Tag Archives: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE CELEBRATES THE MAN IN BLACK
WITH RING OF FIRE: THE MUSIC OF JOHNNY CASH, 
JAN. 17-FEB. 15, 2015

(CINCINNATI) – The Man in Black led a colorful life that both reflected and transcended his humble beginnings. RING OF FIRE: THE MUSIC OF JOHNNY CASH, which runs Jan. 17 through Feb. 15 in the Playhouse’s Robert S. Marx Theatre, celebrates the incomparable legacy of J.R. “Johnny” Cash, one of the most popular entertainers of all time.

Created by Richard Maltby Jr. and conceived by William Meade, RING OF FIRE was adapted from the Broadway production by Richard Maltby Jr. and Jason Edwards. Edwards, who starred in RING OF FIRE on Broadway, will both direct and appear in the Playhouse production, which tells Cash’s story through his songs.

More than a musical biography, RING OF FIRE looks at Cash’s life thematically. From his early years picking cotton in hardscrabble fields to superstardom, the show chronicles both the lows and the highs of the man who traversed musical genres from country and rock to folk and gospel.

“The show tries, in a couple of hours, to touch on every aspect of Mr. Cash’s life — not just his troubled years or his drug years — but also his youth, his faith,” explains Edwards. “He was a very patriotic and spiritual guy, on top of running into some rough times. He never really lost the sense of where he came from and who he was.”

RING OF FIRE encompasses more than 30 of Cash’s classic songs, including the title tune, “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Man in Black,” “A Boy Named Sue” and “I Walk the Line,” the ballad that Rolling Stone magazine this year declared number one on its list of 25 Greatest Country Songs of All Time. Even so, it’s but an iconic sampling of the more than 400 songs that Cash, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member, has to his credit. Cash was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Gospel Music Hall of Fame. He placed 48 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and more than 130 hits on the Billboard country singles chart, more than anyone in history.

In addition to Edwards, the RING OF FIRE cast of actors and musicians includes Trenna Barnes, Allison Briner, Walter Hartman, Brantley Kearns, Derek Keeling, Jeff Lisenby (who also serves as musical director), John Marshall, Brent Moyer and Andrew Platt. The creative team includes assistant director/choreographer Denise Patton, set designer John Iacovelli, costume designer Lou Bird, lighting designer Kenton Yeager and sound designer Joe Payne. Jenifer Morrow is the production stage manager, and Andrea L. Shell and Becky Merold are second stage managers.

RING OF FIRE production co-sponsors are Fifth Third Bank and American Modern Insurance Group. Bahl & Gaynor, Inc., is the artist sponsor/Jason Edwards. This production honors the support of Linda and Gary Greenberg.

Ticket prices for RING OF FIRE: THE MUSIC OF JOHNNY CASH start at $30. Prices are subject to change, and patrons are encouraged to buy early for the best seats at the best prices. Teen and student tickets are $30 each. The show is appropriate for adults and teenage audiences.

New for the 2014-15 season is Sunday College Night, with tickets to all 7 p.m. Sunday performances priced at just $10 with a valid student ID. Student tickets are just $15 on the day of the show for all other performances.

Previews are at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17; 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20; and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21. The official opening night is Thursday, Jan. 22, at 8 p.m. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays. There is no 7 p.m. performance on Sunday, Feb. 1, and no 2 p.m. performance on Sunday, Feb. 15.

Free post-show Meet the Artists programs that allow audiences to interact with cast members and others associated with the production will be offered at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28; 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8; and 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12.

RING OF FIRE will be audio described for those with visual impairments at 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7, and signed for persons with hearing impairments at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8.

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

Tickets to RING OF FIRE 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 2014-15 Robert S. Marx Theatre season is sponsored 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 the community contributors to the ArtsWave 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 and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Eric Ting.

(CINCINNATI) — Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Artistic Director Blake Robison announced today that Obie Award-winning director Eric Ting will be added next season to the theatre’s Associate Artists program, which was launched by Robison in 2013 for his second season at the Playhouse. Ting will join current associate artists Timothy Douglas, Michael Evan Haney and KJ Sanchez, who have served the Playhouse in that capacity for the past two years.

Robison has extended the Associate Artist program beyond its initial two-year mandate so that each of these artists will have an ongoing relationship with the theatre and community. “The Associate Artists program is an inclusive, forward-looking model that has generated a lot of excitement,” Robison said. “They form the backbone of our directing corps and bring diverse backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints to the Playhouse. “I’m thrilled to welcome Eric to the Cincinnati Playhouse family,” Robison continued. “As our fourth associate artist, he will direct plays, participate in season planning, join us in community outreach and bring his own network of connections to benefit the Playhouse.

“I’ve known Eric for nearly 15 years, when he began his career as a theatre student at the University of Tennessee. Since then, he has created an impressive body of work as one of the country’s most gifted young directors. He’s in touch with a new generation of American playwrights, and he brings a fresh perspective to the classics. He’s distinguished himself off-Broadway with an Obie Award. And his time at Long Wharf Theatre has given him experience in an institutional theatre.”

“I’m incredibly honored to be named a Cincinnati Playhouse associate artist,” Ting said. “I’ve long admired Blake’s work as an artistic leader and have been following the storied work of the Playhouse ever since my sister’s family settled in nearby Montgomery. The Associate Artists program combines two of the things I hold most dear in life: art-making and community building. There’s no more human art than the theatre, no art better suited to connecting us. And the Playhouse is a true testament to that.”

Ting’s recent directing credits include the world premiere The World of Extreme Happiness by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, which debuted at Goodman Theatre and opens in February at Manhattan Theatre Club; A Great Wilderness by Sam Hunter at Williamstown Theatre Festival; the world premiere of Rising Son by Dick Lee at Singapore Repertory Theatre; Jackie Sibblies Drury’s We Are Proud to Present A Presentation on the Herero of Namibia, Formerly South-West Africa from the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915, a world premiere at Soho Rep and Victory Gardens Theater for which he received the Obie Award for direction; the world premiere of Miriam by Nora Chipaumire at BAM Next Wave; and Warrior Class by Ken Lin at Alliance Theatre. Upcoming projects include Brownsville Song: B-Side for Tray by Kimber Lee at Long Wharf and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate at the Mark Taper Forum.

As Long Wharf’s associate artistic director, Ting has directed the world premieres of Laura Jacqmin’s January Joiner, Aditi Brennan Kapil’s Agnes Under the Big Top and Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, which he also co-adapted. He has directed workshops and readings for the Lark Play Development Center, Vineyard Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, the Public Theater, Hartford Stage, Prelude, Victory Gardens Theater, Goodman Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Bay Area Playwrights, ACT (San Francisco) and the Vineyard Arts Project.

Ting’s personal awards and grants include a Theatre Communications Group New Generations Future Leaders fellowship and a Jerome and Roslyn Milstein Meyer Career Development Prize. A founding member of the artists’ collective INTELLIGENT BEASTS, his work has been presented internationally, including France, Canada, Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bali.

The Playhouse is supported by the generosity of the community contributors to the ArtsWave 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 and the National Endowment for the Arts.