Category Archives: Press Releases

February 12, 2019 · 1:05 pm

Miamisburg High School Theatre Wins National Competition

MISC_Miamisburg High School Theatre logoMiamisburg High School Theatre is proud to announce that they have been chosen as one of ten winning high schools who will receive a royalty-free license agreement to produce John Kander and Fred Ebb’s CHICAGO: HIGH SCHOOL EDITION. MHS Theatre was the only school chosen in Ohio and one of two schools in the entire Midwest.

The national competition was created by Samuel French, Inc. in celebration of CHICAGO composer Kander’s 90th birthday. The “Razzle Dazzle Competition” asked how students “razzle dazzle” their school community, by demonstrating how musical theatre impacts their lives, inside and outside the school community. The entries were adjudicated by representatives from Samuel French, Right On Cue Services, iTheatrics, and the Educational Theatre Association.

The MHS Theatre program, in it’s third year of existence, submitted a document telling their story of how the program began, it’s impact on a very diverse socioeconomic community, and how it has impacted the lives of Miamisburg students. The submission also talked about how having the rights to the show would create a substantial savings for the program. The intended use of the savings (approx. $3,000) would allow the program to explore adding a Fall play into their season (currently producing a Spring musical once a year) or the possibility of purchasing needed technical equipment.

MHS Theatre is currently in the audition phase for their upcoming production of The Addams Family, which will be performed on April 26 at 7:00 p.m. and April 27 at 3:00pm & 7:00pm at the Memorial Auditorium in Miamisburg.

“On behalf of Miamisburg High School Theatre, I’d like to personally thank Samuel French for this wonderful opportunity. You have helped us move our new program toward growth. As we continue to fundraise, our ultimate goal is to grow the program so that we are able to produce more than one production a year. Additionally, we’d like to be in a place where we no longer have to rent needed technical equipment.” said Melissa Fogle, Board Member and Producer.

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February 12, 2019 · 12:48 pm

The Drama Workshop’s LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE Opens February 22

tdw_love loss and what i wore logo

The Drama Workshop proudly presents LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE for ten performances beginning February 22 and playing thru March 10. Performances will be held on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., with a special Thursday evening performance on March 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Performances will take place at The Glenmore Playhouse, 3716 Glenmore Ave., Cheviot, OH 45211.  Tickets are $18 if purchased online or by phone.  $20 if purchased at the door on the day of the performance. Tickets may be purchased by calling the TDW ticket line at 513-598-8303 or ordering online at www.thedramaworkshop.org. Group rates are available for groups of 10 or more by calling the ticket line.

LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE was written by superstar movie-writer sisters Nora and Delia Ephron. Nora wrote the screenplays for Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, and Heartburn, among others.  Delia Ephron wrote such favorite films as You’ve Got Mail and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Their play is based on the best-selling book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman and has played to sell-out audiences on six continents and more than eight countries.

The play employs items of women’s clothing and accessories in order to trigger stories that are funny, startling, and emotional. The result is an intimate collection of stories that every woman (and the men who love them) can relate to.  The all-female cast is led by Linda Callahan as Gingy, the play’s central storyteller.  She is ably supported by actresses Lindsey Pullum, Kristy Rucker, Holly Sauerbrunn, and Mary Stone, who play a wide variety of roles. The play does include mature subject matter.

The TDW production will be directed by Rose Vanden Eynden, who is making her Drama Workshop directorial debut.  Ms. Vanden Eynden says she wanted to direct this play because “It is filled with hilarious, poignant stories told from the perspective of real women. To me, this play is a celebration of who women truly are – both magnificent and flawed creatures who need to tell their stories and who deserve an audience to hear them. I hope people who come to see this show will enjoy all of these marvelous ladies and their stories, and that they will see their own truths reflected back to them.”

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February 12, 2019 · 10:56 am

The End of the World is Just the Beginning in ALWAYS PLENTY OF LIGHT AT THE STARLIGHT ALL-NIGHT DINER

ktc_always plenty of light at the starlight all night diner logoA world premiere play by Darcy Parker Bruce
Running February 22 – March 16 

When an asteroid threatens the earth, the logical escape is your favorite diner, right? Especially when that diner just might be… a Time Machine.

It’s just your average night at the Starlight All-Night Diner – coffee, cigarettes, secret longings begging to be confessed, a mysterious comet in the night’s sky – you know, the usual.

Overnight janitor Sam and her very pregnant compatriot, late-night waitress Jessa, are passing the time polishing the fixtures and polishing off some coconut cream pie.

But just as Sam is ready to spill her heart, in bursts the frantically brilliant Dr. Moxie and his graduate assistant, Danni, with a revelation that the comet isn’t just a pretty celestial event – it’s the end of the world as we know it.

Armed with a coffee maker, a backup generator, and a conveniently-timed scientific breakthrough, Dr. Moxie has a plan to get the ladies of his favorite diner out of harm’s way.

But of course, even the most brilliant scientist can’t account for every variable…

In this charmingly queer love story, the stakes are more than life-and-death – they’re life-or-extinction. Previously workshopped at New York’s Fresh Fruit Festival in 2016, Darcy Parker Bruce’s Always Plenty of Light at the Starlight All Night Diner is a world premiere adventure story about finding hope and connection in the face of insurmountable odds.

Know Theatre’s own Community Relations Manager Alice Flanders returns to the director’s chair after 2018’s hit comedy Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood by Adam Szymkowicz. And she has assembled a cast of some of Cincinnati’s brightest stars to breathe life into the Starlight:

Leah Strasser returns to the Know MainStage, after her unforgettable turn as Alanna Dale in 2018’s Marian…, as the very pregnant, very conflicted Jessa; whose friendship with overnight janitor Sam is…complicated. Played by Lormarev Jones, fresh from her onstage adventures at The Carnegie in Hunchback of Notre Dame and Dreamgirls, Sam has a lot more emotional baggage than she can fit in her trusty pick-up truck – and even more devotion to Jessa.

The one and only Michael Burnham, whose production of Corpus Christi in 2003 made the Know just a little bit infamous, joins us onstage for the first time since 2010 as Dr. Moxie, whose devotion to the Starlight diner, its denizens, and its coffee is exceeded only by his hunger for scientific knowledge (and his desire to survive the apocalypse).

And making her Know Theatre MainStage debut as his beleaguered but optimistic graduate assistant Danni is Maggie Cramer, who comes to us after spending a season with our neighbors at Ensemble Theatre as part of their apprentice company.

What can you expect from Always Plenty of Light at the Starlight All-Night Diner?

Witty banter, rich relationships, tender moments, wacky antics, lesbian love stories. And maybe a dinosaur. Producing Artistic Director Andrew Hungerford chose this play to carry us through the February doldrums because:

At its core, Starlight is about people who love each other coming together in a time of darkness to confront the impossible. Who and what do we rely on when we run out of road? Clearly the answers are, in no particular order: friends, love, coffee, science, and pie. I think that’s an important message for everyone to hear in a bleak midwinter. 

See what happens when you run out of places (and time) to run from your problems in Always Plenty of Light at the Starlight All-Night Diner by Darcy Parker Bruce, playing February 22 – March 16 at Your Theatrical Playground.

Cast in Alphabetical Order

  • Dr. Moxie – Michael Burnham
  • Danni – Maggie Cramer
  • Sam – Lormarev Jones
  • Jessa – Leah Strasser 

Production Team

  • Director –  Alice Flanders
  • Scenic & Lighting Designer – Andrew J. Hungerford
  • Costume Designer – Noelle Johnston
  • Sound & Projections Designer – Douglas Borntrager
  • Prop Designer – Rebecca Armstrong 

Calendar Listing

Production:  ALWAYS PLENTY OF LIGHT AT THE STARLIGHT ALL-NIGHT DINER by Darcy Parker Bruce – a world premiere

When:

  • 8:00 pm February 22, 23, 27, 28; March 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16
  • 3:00 pm February 24; March 3*, 10
    *A pre-show brunch is available on this date with purchase of $35 “Brunch + Show” tickets in advance.  Brunch provided by Water Tower Fine Wines.

Where:
Know Theatre of Cincinnati. 1120 Jackson Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
In historic Over-the-Rhine.

Tickets:

  • $25 regular price tickets
  • $35 “Living Wage” tickets, supporting working artists in Cincinnati
  • $15 Rush tickets at the door 10 minutes prior to curtain (when available)
  • FREE walk-up tickets are available on Wednesdays, as part of Know’s Welcome Experiment.
    Advance reservations to Welcome Experiment performances are $5.00.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting knowtheatre.com or calling 513.300.5669 (KNOW). 

This production made possible through the generosity of Joshua Wallace. 

Season Design sponsorship provided by Travis McElroy. 

Additional MainStage support provided by
The Louise Taft Semple Foundation
The John A. Schroth Charitable Trust, PNC Bank Charitable Trust Committee 

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./U.S. Bank 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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February 11, 2019 · 2:51 pm

The KSO Drives its Chevy to the Levy with its own Recipe for AMERICAN PIE

KSO_Apple Pie 2

The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra’s 2018-19 passport to musical adventure returns stateside sporting new and classic musical fashions. “American composers continue to add bold flavor and architecture to symphonic music via technology and vivid soundscapes, while offering new forms and fireworks for both soloists and the orchestra,” commented KSO Music Director James Cassidy.

Composer & DJ Mason Bates was recently named the most performed composer of his generation, and 2018 composer of the year by Musical America. Bates’ orchestral works are noted for their unique integration of electronic sounds. The KSO opens its program with his “Mothership,” a 10’ piece in which soloists temporarily dock into the orchestra, and feed into the energy of modern techno dance rhythms, driven by a laptop computer and monitors on stage. The work was premiered in 2011 by the Youtube Symphony Orchestra from Sydney, Australia to a world-wide, live internet audience of 2 million viewers. The work will receive its Tristate premiere with the KSO.

Ferde Grofé’s depiction of Grand Canyon was inspired by his jeep trip to the Canyon in 1916. Years later, after scoring Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for full orchestra, Grofé returned to his musical sketches/recollections of his Grand Canyon trip and finished his five-movement work in 1931. This American warhorse sonically envisions the Canyon’s —“Sunrise,” “Painted Dessert,” burros “On the Trail,” “Sunset” and a “Cloudburst.” With curator Stephen Lias’ projected images and video, the KSO will celebrate the Grand Canyon’s National Park’s 100th anniversary, with a performance of Grofe’s celebrated work.

Violinist Sandy Cameron joins the KSO after intermission for Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, with its two beautiful lyrical movements and quick athletic finale. Barber wrote the concerto in 1939 and revised it in 1948. Ms. Cameron has toured throughout the world and is noted for her work with former Oingo Boingo front man and award winning film score composer Danny Elfman. Beginning with Elfman’s Cirque du Soleil show “IRIS” and the 2017 world premiere of his violin concerto “Eleven Eleven” Ms. Cameron has appeared as featured soloist on PBS broadcasts from New York and Vienna of Elfman’s film music. Sandy will perform the extended czardas/cadenza from Elfman’s Suite from the film Edward Scissorhands with the KSO and NKU Women’s choir to close out the All-American evening.

Join the Music Director James Cassidy, violinist Sandy Cameron and The Kentucky Symphony Orchestra for a free-range, American music montage at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, February 16, 2019, at Greaves Concert Hall on the campus of NKU. Reserved seating tickets are $35, $27, $19 (children ages 6-18 are 50% off) and are available online at kyso.org, by phone—(859) 431-6216, or at the door.

About the KSO:
For 26 years the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra has taken the “phony” out of symphony by eliminating traditional barriers and presenting engaging, live, thematic concerts that enrich, educate and entertain the residents of Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati. The KSO performs three series of concerts annually throughout Northern Kentucky.

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February 8, 2019 · 4:03 pm

Cincinnati Playhouse Travels 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA March 15

PIP_20000 leagues promo

Photo by Tony Arrasmith/Arrasmith & Associates.

“Off the Grid” for One-Night-Only at Newport Aquarium 

For one night only, audiences can immerse themselves directly in the action of a theatrical adventure when Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park goes off the grid for 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA at Newport Aquarium on Friday, March 15. Tickets are now available for three performances at 6:30, 9 and 10:15 p.m.

“Newport Aquarium will be transformed into the Nautilus, Captain Nemo’s scientific marvel of a submarine,” explains Daunielle Rasmussen, director of the production and director of education and community engagement for the Playhouse. “The performance will be a progressive play experience, meaning audience members will journey through the Nautilus as members of the Orka Fleet, tasked to apprehend the elusive war criminal known as Captain Nemo. In this immersive production of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, audience members become part of the action and go on a journey that will lead them into uncharted waters.”

The performance, written by Ryan Underbakke and Nick Ryan and based on the book by Jules Verne, is part of the Playhouse’s Off the Grid series. Off the Grid brings interactive, creative experiences to the community, specifically aimed at young professionals. Off the Grid events all happen out in the community, away from the Playhouse’s Eden Park facility, and have included interactive movie events, live board games and themed pub crawls.

“20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA is our biggest Off the Grid event to date and the culmination of three years of experimentation into what sorts of interactive experiences resonate most,” Rasmussen says.

Tickets for the performance, recommended for audiences 10 years and older, are $30. Audience members will stand and move throughout the performance and no seating is available, but the interactive performance is wheelchair accessible. For an additional $20 per person, audiences ages 21 and up will gain access to a VIP Party (also at Newport Aquarium) from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. with a live DJ playing music throughout the evening, as well as light-bite appetizers and a complimentary drink ticket.

Off the Grid is supported by the generosity of the thousands of young professional contributors to the ArtsWave Campaign.

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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