Little Theater Plans Big Grand Season
Top Playwright Picks Clifton Players for Second Production
In just two seasons, the Clifton Performance Theater has racked up more than a dozen League of Cincinnati Theater nominations. This intimate storefront theater featuring the Clifton Players and Untethered Theater has another stellar season in the works for 2013-2014.
This fall the season will open October 11 with Samuel Hunter’s THE WHALE. This is the second time the Idaho playwright has tapped the talent in Clifton to present one of his works. THE WHALE is both a humorous and heartbreaking look at how we cope with loss, family and religion, a trifecta of taboos! The play stars Cincinnati theater favorite, Reggie Willis as the main character, Charlie, a morbidly obese college writing tutor who is trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Playwright Hunter first connected with CPT just last year for his play A Bright New Boise and says his works fit right in at the CPT “The theater I work in, the theater I love, is not a theater that requires millions of dollars. And I think the future of the American theater is all about these smaller companies. That’s why I write plays that fit nicely into smaller houses.” Willis, a professional actor since 1979, is especially excited to be performing in this play with the Clifton Players, “Having the chance to work with some of the best actors living in Cincinnati I couldn’t ask for anything better. These actors have many acting credits that were achieved outside of the local area as well in film, television, and theatre. There is this vast working knowledge of all aspects of performing…. I love working with The Clifton Players and being a part of that team keeps me excited and anticipating what will come next.”
Next up for the CPT, the wickedly delightful and heart wrenching play, IRISH CURSE. The play will open just in time for the green season on February 28. What “The Irish Curse” is – and how it manifests itself – is the raw centerpiece of this wicked, rollicking and very funny new play. From its blistering language to its brutally honest look at sex and body image, “The Irish Curse” is a revealing portrait of how men, and society, define masculinity. In doing so, it dares to pose the fundamental question that has been on the minds of men since the beginning of time: “Do I measure up to the next guy?”
Size matters to this small group of Irish-American men who meet every Wednesday night, in a Catholic church basement, at a self-help group for men with small penises. This allegedly Irish trait is the focus of their weekly whining as they feel this “shortcoming” has ruined their lives.
One evening, when a twenty-something blue-collar guy joins the group, he challenges everything the other men thought about “the Irish curse” …tackling their obsession with body image and unmasking the comical and truthful questions of identity, masculinity, sex, relationships, and social status that define their lives.
The CPT season closes out in May with THE RIVERSIDE. THE RIVERSIDE is the story of a small family-owned bar in crisis, set in 1989, the story of the bar parallels the saga of Pete Rose’s expulsion from baseball that summer. The play is the work of Cincinnati writer, actor and director, Kevin Crowley.
This season the Clifton Players will join creative minds with the Untethered Theater to offer a season pass. Untethered Theater also calls the CPT home. The two companies are collaborating to offer the BYOB ticket strip that will have a ticket to each Clifton Players show and each Untethered Theater for 100 dollars. In addition to the season ticket, there will be one free ticket which you can use to bring a friend, BYOB (Bring Your Own Buddy)!
