Category Archives: Press Releases

April 19, 2021 · 9:46 am

RHAPSODY IN BLACK | Streaming May 4-17 + Candid Conversation | Live Via Zoom May 11

CAA_Rhapsody in Black logoRHAPSODY IN BLACK
Streaming May 4-17, 2021
+
CANDID CONVERSATION
Tuesday, May 11, 2021

CINCINNATI, OH – The Cincinnati Arts Association is pleased to present acclaimed actor LeLand Gantt in his one-man show, Rhapsody in Black, streaming May 4-17, 2021. Written and performed by LeLand and developed at NYC’s Actors Studio by Academy Award-winner Estelle Parsons, the show explores his personal journey to understand and eventually transcend racism in America.

Access to the streamed performance and a live, online CANDID CONVERSATION via Zoom with LeLand Gantt and local artists (more info below) is on sale now at CincinnatiArts.org and (513) 621-ARTS [2787]. The virtual events may be purchased separately at $6.00 each or in combination for $10.00.

Rhapsody follows his life story – from an underprivileged childhood in the ghettos of McKeesport, PA to teenage experiments with crime and drugs to scholastic achievement and an acting career, experiences that land adult LeLand in situations where he is virtually the only African-American in the room. His efforts to cope with the various psychological effects of consistently being marked “The Other” are recounted in remarkable and exquisitely moving detail, guaranteed to leave lasting impressions.

Multiple elements combine to give Rhapsody its super-powered emotional punch, many of them concentrated in the incredible persona of its star. Charming, self-deprecatingly funny, and linguistically awesome, LeLand imbues every word that falls from his mouth with all the passion and poignancy of a preacher speaking the Gospel. This is partly because he’s confronting heavy subjects, but mostly because he believes so firmly in his message that it’s impossible for it to emerge any other way. In his own words, “Objective truth strikes a chord.”

LELAND GANTT first unveiled Rhapsody in Black at the WorkShop Theater Company’s Sundays@Six reading series in March 2013. Subsequently, it was developed at The Actors Studio and with Estelle Parsons as Directorial Consultant. Rhapsody garnered both Best Director and Best Storyteller awards at the United Solo Festival in 2014.

Leland’s regional credits include: Two Trains Running and Radio Golf (Syracuse Stage); Walter Mosley’s The Fall of Heaven, world premiere (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Gem of the Ocean (Arena Stage); Jitney (Pittsburgh Public Theater); and In Walks Ed (Longwharf Theater).

Off-Broadway/Broadway: Slippery When Wet (La Mama), Another Man’s Poison (Peter Jay Sharpe Theater), OyamO’s Killa Dilla and Let Me Live (Drama Desk and Audelco Award nominee for Featured Actor), and the revival of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (u/s Rock Dutton).

Film and television credits include: Miracle at St. Anna, Requiem for a Dream, Malcolm X, Presumed Innocent, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, J.A.G., and HBO’s The Affair.

CAA_Rhapsody in Black CC logoCANDID CONVERSATION
Tuesday, May 11, 7:30 PM

Join national and local artists in intriguing discussions about the impact of their work on social justice, community wellbeing, and equity. Presented by the Cincinnati Arts Association, Candid Conversations is an opportunity to start a dialogue concerning the effects of racism on artists of color and arts communities as a whole, as well as the journey toward change.

This third in a series of five virtual Candid Conversations, presented by the Cincinnati Arts Association, features LeLand Gantt, the creator and star of Rhapsody in Black, who will be joined by local artists for an honest and open discussion about how persons of color define racism as they claim their Identities while working and living in racist systems.

The Candid Conversation is moderated by J. Stephen Dobbins – Owner and President, Assisted Transition of Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky; Member, Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) Board of Trustees; Chair, CAA’s Building Diverse Audiences Advisory Committee (BDAAC).

The local artists joining the conversation with LeLand Gantt include:

  • A.J. Baldwin – Actor; Playwright; Script Consultant / Dramaturg;  Artistic Committee Member, Cloverdale Playhouse; Anti-Racism Working Group Member, Theater at Monmouth
  • Geoffrey Barnes – Actor, Teaching Artist
  • Burgess Byrd – Actress; Board Member, Treehouse Cincinnati
  • Candice Handy – Director of Education, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company
  • Derek J. Snow – Founder, Missing Front Plate Productions; Actor; Writer; Director; Activist
  • Crystian Wiltshire – Resident Ensemble Member, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company

Candid Conversation purchasers receive access to the live conversation via Zoom on Tuesday, May 11 at 7:30 PM AND a link to an on-demand recording which will be available for two-weeks (the link to the recording will be emailed on Friday, May 14). 

THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS       
Ameritas, ArtsWave, Fifth Third Bank,
Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Honda Dealers,
Procter & Gamble Fund, St. Gregory Group, TriHealth 

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 1.8 million students. For more information, visit www.CincinnatiArts.org.

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April 16, 2021 · 1:20 pm

Falcon Theatre to Produce BEN BUTLER As On-demand Theater For Film Project 

FT_Ben Butler logoBEN BUTLER by Richard Strand, Falcon Theatre’s third theater-for-film project of its 2020-2021 season, is currently in production and will be available for streaming May 14 through 22.

What M*A*S*H was to the Korean War, Ben Butler is to the American Civil War. It’s a story that examines the horrors of war, and in this case, of slavery. But the play uses a strong dose of humor to portray the triumph of the human spirit from the cruelest and most dire of circumstances.

An escaped slave shows up and demands asylum at union-held Fort Monroe, Virginia in the early days of the war. Major General Ben Butler, who has been in the Union army for only a few weeks and has never held a rank lower than brigadier general, is faced with a moral dilemma: To follow the letter of the law, which would almost certainly end in the killing of the slave or to create a novel interpretation of the law that would save the slave’s life but that might end his barely-begun military career.

First-time Falcon director Piper Davis says that she was drawn to the play because of its approach to the story. “It certainly isn’t often you see a funny story about slavery,” Ms. Davis says. “But the humor of the play is found in its portrayal of resilience and hope.” Ms. Davis says that one of the challenges of the production is to make sure that the audience understands that, despite such heavy subject matter, it’s OK to laugh and enjoy the story.

The New York Times describes BEN BUTLER as “part comedy, part historical drama, and part biography, often all at once…just call it splendid.” The Times raves that the story’s dialogue is “by turns sarcastic, droll, and witty…clever without being glib, meaningful without being pretentious. It’s a funny and impressive mixture.”

The production’s cast features Michael Hall, Phineas Clark, Rico Reid, and Terry Gosdin.

Details for streaming the presentation will appear soon on Falcon’s website (www.falcontheater.net) and on Falcon’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

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April 15, 2021 · 9:16 am

MU Theatre Presents Climate Change Theatre Action April 28-May 1

MUT_Mother Earth logoMU Theatre presents Mother Earth’s Gallery of Broken Things: Miami University Theatre’s Climate Change Theatre Action between April 28 and May 1, 2020. This series of short performances, curated by Mother Earth, calls on humans to heal the planet. Featuring the work of 9 global and local playwrights, this outdoor site-specific performance (performed with social distancing) uses dance, projections, poetry, storytelling, and comedy to create performances that spark the power of imagination and collective action.

When Miami University Theatre had to reconsider their 2021 spring production season, Dr. Ann Elizabeth Armstrong proposed an outdoor site-specific performance for a socially distant format. With student designers, dramaturgs, directors, and managers, they curated short plays from two edited collections by Chantal Bilodeau; Where is the Hope? An Anthology of Short Climate Change Plays and Lighting the Way: An Anthology of Short Plays About the Climate Crisis.  Bilodeau is the director of Climate Change Theatre Action, a global network of artists integrating activism for the planet.

The performance includes plays by globally recognized playwrights as well as Miami University students. Each piece addresses different questions such as:  Can we take action to save endangered species?  How can we listen to the environment around us?  What wisdom do our ancestors (or aliens) have to help us save the planet?  How are we connected to others through the resources we consume? How will we solve the complex puzzle and imagine new possibilities for the future? The performances begin in the courtyard behind the Center for Performing Arts. Tour guides will walk audience members to short presentations near Miami’s Center for Performing Arts and Hiestand Hall.

The Climate Change Action Project reached across Miami University to create engaging collaborations for the show, including with the Miami University Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Ricardo Averbach and Dr. Roxanne Ornelas, associate professor of geography, is featured in a role. Student work includes projection designs from the Department of Emerging Technology in Business and Design, original music compositions, and more. Miami University has joined other universities in signing the President’s Climate Leadership Commitments, striving for carbon neutrality in the future.  This cultural event offers an opportunity to contemplate our personal role in our community’s commitment to the future.

For more information about free ticketing, please visit Miami University’s Box Office HERE. This is a free event but it will be ticketed to maintain safe capacity and social distancing. For more information please visit the MU Theatre website HERE.

If you go:

Mother Earth’s Gallery of Broken Things: Miami University Theatre’s Climate Change Theatre Action, Directed by Ann Elizabeth Armstrong

April 28, 29, 30 & May 1, 7:30 p.m., Center for Performing Arts Plaza
Rain Dates: May 2 & 3

Short Performances:

  • “Failed Experiment” by Vitor Jatoba
  • “The Butterfly that Persisted” by Lana I. Nasser
  • “Blood on the Leaves” by Madeline Sayet
  • “About that Chocolate Bar” by Joan Lipkin
  • “The Blue Puzzle” by Clare Duffy
  • “When they Twinkle” by Tyler Creech
  • “Brackendale” by Elaine Avila
  • “Letter to the Ocean” by Caridad Svich
  • “It begins with Me” by Chantal Bilodeau

The team designing the production experience includes: students Tyler Creech (scene design); Kelsi Moore, Lily Rose, Annie Watson, Qiuyang Xiong (dramaturgs); Emily Stowers (assistant choreographer); Kevin Woeste (composer and sound designer); Jenna Wrona (lighting design); Taylor Yaeck (costume designer); Miami University faculty and staff members Gion DeFrancesco (production manager and designer); Ashley Goos (choreographer) Meggan Peters (costume) Curtis Mortimore (lighting/technical direction); and guest artists Jaclyn Schott (director) and Jason Sebasian (sound design).

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April 14, 2021 · 1:55 pm

Emerge from the Darkness in CRYPSIS, a Devised, Immersive Audio Walking Tour

KTC_Crypsis logoAvailable Beginning April 28

It’s been over a year since we’ve shared space. Life as we know it isn’t back, just yet – but there are signs. Things emerging. Stories calling to be told.

The Know team invites you to walk with us – literally – as a new story about emerging from the darkness unfolds around you.

Join us at your convenience, beginning April 28, for an immersive audio tale designed to follow the path you choose – towards reunion, or toward revenge.

Designed to be experienced in Cincinnati’s spectacular Eden Park, CRYPSIS is a new audio play with a bonus: We’re using geolocation technology to advance the story with new scenes as you walk past certain landmarks — iconic locations that, as you listen, perhaps become something more.

This pay-what-you-can mashup of an audio drama and interactive walking tour takes inspiration from two legendary myths – Persephone from the Greek tradition, and Inanna from Mesopotamian lore.

Two women wronged. Two paths to the underworld. Two very different journeys back to the surface – and two paths for you to choose, as well.

How does it work? 

Once CRYPSIS becomes available at knowtheatre.com starting April 28, you’ll be able to pay whatever you choose, and we’ll send you the link you need to download the Echoes app on your smartphone or tablet.  Then, when you are ready to walk your path in Eden Park, you’ll open the app on your digital device, load up our story and its associated map, and follow your heart – either to redemption, or revenge.

As you walk along some of Cincinnati’s most scenic pathways and celebrated landmarks, you’ll be given prompts to see certain things in new ways, make choices of which way to go, and discover what it means to re-emerge.

After the year we’ve had, who couldn’t use an excuse to get out of the house, stretch your wings, and explore? 

Created and conceived entirely by the Know Theatre staff, with voice talents including beloved local actor Jordan Trovillion, CRYPSIS is for anyone who is hungry to scratch their way out of isolation and back into the light. (And if you’re not ready or able to join us in Eden Park, we’ll have a version of the show that you can experience from home).

We’ve missed you, Cincinnati. Come walk with us as this new story unfolds.

PRODUCTION TEAM

  • Devising Team: Henry Bateman,Doug Borntrager, Liz Carman, Andrew Hungerford, Zach Robinson, Kayla Williams, Meghan Winter, Tamara Winters
  • Sound Designer: Douglas J. Borntrager
  • Cast: Jordan Trovillion, additional voices TBD

AT A GLANCE

Production: CRYPSIS

Dates: available for download April 28 – June 30, 2021

Where: Online, to be enjoyed while walking Eden Park. An online version with video and audio will also be available.

Tickets: This production is pay-what-you-can, and all proceeds support the ongoing mission and artists of Know Theatre. Make your purchase at knowtheatre.com, and once you do, you’ll get a link to download the Echoes app (echoes.xyz) on your mobile device, where you will be able to access the audio and map for your walking tour.

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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April 14, 2021 · 1:45 pm

Abby Marcus Named the New Managing Director for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

PIP_A Marcus Headshot1CINCINNATI – Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park announced today the appointment of Abby Marcus as the new Managing Director. Currently, Marcus is managing director of the Orchard Project, a multidisciplinary artist residency program in Saratoga Springs, NY. She has also served as managing director of CalArts Center for New Performance in Los Angeles and as finance director at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY, where she helped oversee their $32 million capital expansion project. She will replace Buzz Ward, who will retire after serving 29 years in leadership at the Playhouse.
“Abby is the next generation of arts leadership – creative, innovative and inclusive,” says Blake Robison, the Playhouse’s artistic director. “Her financial acumen and strategic thinking will help lead us into a new era as we emerge from the pandemic and expand our work with all parts of the greater Cincinnati community. I am excited to welcome Abby and look forward to partnering with her.”

In addition to her finance and management background, Marcus serves as a creative producer of Vampire Cowboys, an OBIE Award-winning theatre company in New York City. She has held previous leadership positions at NYC’s Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Dramatists Guild of America and the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis.

Marcus arrives at a transformational moment in Playhouse history, as the company begins construction on its $49.5 million theatre complex. The new 539-seat mainstage, Moe and Jack’s Place – The Rouse Theatre, includes new rehearsal rooms, costume shop and backstage areas. It will expand what can be done on stage with state-of-the art theatre technology and joins the previously renovated Rosenthal Shelterhouse Theatre to create a fully modernized Playhouse for generations to come.

“Abby’s proven experience in financial and theatre management, combined with past success in building and operating a new theatrical facility, make her the ideal fit for the Playhouse at this pivotal time,” says Board President Ellen van der Horst. “We are delighted to welcome Abby to the Playhouse family.”

Marcus is scheduled to step into the role beginning in July 2021. She will work with Ward on the leadership transition until he retires on June 30 and becomes Managing Director Emeritus.

“I am thrilled to join the Playhouse and to support Blake, the Board, and the staff of this nationally regarded institution as we bring live performances back to the community and create a beautiful new home for the future,” says Marcus. “It is not every day that one has the opportunity to engage with an organization that has been so well-managed for so many years. Together, we will build on the Playhouse’s many successes and continue to grow in the years to come.”

The Playhouse is supported by the generosity of almost 40,000 contributors to the ArtsWave Community campaign. The Ohio Arts Council helps fund the Playhouse with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. The Playhouse also receives funding from the Shubert Foundation.

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