Tag Archives: Cincinnati Arts Association

“Staggeringly Brilliant” and “Downright Hilarious!” – Time Out Chicago

October 11-12, 2024
Aronoff Center – Jarson-Kaplan Theater

Tickets on sale Friday, May 31

[Cincinnati, OH] – One of the most critically acclaimed improv troupes in the world, The Improvised Shakespeare Company®, will make its Aronoff Center debut on Friday, October 11, 2024 at 8:00 PM and Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 2:00 PM in the intimate Jarson-Kaplan Theater. The show is part of the Cincinnati Arts Association’s 2024-25 Season.

Tickets start at $60.00 and go on sale Friday, May 31 at 10:00 AM at www.CincinnatiArts.org, (513) 621-ARTS [2787], and the Aronoff Center Ticket Office. For groups of ten or more, call (513) 977-4155. Applicable services fees may apply. Prices are subject to change.

Based on one audience suggestion (a title of a show that has never been written), The Improvised Shakespeare Company® creates a fully improvised Shakespearean masterpiece right before your eyes. Prepare for an evening of spontaneous comedy using the language and themes of William Shakespeare. Nothing has been planned out, rehearsed, or written. All of the dialogue is said for the first time, the characters are created as you watch, and if ever you’re wondering where the story is going… so are they! You’ve never seen the Bard like this before!

The Improvised Shakespeare Company® is one of the funniest and most critically acclaimed improv troupes in the world. The ISC was founded in Chicago in 2005 where it ran to sold-out audiences at the iO Theatre for over a decade. Now it performs regularly at Los Angeles’ Largo at the Coronet for audiences that the LA Times calls “Beatlemaniacal.” The ISC has sold out raucous shows at The Kennedy Center, Bonnaroo, San Francisco Sketchfest, the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival, The Just For Laughs festival in Montreal, and Outside Lands in San Francisco. It is featured regularly in NYC at 92nd St. Y and Theatre 80 St. Marks where it “plays to packed theaters with an atmosphere more like a rock club than a repertory house” (The New York Times). In 2018, Sir Patrick Stewart presented The ISC at the Soho Theatre in London. In the 2019-2020 season, The ISC was featured in the Broadway Series at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts where it wowed audiences throughout its 178-show residency.

ISC guest performers have included Jason Alexander, Bradley Whitford, and Patrick Stewart. It has been named Chicago’s best improv group by both the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Examiner and has received numerous awards in LA (Best of LA – LA Weekly), New York (New York Nightlife Awards), and Chicago (The Chicago Improv Foundation). It has been called “Indisputably Great” (Centerstage Chicago), “Mad Genius” (LA Times), “Hilarious” (LA Weekly, Seattle Times, Chicago Reader, TimeOut Chicago, Naples Daily News, CBC Manitoba, Winnipeg Free Press), and TimeOut New York simply says, “Don’t Miss Them. Seriously.”

For more information, visit www.improvisedshakespeare.com.

CINCINNATI ARTS ASSOCIATION SPONSORS

The Cincinnati Arts Association is supported [in part] by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.

SEASON SPONSORS:  AMERITAS (Founding Season Sponsor), ARTSWAVE, FIFTH THIRD BANK (Lifetime Endowment Partner), LOCAL 12 WKRC-TV, The P&G FUND of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation

SEASON PRESENTING SPONSORS:  21C Museum Hotel, Cincinnati Herald, CityBeat, Fairfield Inn & Suites Cincinnati Uptown/University Area, Harlan Graphics, Heidelberg Distributing, Kinley Cincinnati, Pepsi, Skyline Chili, TriHealth

#  #  #

CALENDAR INFORMATION

WHAT:                The Improvised Shakespeare Company®

WHEN:                Friday, October 11, 2024 @ 8:00 PM

Saturday, October 12, 2024 @ 2:00 PM 

WHERE:              Aronoff Center – Jarson-Kaplan Theater

PRICES:               Start at $60.00. 10%-off groups of ten or more. Additional service fees may apply. Prices subject to change.

INFO:                  Based on one audience suggestion (a title of a show that has never been written), The Improvised Shakespeare Company® creates a fully improvised Shakespearean masterpiece right before your eyes. Prepare for an evening of spontaneous comedy using the language and themes of William Shakespeare. Nothing has been planned out, rehearsed, or written. 

TICKET INFORMATION – on sale Friday, May 31 at 10:00 AM

• www.CincinnatiArts.org  
• (513) 621-ARTS [2787]
• Aronoff Center Ticket Office
• Group sales (10 or more): (513) 977-4155

Washington DC’s Premier Political Comedy Troupe
to Perform at the Aronoff Center

Group Represents a Peaceful Transfer of Comedy from the Capitol Steps

February 21-22, 2025
Aronoff Center – Jarson-Kaplan Theater

Tickets on sale Friday, May 10

TICKET INFORMATION – on sale Friday, May 10 at 10:00 AM

• www.CincinnatiArts.org
• (513) 621-ARTS [2787]
• Aronoff Center Ticket Office
• Group sales (10 or more): (513) 977-4155

[Cincinnati, OH] – The Cincinnati Arts Association is pleased to announce that the musical political parodies presented by the now defunct comedy troupe the Capitol Steps will continue as the Capitol Fools, a new group created by former members of the Capitol Steps. Performances will take place at the Aronoff Center’s intimate Jarson-Kaplan Theater on Friday, February 21, 2025 at 8:00 PM and Saturday, February 22, 2025 at 2:00 PM. The show is part of CAA’s 2024-25 Season.

Tickets start at $60.00 and go on sale Friday, May 10 at 10:00 AM at www.CincinnatiArts.org, (513) 621-ARTS [2787], and the Aronoff Center Ticket Office. For groups of ten or more, call (513) 977-4155. Applicable services fees may apply. Prices are subject to change.

The Capitol Fools hold up a mirror to our crazy political culture, providing hilarious song parodies and foolish reflections that continue to inspire belly-laughter. Audiences will see former members of the Capitol Steps performing all the beloved bits; the mind-boggling, backward-talking-spoonerisms; break-neck costume changes; over-the-top impressions; and all-new song parodies reflecting the day’s news.

The Capitol Steps started in 1981 by some staffers in Illinois Senator Charles Percy’s office to provide Christmas party entertainment and to rib the people that employed them. Soon, they were touring the nation, chronicling the humor found in current events through clever song parodies.

When the Capitol Steps called it quits in 2021 after nearly forty years, an intrepid group of former Capitol Steps cast members and the co-writer chose not to go quietly into that good night. This band of fools reflected on a world without musical, political satire and didn’t like what they saw. And just like that, the Capitol Fools were born.

While foolish enough to embark on this new journey, they were smart enough to not reinvent the wheel. Fast-paced, laugh-out-loud show… check. Equal opportunity offenders… check. Skewering both sides of the aisle… check. If a “Steps-style show” is wrong, they don’t want to be right.

The premiere performance took place in Skokie, IL in April 2022. Since that time, the Capitol Fools have toured the country performing in fifteen states and the District of Columbia. “We have been playing to very enthusiastic audiences everywhere we go,” says Jack Rowles, who performs with the Capitol Fools and is the director of the show.

When asked if the troubling events of January 6^th make it difficult to keep putting the “mock” in Democracy, writer Mark Eaton commented, “I don’t think the mock should ever be removed. Our government officials and folks in power don’t like being made fun of. I suspect they would rather be attacked in the media than be ridiculed and made to look stupid. Regardless of which side you support, there is plenty of humor to be mined. And when it comes to politics, if you don’t laugh at some of this nonsense, it will drive you crazy! I do hope political satire still has a place in the comedy world because it’s important.”

“Because we CAN, SHOULD, and NEED TO,” declares Rowles on why political satire should continue. “We CAN is a tribute to living in a great country. SHOULD refers to the medicine of laughter, especially when dealing with the bat-shit craziness of politics. NEED TO… there is nothing more powerful than sitting in a room full of politically astute patrons from all political persuasions sharing laughter and making fun of folks from both sides of the aisle.”

No matter who holds (or doesn’t hold) office, there is never a shortage of material. Eaton adds, “We’ve always said our show’s greatest enemy is a competent government. Therefore, we should be around for a long, long time.”

For more information, visit www.CapitolFools.com.

CINCINNATI ARTS ASSOCIATION SPONSORS

The Cincinnati Arts Association is supported [in part] by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.

SEASON SPONSORS:  AMERITAS (Founding Season Sponsor), ARTSWAVE, FIFTH THIRD BANK (Lifetime Endowment Partner), LOCAL 12 WKRC-TV, The P&G FUND of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation 

SEASON PRESENTING SPONSORS:  21C Museum Hotel, Cincinnati Herald, CityBeat, Fairfield Inn & Suites Cincinnati Uptown/University Area, Harlan Graphics, Heidelberg Distributing, Kinley Cincinnati, Pepsi, Skyline Chili, TriHealth

#  #  #

CALENDAR INFORMATION

WHAT:                Capitol Fools

WHEN:                Friday, February 21, 2025 @ 8:00 PM

Saturday, February 22, 2025 @ 2:00 PM

WHERE:              Aronoff Center – Jarson-Kaplan Theater

PRICES:               Start at $60.00. 10%-off groups of ten or more. Additional service fees may apply. Prices subject to change.

INFO:                  The Capitol Fools (previously known as the Capitol Steps) hold up a mirror to our crazy political culture, providing hilarious song parodies and foolish reflections that continue to inspire belly-laughter. Audiences will see former members of the Capitol Steps performing all the beloved bits; the mind-boggling, backward-talking-spoonerisms; break-neck costume changes; over-the-top impressions; and all-new song parodies reflecting the day’s news.

June 22, 2024
Aronoff Center – Procter & Gamble Hall

[Cincinnati, OH] – A Celebration of Life for Senator Stanley J. Aronoff is scheduled for Saturday, June 22, 2024, at the Aronoff Center for the Arts located in downtown Cincinnati at 650 Walnut Street.  The celebration will begin in the Otto M. Budig Lobby at 5:00 PM with drinks and lite bites and will move into the Procter & Gamble Hall at 5:45 PM for a program featuring special speakers and performers paying tribute to Stan. Cocktail attire is suggested.

RSVPs are requested at http://www.cincinnatiarts.org/stanaronoff.

Stan Aronoff played a pivotal role in the revitalization of Cincinnati during his more than three decades in public office. He championed crucial legislation, secured state funding, and advocated for the interests of the Cincinnati region with governors. The Aronoff Center stands as his enduring legacy, reflecting his 30-year dedication to the local arts community. Stan once said, “I want to be remembered for the good deeds, for some of the unnoticed constituent work we did. I want to be remembered for more than the bricks and mortar. I want to be remembered as a person who cares about people.”

# # #

CALENDAR INFORMATION

WHAT:                Celebration of Life for Senator Stanley J. Aronoff

DATE                   Saturday, June 22, 2024

TIME:                  5:00 PM – Drinks and lite bites

                             5:45 PM – Celebration program honoring Senator Aronoff
PLACE:                Aronoff Center – Procter & Gamble Hall

RSVP:                  RSVP at www.CincinnatiArts.org/stanaronoff

ATTIRE:               Cocktail