Tag Archives: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

(CINCINNATI) — JITNEY, the first script that August Wilson wrote for what would become his trailblazing American Century Cycle of 10 plays, will run in the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Robert S. Marx Theatre Oct. 15 through Nov. 12. JITNEY beautifully explores Wilson’s recurring themes of love, honor, duty and betrayal as it follows a group of men who operate an unlicensed car service in 1970s Pittsburgh.

As they hustle to survive, the men are forced to confront the destruction of their community when the city threatens to close their station and board up the block in the name of urban renewal. Winner of the Drama Critics’ Circle Award and Olivier Award for best play, JITNEY showcases Wilson’s unequaled talent for celebrating the voices of people who might otherwise be left unheard and of capturing the nobility in everyday struggles of life.

“With all of August Wilson’s plays I’m finding that, as with Shakespeare, whatever is happening in the world in terms of politics and social shifts, the plays are so comprehensive that they’re able to reveal modern-day relevancy,” says Playhouse Associate Artist Timothy Douglas, who has vast experience with the work of Wilson, including directing JITNEY three previous times and helming the world premiere of Wilson’s Radio Golf. “At once, August Wilson’s plays are very specific to the black American experience in the 20th century. But equally they are often described as being universal because they are so human at the core.”

In JITNEY, Wilson creates a cast of unforgettable characters — from Becker, the well-respected boss of the gypsy cab station, to drivers Turnbo, Youngblood, Fielding and Doub, who represent several generations of this tight-knit neighborhood. The story also pivots around a momentous day: the homecoming of Becker’s son Booster, who has recently been released from prison. His arrival is not welcomed by his father, who has never forgiven his son for the actions that resulted in his incarceration or the ripple effect on their family.

In some ways JITNEY continues a conversation about the intertwined subjects of gentrification and disenfranchisement that was started with Clybourne Park and Buzzer, previous Playhouse productions directed by Douglas. “What August Wilson and JITNEY do is present a much wider perspective and horizon about the lives of black men in America,” Douglas says. “Because of its brilliance and relevance, the play relates directly to what’s happening across the country and specifically in Cincinnati in terms of the shifting black culture and white culture’s perceptions about black culture. It spreads a much wider canvas and paints a lot more intricacies that at once are specific to the culture but also universal.”

A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner (for Fences and The Piano Lesson), August Wilson is frequently mentioned in the same breath as William Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill as among the most significant and accomplished dramatists of all time. JITNEY premiered in 1982 at Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Repertory Theatre before being expanded and remounted at Pittsburgh Public Theatre in 1996. It’s the only Century Cycle play never to reach Broadway, an oversight that will be corrected this winter with a production at Manhattan Theatre Club.

Douglas has assembled what he calls an “outrageously gifted” cast of other Wilson veterans. All of them have worked with Douglas before, and many have appeared in his previous productions of JITNEY, though in different roles.

The cast of JITNEY includes Stori Ayers (Rena), Doug Brown (Fielding), Michael Kevin Darnall (Youngblood), Kenneth Early (Philmore), Dion Graham (Turnbo), Jefferson A. Russell (Shealy), Shane Taylor (Booster), Raymond Anthony Thomas (Becker) and Michael Anthony Williams (Doub).

In addition to Douglas, the creative team features Tony Cisek (set designer), Tracy Dorman (costume designer), Andrew Cissna (lighting designer) and Vincent Olivieri (sound designer). Brooke Redler is the stage manager, and Jenifer Morrow and Andrea L. Shell are the second stage managers.

JITNEY is sponsored by Sallie and Randolph Wadsworth and Moe and Jack Rouse. The artist sponsors for the role of Becker are Betsy and Paul Sittenfeld; artist sponsors for the role of Youngblood are Rosemary and Mark Schlachter. This production honors the support of David C. Herriman.

Tickets for JITNEY start at $35. Prices are subject to change, and patrons are encouraged to buy early for the best seats at the best prices. The show is appropriate for adult and older teenage audiences.

Tickets to 7 p.m. Sunday College Night performances are priced at just $10 for college students with a valid school ID. Student tickets are just $15 on the day of the show for all other performances.

Discounted ticket prices for teens and students are always available for $30.

Previews for JITNEY are at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15; 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18; and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19. The official opening night is Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m.

Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays.

The Playhouse will celebrate August Wilson with a special night dedicated to his work at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17. Douglas will discuss Wilson’s legacy and his own extensive experience with Wilson’s American Century Cycle while local actors perform monologues from several of Wilson’s plays. The event will be held at Walnut Hills High School’s Black Box Theatre. It’s free and open to the public, but reservations are required and may be made by calling the Playhouse Box Office at 513-421-3888.

Free Meet the Artists programs that allow audiences to interact with the cast and others associated with JITNEY will be held after the following performances: 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26; 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6; and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10.

JITNEY will be audio described for those with visual impairments at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, and signed for persons with hearing impairments at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6. The Playhouse is fully accessible. Audio enhancement receivers, large print programs and complete wheelchair access are available.

Tickets to JITNEY are on sale now. For more information, call the Playhouse Box Office at 513-421-3888 (toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana at 800-582-3208) or visit www.cincyplay.com. Call 513-345-2248 for Telecommunications Device for the Deaf accessibility.

The Playhouse is fully accessible. Audio enhancement receivers, large print programs and complete wheelchair access are available.

The 2016-17 Robert S. Marx Theatre season is presented by The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation, and Macy’s is the Robert S. Marx Theatre season design sponsor. The season sponsor of new work is the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Foundation.

The Playhouse is supported by the generosity of more than 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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(CINCINNATI) – Some plays seem ageless, while others are uncannily current. DISGRACED is the kind of play that succeeds in being both timeless and timely. Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for drama and a 2015 Tony Award nominee for best play, Ayad Akhtar’s DISGRACED makes its regional premiere to open the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s 2016-17 Thompson Shelterhouse season from Sept. 24 through Oct. 23.

DISGRACED asks audiences to examine taboo subjects such as religion and politics, to explore their own biases surrounding culture and identity and to question preconceived notions regarding the American Dream and the experiences faced by Muslims in our country. Currently one of the most-produced plays across the U.S., DISGRACED was a sold-out hit in New York, London and Chicago.

Amir Kapoor is a hotshot lawyer who has achieved considerable success. But, in order to reach those heights, Amir believes it necessary to reinvent himself, putting as much distance as he can between his current life and his Muslim upbringing without fully understanding the ramifications of his decisions. Ironically Amir’s wife Emily, an up-and-coming painter, finds her own work increasingly inspired by the patterns and forms of classic Islamic art. When the couple hosts a dinner party for friends — Jory, a colleague hoping, like Amir, to earn a partnership at the law firm where they both work, and her husband Isaac, a curator at the Whitney Museum who has an interest in Emily’s new paintings — polite conversation escalates into explosive debate. It’s a discussion that illuminates in startling terms the not-so-hidden prejudices very much alive in America.

“DISGRACED puts the ideal 21st-century situation onstage — four successful people, equally balanced in gender, religion and ethnicity, share a meal — and the protagonist of the play is a prosperous Pakistani-American,” says director Lisa Portes, who is making her Playhouse debut. “There it is: the American Dream. Everyone’s different, everyone’s winning and everyone gets along. And then the whole thing blows up.

“Why? I think that’s the point of curiosity for audiences,” Portes continues. “In trying to build a truly pluralistic 21st-century America, what are we missing? What do we learn about ourselves when the American experiment fails?”

Playwright Ayad Akhtar, the son of Pakistani doctors who migrated to the United States in the late 1960s, was born in New York and raised in Wisconsin. He became hooked on writing in high school, but struggled for years to find his voice. As an adult, “I started to understand I was running from who I was,” Akhtar told Arena Stage earlier this year. “I had been inculcated in the literary values of European modernism. I was trying to be a kind of writer that I wasn’t. I was trying to ignore that my parents came from Pakistan and that I had a Muslim background. I didn’t want to have anything to do with it … When I started to understand that, I had enough presence of mind to not do anything about it, but just observe. And as I observed, I metaphorically looked over my shoulder at what I had been running from, and it led to an explosion of creativity.”

The results included Akhtar’s critically acclaimed 2012 coming-of-age novel American Dervish and DISGRACED, as well as plays The Who & The What and The Invisible Hand.

While the play resonates in the current environment of Islamophobia, Akhtar believes it also can be viewed more broadly. “I’m writing to the universal,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “I just happen to be situated, because of my history, my upbringing, my passions, my ecstasies and my demons, to be writing subject matter that seems to be meeting the world in an unusually direct way.”

The cast of DISGRACED includes Barzin Akhavan (Amir), Amin El Gamal (Abe), Maury Ginsberg (Isaac), Bethany Jillard (Emily) and Krystel Lucas (Jory).

In addition to Portes, the DISGRACED creative team features Brian Sidney Bembridge (set designer), Gordon DeVinney (costume designer), Thomas C. Hase (lighting designer) and Ray Nardelli (sound designer/composer). Andrea L. Shell is the stage manager.

DISGRACED is sponsored by Schueler Group.

Tickets for DISGRACED start at $35. Prices are subject to change, and patrons are encouraged to buy early for the best seats at the best prices. The show is appropriate for adult and older teenage audiences.

Tickets to 7 p.m. Sunday College Night performances are priced at just $10 for college students with a valid school ID. Student tickets are just $15 on the day of the show for all other performances.

Discounted ticket prices for teens and students are always available for $30.

Previews for DISGRACED are at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24; 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27; and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28. The official opening night is Thursday, Sept. 29, at 7:30 p.m.

Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays.

Free Meet the Artists programs that allow audiences to interact with the cast and others associated with DISGRACED will be held after the following performances: 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2; 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12; and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20. Playhouse Perspectives talk-backs, supported by a gift from Roderick and Barbara Barr, will follow all other regular performances.

The Playhouse invites patrons to go beyond the play and take part in Playhouse Perspectives discussions at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26, and 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10. The first, featuring representatives from The Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati, will focus on a basic understanding of Islam and what it means to be an American Muslim today. The second will look at representations of Muslims in the media. The discussions are free and open to the public, but reservations are required and may be made by contacting the Playhouse Box Office at 513-421-3888.

Additionally, The Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati has graciously offered to provide special 90-minute tours for Playhouse patrons interested in visiting its facility in West Chester. Participants will learn about the basics of Islam and have the opportunity to explore the art and architecture of the campus, including the mosque and education building. A $2 donation is suggested at the door. Space is limited, so reservations should be made by calling the Playhouse Box Office at 513-421-3888.

The Playhouse is fully accessible. Audio enhancement receivers, large print programs and complete wheelchair access are available.

Tickets to DISGRACED are on sale now. For more information, call the Playhouse Box Office at 513-421-3888 (toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana at 800-582-3208) or visit www.cincyplay.com.

Call 513-345-2248 for Telecommunications Device for the Deaf accessibility.

The Playhouse is fully accessible. Audio enhancement receivers, large print programs and complete wheelchair access are available.

The 2016-17 Thompson Shelterhouse Theatre season is presented by Heidelberg Distributing Co., and the Thompson Shelterhouse Theatre season design sponsor is the Allan Berliant and Jennie Rosenthal Berliant Family Fund. The season sponsor of new work is the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Foundation.

The Playhouse is supported by the generosity of more than 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.