Category Archives: Press Releases

THE SPITFIRE GRILL to Open at Footlighters, Inc. November 7, 2019

fli_logoFootlighters, Inc. proudly presents the second show of its 2019-2020 season: The Spitfire Grill.

Based on the 1996 film, The Spitfire Grill is an uplifting, feel-good story about Percy, a feisty parolee who follows her dreams to small-town Wisconsin. She ends up working at an old diner – Hannah’s Spitfire Grill. Hannah wants to sell the place, but without any takers, Percy suggests she raffle it off. Entry fees are $100, and the best essay on the grill wins! Soon, mail’s arriving by the wheelbarrow – and that’s when toes start tappin’ and things start cookin’ at the Spitfire Grill.

Featuring a charming, catchy score filled with country, bluegrass, and folk influences, The Spitfire Grill’s tale of redemption and fortitude will put a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

The Spitfire Grill marks the Footlighters’ debut of director Dan Maloney – but he’s no stranger to the Cincinnati theater scene. In addition to being a founding member of OTRimprov, Dan is on the Board of Mariemont Players, the Ohio Community Theater Association, and is President of ACT-Cincinnati. His two recent award-winning projects Out of Sterno and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot were both chosen to represent SW Ohio at this year’s annual OCTA State Conference in Perrysburg, OH.

Performances:

  • Thursday-Saturday, November 7-9 at 7:30pm
  • Sunday, November 10 at 2:00pm
  • Thursday-Saturday, November 14-16 at 7:30pm
  • Sunday, November 17 at 2:00pm
  • Wednesday- Saturday, November 20-23 7:30pm

Tickets: $22 each and are available at (859) 652-3849 or FootlightersTickets@gmail.com.

The Footlighters, Inc. has been producing quality community theater shows in the Greater Cincinnati area for over 55 years. The group was established in 1963 by a small group of community theater volunteers who wanted to bring theater opportunities to the west side of Cincinnati.

In 1987, the group bought the Salem United Methodist Church in Newport and transformed it into The Stained Glass Theatre. The theater is on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated a Kentucky landmark. In September of 2018, Footlighters added an ADA ramp to the front of their building to complement the elevator installed in September of 2017, allowing access for all patrons with limited mobility.

For more information, please visit www.footlighters.org or “like” The Footlighters, Inc. on Facebook.

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CCM Sophomore Violinist Makes New York Carnegie Hall Debut

CCM_KayCee Galano

KayCee Galano.

Described as a “wondrous and natural talent in the purest sense,” KayCee Galano performs J.S. Bach’s complete Solo Sonatas and Partitas on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019, at Weill Recital Hall at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, presented by the Starling Project Foundation Cincinnati.

CINCINNATI, OH — Philippine violinist Kristine Clair Uchi “KayCee” Galano performs the complete J.S. Bach Solo Sonatas and Partitas from memory on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

The 18-year-old violinist is currently a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where she studies with Professor Kurt Sassmannshaus, the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Classical Violin. Galano’s performance is presented by the Starling Project Foundation Cincinnati. Details and tickets for Galano’s New York recital are available on Carnegie Hall’s website.

Galano became an overnight sensation in her home country in October 2018 when she stepped in as a soloist for Max Brunch’s first violin concerto with the Philippine Philharmonic with just a few days’ notice. Conductor Gerard Salonga, Music Director of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra and Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, said:

“In 2018 I had the good fortune of meeting KayCee for the first time in her hometown of Dumaguete in the Philippines. What immediately struck me about her was her beautiful sound, technical security, keen phrasing and natural musicality. KayCee is also a wonderful, positively charged human being, and a delight to work with. I really cannot say enough about what a talent she is, and how proud she is making her country. We should all look forward to hearing her contributions to the music world.”

From an early age, Galano had an irresistible fascination with the violin. At age 10, she attended the Great Wall International Music Academy in Beijing to study violin with Sassmannshaus. When she returned to her home in Brunei, Galano enrolled as a scholarship student in Sasssmannshaus’ Starling Preparatory String Project at CCM, and she began weekly, long-distance lessons over Skype
with Sassmannshaus. She quickly began to establish herself as one of the leading young violinists of her generation.

Galano has won first prize at the Malaysian Youth Music Festival and at the Great Wall Violin Concerto Competition in Beijing. At age 12, she performed in the first Asian broadcast of NPR’s “From the Top” show. The following year she performed Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto with the Metro Manila Concert Orchestra. At age 14, Galano toured the U.S. with renowned pianist Rohan De Silva, and has since collaborated and recorded with him many times.

“I tremendously enjoy performing with KayCee Galano,” said De Silva. “Her infectious musicality and magnetic stage presence were obvious in our first encounter. I foresee and wish her a blessed life as an important musician. Ms. Galano is a charming and stellar artistic ambassador for her native country of the Philippines.”

Her concert tours in China include performances at the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, as well as a tour of many Chinese cities with the Starling Chamber Orchestra. In 2017, Galano performed Korngold’s violin concerto with the Jena Philharmonic in Germany.

Five years after she began the Skype lessons with Sassmannshaus, Galano moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to complete her studies in CCM’s Starling Preparatory String Project and finish high school. She enrolled at CCM to pursue a BM in violin in fall 2018.

In anticipation of her Carnegie Hall debut, Galano’s teacher and mentor Sassmanshaus said:

“KayCee’s affinity and love of Bach’s Solo works has been a source of inspiration in her young life for many years. Her captivating interpretations show the rare confluence of a youthful spirit and uncommon maturity — and both continue to deliver delightful surprises. Her New York Recital Debut of the complete Bach solo violin works at age 18 will be both the culmination of in-depth study of many years, and the beginning of a life-long journey.”

RECITAL INFORMATION
Carnegie Hall Debut by CCM Sophomore Violinist KayCee Galano
Presented by the Starling Project Foundation Cincinnati

Repertoire: J.S. Bach: Six Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo (Complete)

Time: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019

Location: Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Please visit Carnegie Hall’s website for directions and parking.

Tickets: $30; student and senior discount tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office. Tickets can be purchased through Carnegie Hall’s website or over the phone by calling the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 212-247-7800.

ABOUT THE STARLING PREPARATORY STRING PROJECT
Founded in 1987 by CCM Professor Kurt Sassmannshaus, the Starling Preparatory String Project is a specialized honors program training young string students. The program is generously funded through a grant by the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation. The superbly talented musicians perform as the Starling Chamber Orchestra and are selected by audition.

Students receive one hourly lesson per week, and take music theory, chamber music and orchestra each Saturday. Instructors include CCM faculty and graduate students specially trained and chosen by Professor Sassmannshaus. Most of the students are from the greater Cincinnati area, and many others commute on Saturdays from other states. SCO has a concert series at Robert J. Werner Recital Hall at CCM and tours regularly. For more information on the Starling Preparatory String Project, visit http://www.starling.org.

ABOUT UC’S COLLEGE-CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
Declared “one of the nation’s leading conservatories” by the New York Times, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music is a preeminent institution for the performing and media arts. The school’s educational roots date back to 1867 and a solid, visionary instruction has been at its core since that time.

CCM offers nine degree types (BA, BM, BFA, MA, MM, MFA, AD, DMA, PhD) in nearly 120 possible majors, along with a wide variety of pre-collegiate and post-graduate programs. The synergy created by housing CCM within a comprehensive public university gives the college its unique character
and defines its objective: to educate and inspire the whole artist and scholar for positions on the world stage.

CCM’s current student population hails from 43 different US states and 32 different countries. The school’s roster of eminent faculty members regularly receives distinguished honors for creative and scholarly work, and its alumni have achieved notable success.

CCM stands as the largest single source of performing arts presentations in the state of Ohio. The annual calendar boasts nearly 1,000 public events, ranging from solo recitals and master classes to fully-staged opera and musical theatre performances. Learn more about everything that CCM has to offer by visiting ccm.uc.edu.

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Get Ready for a Hilarious Lesson in Language! ETC Presents SEX AND EDUCATION, Oct. 15-27, 2019

ETC_Sex and Education logo

(Cincinnati, OH) Sharpen  your pencils! Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati takes lousy language to school with the regional premiere of Sex and Education by Lissa Levin. This limited 2-week event is a spirited (and not-so-family-friendly) comedy about a duel between an overworked educator and an underachieving high school athlete. Playing October 15-27, 2019. Directed by Dan Guntzelman.

Meet Joe Marks, a graduating basketball star whose college scholarship is suddenly in jeopardy when his poorly-written, sexually explicit note to his girlfriend is confiscated during a final exam. Meet Miss Edwards, his jaded public high school English teacher on her last day of teaching. With nothing to lose and resentment from years of disinterested students, she assigns him the task of turning the purloined letter into a polished, persuasive essay. This scintillating romp is a hilarious lesson for all in life, sex, sports, and grammar.

“This play is very much a comedy, but it’s also very much a valentine to teachers and the importance of formal education,” says playwright Lissa Levin. “In a play about an English teacher impressing the value of language skills upon a sports phenom, I wanted to make an arena out of a classroom, and a battle of wills and viewpoints to play out with the drive, pace, intensity, and excitement of an NBA playoff game.” Producing Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers adds, “I think the show is enormously funny and very smart, but I also think it has enormous heart. I’m thrilled with the show, and am very excited to tell this story.”

Ensemble Theatre is thrilled to welcome Dan Guntzelman back to his hometown of Cincinnati, having moved to Los Angeles in 1976 to work in television and film. He is not only the director of this production, but also the husband of the show’s playwright, Lissa Levin, who met Dan while they were working together on the Emmy-nominated hit sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. 

About the Cast

Dale Hodges (Miss Edwards) returns to Ensemble Theatre, where she was last seen in Ripcord, as well as Outside Mullingar, Other Desert Cities, Grey Gardens, and Mrs. Mannerly. Select regional credits include Wit, King Lear, To Kill a Mockingbird, 23 years of A Christmas Carol with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and Noises Off with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Ms. Hodges has worked on Broadway in Equus and Benefactors, off-Broadway in Top Girls and A Woman in Mind, and in regional theatres around the country, including 15 summers with Peterborough Players in New Hampshire. 

Esther Cunningham (Hannah Winters/Every Cheerleader) was last seen at Ensemble Theatre in A Doll’s House, Part 2, Bob: A Life in Five Acts, and as the Mad Hatter understudy for Alice in Wonderland. Off stage she works with the ETC Education Department as a teaching artist for the Hunter Heartbeat Program. She is a graduate of Wheaton College, where some of her credits include Julius Caesar, The Sparrow, and Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

R. Graham Rogers (Joe Marks) makes his Ensemble Theatre debut with this production. He is an actor and playwright who recently earned his BFA in Acting from University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. His recent credits include Sam in The Flick, The Esquire; H2O: A Play About Water, 2018 Edinburgh Fringe; The Government Inspector, Middletown, and the world premiere of The Earth is Flatby Todd Almond, CCM. His original play Black & White was a part of Fringe Development at the 2019 Cincinnati Fringe Festival and his series Happy Hour: The Bar Series was a part of Play(under)ground at Know Theatre of Cincinnati in November 2018.

Production Team: D. Lynn Meyers (Producing Artistic Director), Brian c. Mehring (Set & Lighting Designer), Jack Murphy (Technical Director), Matthew Hollstegge (Production Manager), Shannon Rae Lutz (Properties Master & Design Assistant), Matt Tibbs (Sound Designer), and Stormie Mac (Costume Designer). Production Stage Manager is Brandon T. Holmes. Stage Manager is Lexi Muller.

Performance Information
Performances run Tuesday through Sunday. Evening preview performances are at 7:00; evening performances are Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 pm; Friday and Saturday, 8:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 2:00 pm; and Sunday, 7:00 pm. A complete calendar of performances is available online at www.ensemblecincinnati.org.

Ticket Prices
Ticket prices start at $35 for adults; student tickets are $28; and children are $24. Half-Price Rush Tickets: All remaining tickets for the current day’s performance(s) are available two hours prior to each show time for half-price (discount does not apply to children’s tickets) when purchasing by phone or in person. $15 Student Rush Tickets: Students may purchase up to two $15 student rush tickets two hours prior to show time with valid student I.D. Available in person only.

Discounts
$40 Sunday Saver: Sunday evening performances at 7:00 pm are always $40 all season long (excludes holiday production).
Half-Price Rush Tickets: All remaining tickets for the current day’s performance(s) are available two hours prior to each show time for half-price (discount does not apply to children’s tickets) when purchasing by phone or in person. $15 Student Rush Tickets: Students may purchase up to two $15 student rush tickets two hours prior to show time with valid student I.D. Available in person only. Group discounts available for 8+. Complete details available at www.ensemblecincinnati.org.

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2019-2020 Season Presenting Sponsor is the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation. Additional support provided PNC.

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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Walnut Hills High School Theatre Department Creates a New World in Imaginative Production of Simon Stephens’ THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

WHhs_Curious Press-35“Do you know who killed Wellington?”

A dog, a gardening fork, and a family secret. How are these three things connected? Discover the mystery and join us this November for this organic and inventive production of the Simon Stephens’s deeply moving drama. The Curious Incident  of the Dog in the Night-Time presents the novel of a young Christopher Boone, a student and amateur detective with a developmental disability living with his father in Swindon, England. Christopher, upon discovering the death of his neighbor’s dog, decides to uncover the truth about the incident and detail his discoveries in a book. Going against his father’s wishes in the search for answers, what secrets will he find in his search? This minimalistic and innovative production will immerse you thoroughly in Christopher’s world through the use of stylistic staging and unconventional technical elements. The cast and crew highlight the complexities of personal relationships and the confusion  that comes with navigating our contemporary world with nuance and beauty. Delving into themes of bravery, empathy, and the importance of human connection; you will not want to miss this chance to see the world through a new perspective.

Runs Thursday, November 7, Friday, November 8, and Saturday November 9 at 7:00 pm and Saturday, November 9 at 2:00 pm

Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for staff and students

WHhs_Curious Press-37Show Synopsis:
15 year old Christopher Boone, who is on the autism spectrum, lives with his father in Swindon. He excels in math and loves school with Siobhan, but not everything is fun and games. He finds his neighbor’s dog Wellington murdered in her garden and is determined to find the culprit, even after his dad tells him not to investigate. Along the way he meets new people, has new experiences, and even discovers a new mystery along the way which puzzles him even more. Narrated by his teacher Siobhan, Christopher’s diary goes through every detail of his fantastic adventure.

Directed by Michael Sherman, Movement Directed by Erin Carr
Production Stage Manager: Reeya Dighe

WHHS_Curious Press-42Featuring:
Kyra Krummins as Mrs. Shears, Clare Brennan as Siobhan, Jack Giglia as Christopher Boone, Derrick McHale as Swindon Policeman, Louis Martini as Duty Sergeant/Uncle Terry, Oliver Vockell as Ed Boone, Sam Frank as Reverend Peters, Aiden Litmer as Mr. Thompson / Man With Socks, Megan Graeler as #40, Aaron Tossey as Mr. Wise, Olivia Busche as Mrs. Alexander, Elle Bisheimer as Mrs. Gascoyne/Woman on the train, Katie Sutkamp as Judy Boone, Alex Kirk as Lady in the Street, Nick Wittenauer as Station Policeman, Rafael Ramirez as Man Behind Counter/London Policeman, , Owen Cummings as Drunk 1, Brando Donaldson as Drunk 2, Cam Hogue as Station Guard, Kathryn Daniher as Information, Nia Stefanov as Punk Girl 1, Adeleigh Karoutchi as Punk Girl 2, Lily Jones as Punk Girl 3, Mama Njie as Shopkeeper, and Matthew Eggers as Roger Shears.  Understudies include Jackson Prus (Christopher), Anika Vockell (Siobhan), Avery Frank (Judy and Mrs. Shears), Loretta Rubin (Mrs. Alexander), Charles Bishop (Male Ensemble Swing), and Uyen Dao (Female Ensemble Swing).

Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for staff and students. Tickets may be purchased by visiting:

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

 

Photos courtesy of Mikki Schaffner Photography

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Tom Stoppard’s ARCADIA Opens October 4th at Village Players of Fort Thomas

VP_Arcadia 2September 25, 2019, Fort Thomas, KY—Village Players of Fort Thomas is excited to announces its season opener, Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard. All performances will be staged in Village Players’ intimate theater on the bottom level of the building the organization inherited last year from the Fort Thomas Woman’s Club at 8 N Fort Thomas Ave. The show runs October 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 & 12.

This brilliant play moves smoothly between 1809 and the present at the elegant estate owned by the Coverly family and explores the nature of truth and time, the difference between classical and romantic temperaments, and the disruptive influence of sex on our life orbits—the attraction Newton left out.

Arcadia is directed by jef brown and features the talents of eleven local actors: Jeannine Aliee, Bill Brohaugh, Oliver Kai Davis, Wayne Kirsch, Josh Roden, Gretchen Schultz, BJ Simpson, Stephen Stricker, Alexander Walz, Bryce Willson, Aubrey Wilson, and Ashley Wuerdeman.

Village Players of Fort Thomas, Kentucky, is a vibrant community theatre that has produced plays and musicals for more than 50 years. Performing in an intimate space, you will feel like you are part of the action, sitting inches from the actors on three sides of the stage. We strive to appeal to a broad audience, producing three main-stage shows of varying styles and a children’s show each winter. Village Players is a member of the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT), Association of Community Theatres Cincinnati (ACT), Ohio Community Theatre Association (OCTA), and the Kentucky Theatre Association (KTA).

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