.com, or by calling our box office at 513-300-5669.

CAST

  • Tess Talbot as Joyce Billings, “Miss Spidra”
  • Paul Riopelle* as Ray Coslaw
  • Brianna Bernard as Lucy Lupnicki
  • Terry Neumann as Older Joyce
  • Daniel Winters as Oglesby
    *Appearing Courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract

PRODUCTION TEAM

  • Director & Lighting Designer: Andrew J. Hungerford
  • Scenic Designer: Kayla Williams
  • Costume Designer: Noelle Wedig-Johnston
  • Sound & Projections Designer: Douglas J. Borntrager
  • Director of Photography: Ryan Lewis
  • Original Music: James Allen
  • Technical Directors: Henry Bateman & Jim Stark 

AT A GLANCE

Production: Shock!: The Spine-Tingling Tale of Miss Spidra, by Joseph Zettelmaier

Dates: October 8 – 24, 2021; Wednesday – Saturday shows are at 8 PM; Sunday matinees are at 3 PM.

Where: Know Theatre, 1120 Jackson Street in Over-the-Rhine

Tickets: The standard ticket price is $25. Audiences may opt to support the Know’s initiative to pay all artists and employees a living wage by selecting the $35 Living Wage Ticket. Low-cost admission available for $15. On Wednesdays, as part of our Welcome Experiment, tickets are $5 in advance or FREE beginning one hour prior to the show. The Welcome Experiment is bright to you this season by Judge Mark P. Painter (Ret). 

Know Theatre is Cincinnati’s Theatrical Playground. The Know showcases unexpected voices, new works, and plays that embrace the inherent theatricality of the live experience. Know Theatre seeks to be a place where artists and audiences feel welcome to take artistic risks, creating work that is cutting edge and accessible. 

Know Theatre’s work is made possible, in part, by the generosity of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign. 

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

Know Theatre is also supported by The Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation, helping to change our communities for the better through collaboration and innovation, and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, which provides a simple, powerful, and highly personal approach to giving.

 Know Theatre is a member of Theatre Communications Group and an Associate Member of the National New Play Network.

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