Category Archives: Press Releases

July 7, 2015 · 3:57 pm

ETC to Present a Free Performance of STILL LIFE WITH IRIS at Washington Park

ENSEMBLE THEATRE CINCINNATI TO PRESENT A FREE PERFORMANCE OF STILL LIFE WITH IRIS AT WASHINGTON PARK

ETC_new_logo_banner(Cincinnati, OH) Grab your picnic baskets and camp chairs, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati is headed to Washington Park! Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati (ETC) is expanding the walls of its intimate theatre by presenting a special presentation of Steven Dietz’s STILL LIFE WITH IRIS as a part of 3CDC’s OTR Performs Series. This one-hour event, held at 6:00 pm on July 19, 2015 at Washington Park, will be preformed by a talented group of actors that have all once taken the ETC stage as interns over the last 20 years. Don’t miss this free—yes FREE!—performance that is fun for the whole family.

The cast is entirely composed of former ETC acting interns from last 20 years. Taking the stage is Jared Doren (1995-96), Sara Mackie and Burgess Byrd (1999-00), Daniel Winters (2004-05), Lisa DeRoberts (2010-11), Ben Raanan and Jared Earland (2013-14), and Molly Israel and Patrick Phillips (2014-15). Stage Manager is Emily England. Directed by Ben Raanan.

STILL LIFE WITH IRIS  is a fantastical adventure that centers on a little girl’s search for the simplest of things: home. Iris lives with her mom in the land of Nocturno—a magical place in which the workers make, by night, all of the things we see in the world by day. The rulers of Nocturno, the Great Goods, are determined to have the “best” of everything on their island—and therefore take Iris away from her home and bring her to the Great Island to be their daughter, leaving her with no memory of her home or her family. Iris joins with friends she meets on her journey as she embarks on a quest to return to her family and her home. As the first play for young audiences to receive the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays Award, this show celebrates ETC’s past and present, while gearing up for its future.

“STILL LIFE WITH IRIS is all about finding your home,” explains Ben Raanan, Director, former intern, and now ETC’s Director of Education & Outreach. “It seemed fitting to invite past interns to perform this piece about finding your home when ETC has been home to so many interns over the years. It’s a beautiful story that I knew needed to be brought to Cincinnati.”

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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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July 6, 2015 · 12:39 pm

Flash Mob-Style Theater Add Puppetry to the Mix

QCF_Abroad logo(CINCINNATI) – Queen City Flash, Cincinnati’s flash mob-style theater company, continues its four-play cycle with THE COMPLETE TOM: 3. ABROAD as told by three actors and an array of puppets. Based on the works of Mark Twain and adapted by Trey Tatum, 3. ABROAD runs July 17 through 26, 2015. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Directed by Bridget Leak, this production is produced with assistance from SDC Foundation’s 2015 Denham Fellowship.

Join your favorite characters on a trans-Atlantic voyage in this family-friendly production as Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and Jim set sail in a Jules Verne-like airship. This production includes original artwork by Cincinnati native Daniel Beard, Boy Scouts of America founder and Mark Twain illustrator. THE COMPLETE TOM: 3. ABROAD reunites the works Tom Sawyer Abroad with another adventure found in Life On the Mississippi and related footnotes from Twain’s Chapters from My Autobiography.

The show features local actors Dave Powell, Rico Reid and Trey Tatum, with set and puppet design by Trey Tatum.

All performances are flash mob-style, meaning tickets can be reserved based on the date, time and accessibility level of your choice. At 4:00 p.m. the day of the show, an email will be sent to ticket holders with a map and parking instructions to the secret location. All performances are outdoors. Tickets are free to the public and can be reserved at www.QueenCityFlash.com starting Wednesday, July 8. For additional questions about accessibility, please email queencityflash@gmail.com.

Roderick Whitney, Jr. and Kyle Daniels in THE COMPLETE TOM: 2. HUCKLEBERRY during the Flash Mob-style performance at Bellevue Park; May 2015. Photo by Jake Lauten.

Roderick Whitney, Jr. and Kyle Daniels in THE COMPLETE TOM: 2. HUCKLEBERRY during the Flash Mob-style performance at Bellevue Park; May 2015. Photo by Jake Lauten.

THE COMPLETE TOM: 1 ADVENTURES was presented in August 2014, and 2. HUCKLEBERRY was presented in April 2015. The final installment, 4. DETECTIVE, will be presented in August 2015.

The Denham Fellowship is an annual award given to directors, particularly women directors, to further develop their directing skills by providing financial support for the Director’s fee for a particular project. This fellowship was established in October 2006 by Mary Orr Denham as a bequest to the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) in honor of her late husband, Reginald H.F. Denham.

Queen City Flash is a new theater company dedicated to open access to the arts and expanding audiences’ sense of theatricality by untethering the arts from physical space, prohibitive costs and traditional notions. Through flash mob-style theater, artists and communities combine to transform environments and unite over stories, picnics and sunsets.

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July 3, 2015 · 10:04 am

Award-winning CLYBOURNE PARK Hits Sunset Players’ Stage

Photo by Angie Lipscomb Photography.

Photo by Angie Lipscomb Photography.

CINCINNATI, OH – July 2, 2015 —Explore race relations, real estate and communications at the Sunset Players summer show, CLYBOURNE PARK at the Arts Center at Dunham.

Winner of 2011 Pulitzer Prize and 2012 Tony Award, CLYBOURNE PARK, directed by Mike Burke and presented by special arrangements with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., delves into these hot topics in two acts set 50 years apart. Act One takes place in 1959 with nervous community leaders trying to stop the sale of a home to a black family. Act Two is set in the same house in the present day in a now predominantly African-American neighborhood battling to hold its ground in the face of gentrification.

The cast includes:

  • Fred Hunt as Russ/Dan
  • Linda Callahan as Bev/Kathy
  • Joy Rolland-Oba as Francine/Lena
  • Henry Farfsing as Albert/Kevin
  • Robert Brumberg, Jr. as Jim/Tom/Kenneth
  • Joe Wagner as Karl/Steve
  • Natasha Boeckmann as Betsy/Lindsey

Performances are July 10, 11, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24 & 25. All shows begin at 8 p.m., with a Sunday matinee starting at 2 p.m. Cincinnati State’s Interpreter Training Program will provide sign language interpreting for the deaf community on Saturday, July 18. Sunset Players will offer a cash bar of beer and wine during performances on July 17, 18 and 19.

Tickets are $14 general admission or $12 for seniors, students or groups of 10 or more and can be purchased online at the Sunset Players website (www.sunsetplayers.org) or at the door. Tickets can also be reserved by calling 513-588-4988.

The Arts Center at Dunham is located at 1945 Dunham Way, Cincinnati, OH 45238.

Sunset Players, Inc. is a community theater group located on the west side of Cincinnati. Founded in 1979, the group performs at the Arts Center at Dunham and has produced more than 120 plays. For more information, visit our website at www.sunsetplayers.org or like us on Facebook.

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July 3, 2015 · 9:24 am

Village Players of Fort Thomas 2015-2016 Season

VP_logoThe Village Players of Fort Thomas is pleased to announce our 2015-2016 season. This season marks the 50th year we’ve proudly produced “theatre, up close, and so close to home.” In celebration, we’re bringing back a collection of audience favorites and we’ve updated our logo to reflect our commitment to our community.

We recommend that you mark your calendars and check the website (villageplayers.biz) for ticket and audition information. You don’t want to miss this season — “it’s a celebration!

Wait Until Dark — September 18, 19, 20, 24, 25 & 26
Written by Frederick Knott
Directed by Patrick Downey
Stage Managed by Rachael Hawkins

A sinister con man, Roat, and two ex-convicts, Mike and Carlino, are about to meet their match. They have traced the location of a mysterious doll, which they are much interested in, to the Greenwich Village apartment of Sam Hendrix and his blind wife, Susy. Sam had apparently been persuaded by a strange woman to transport the doll across the Canadian border, not knowing that sewn inside were several grams of heroin. When the woman is murdered the situation becomes more urgent. The con man and his ex-convicts, through a cleverly constructed deception, convince Susy that the police have implicated Sam in the woman’s murder, and the doll, which she believes is the key to his innocence, is evidence. She refuses to reveal its location, and with the help of a young neighbor, figures out she is the victim of a bizarre charade. But when Roat kills his associates, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues between the two. Susy knows the only way to play fair is by her rules, so when darkness falls she turns off all the lights leaving both of them to maneuver in the dark until the game ends.

The Cast

Mike Talman………………Dan Maloney
Sgt. Carlino………………..Nathan Henegar
Harry Roat, Jr. …………..Eric Day
Susy Hendrix…………..Heather Abbott
Sam Hendrix……………..Eric Thomas
Gloria……………………….Erin Klocke
Patrolman One………….Steve Myers
Patrolman Two………….Brandon McCauley

My Friend the Fox — November 13, 14, 15, 20, 21 & 22
Written by William Glennon
Directed by Rex Sholar

Audition dates: August 16 & 17

Fox — clever and sly, but likable — befriends Justi, a simple woodsman. Fox persuades the king that Justi is wealthy and searching for a princess to marry. These lies, of course, bring trouble, conflict and humor. Along the way, Fox is forced to take an anti-lie medicine, fib-fizz, and whenever he lies, a bell rings. Justi eventually meets the king’s daughter, only to find that she is badly spoiled. He proves his worth, however, by rescuing the princess and taking his place as the story’s hero.

Dearly Departed — February 12, 13, 14, 18, 19 & 20
Written by David Bottrell and Jessie Jones
Directed by Nathan Henegar

Audition dates: July 26 @ 1:00 PM & July 27 @ 7:00 PM — Cold readings from the script

In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin family proves that living and dying in the South are seldom tidy and always hilarious. Despite their earnest efforts to pull themselves together for their father’s funeral, the Turpin’s other problems keep overshadowing the solemn occasion: Firstborn Ray-Bud drinks himself silly as the funeral bills mount; Junior, the younger son, is juggling financial ruin, a pack of no-neck monster kids, and a wife who suspects him of infidelity in the family car; their spinster sister, Delightful, copes with death as she does life, by devouring junk food; and all the neighbors add more than two cents. As the situation becomes fraught with mishap, Ray-Bud says to his long-suffering wife, “When I die, don’t tell nobody. Just bury me in the backyard and tell everybody I left you.” Amidst the chaos, the Turpins turn for comfort to their friends and neighbors, an eccentric community of misfits who just manage to pull together and help each other through their hours of need, and finally, the funeral.

Girls of the Garden Club — April 22, 23, 24, 28, 29 & 30
Written by John Patrick
Directed by Amy Hamilton

Audition dates: January 24, 25, 26

Rhoda Greenleaf lives to garden. It’s her obsession and her house looks like a jungle. She’d love to expand her plant collection to a greenhouse behind her home, and husband Vincent remarks that if she’s ever elected president she’ll have a greenhouse – only he didn’t say president of what! Thanks to Vincent’s comments, Rhoda’s newest passion is seeking the presidency of the local Garden Club, and she’ll do everything she can to achieve her dream. She plots to oust the long-time president by winning the local flower show. But fate comes up with obstacles to her quest that she must overcome with the help of her Garden Club friends.

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July 1, 2015 · 6:23 pm

Exciting Changes Afoot at The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati

via The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati website.

TCTC_New management

A MESSAGE FROM KIM DEATON
Exciting changes afoot at TCTC

This is a transformative time for The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati.  At the beginning of June we began renovation on what will be the new home of our administrative offices; dance, drama and vocal studios; a 150-seat theater for expanded programming beyond our MainStage productions (which will remain at the Taft Theatre); MainStage rehearsal space and our costume shop/vault.  We anticipate moving into the space in December of this year, and are excited about the organizational growth that will result.

Earlier this week we learned that our current Artistic Director, Angela Powell Walker, had accepted the position of Artistic Director for The School for Creative & Performing Arts.  What a wonderful opportunity for SCPA and their students, and for Angela who is an alumna of the school and often attributes her growth, both professionally and personally, to her time there.  We look forward to the potential for increased collaboration between the two organizations.

Angela will be missed by all here at TCTC.  Her contributions have assisted in elevating the quality and types of programming we offer.  Angela will be able to say that she left TCTC in a better place than when she began her time here, and for that we are grateful.

We are also grateful that we have tremendous internal talent upon which to draw during this time of transition.  We have named Roderick Justice (current Associate Artistic Director for MainStage) as Interim Artistic Director for MainStage, and Jay Goodlett (current Associate Artistic Director for Learning the Craft) as Interim Artistic Director for ArtReach and Learning the Craft.  We are confident in Jay and Roderick’s ability to rise to the occasion and help strategically shape the infrastructure and future success of The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati as we move forward.

Kim Deaton
Managing Director, The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati

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