Tag Archives: Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati

April 13—May 11, 2019

(Cincinnati, OH) It’s time to walk the line. Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati presents the regional premiere of Skeleton Crew, a compelling drama about a driven team of autoworkers trying to navigate a cutthroat industry. This searing new play is by Dominique Morisseau (Detroit ‘67 ), a 2018 recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellows Program (unofficially referred to as a Genius Grant). Skeleton Crew is the final installment of Morisseau’s powerful Detroit Project, which was inspired by August Wilson’s landmark Century Cycle. Playing April 13-May 11, 2019. Directed by Stori Ayers. Production Sponsor is The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation.

Times are rough in 2008 Detroit as a hundred-year-old industry grinds to a halt. As rumors fly about factory closings, a tight-knit trio of autoworkers faces tough decisions about the future, while their foreman weighs the demands of white-collar management status against his fierce loyalty to his team. From the playwright of Detroit ’67 comes a powerful and engrossing portrait of courage and camaraderie in blue-collar America.

“What I love most about being an artist working on a Dominique Morisseau show is that you are instantly changed from artist to activists. Her work is embedded with social outreach that, as an artist, requires more of you,” shares Director Stori Ayers. “Skeleton Crew is a play about the ultimate sacrifice: the sacrifice of self in the fight for justice. We all know that there is no progress without sacrifice.” She adds, “My hope is that each audience member will see that, when faced with injustice, the act of sacrificing self for the greater good is the most sublime gesture one can do for another. A gesture that is greatly needed in our society today.”

About the Cast

Burgess Byrd (Faye) returns to Ensemble Theatre, having appeared last in Red Velvet, This Random World, and Detroit ’67. Recently, she was a guest artist at the University of Texas at Austin in The Merchant of Venice. Some of her other credits include Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and A Raisin in the Sun, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; Harry and the Thief and Pretty Fire, Know Theatre of Cincinnati; Caroline or Change, New Stage Collective; Silence! The Musical, Falcon Theatre; Doubt, The Drama Workshop; and Avenue Q, Showbiz Players.

Amari Cheatom (Dez) is an Atlanta, Georgia native who received his training at The Freddie Hendricks Youth Ensemble of Atlanta Theatre and is a graduate of the prestigious Julliard School of Drama Division. His theatre credits include Skeleton Crew, The Old Globe (San Diego); Detroit ’67, Baltimore Center Stage; The Temple Bombing, Alliance Theatre; Fetch Clay, Make Man, True Colors Theatre Co.; Dutch Masters, LAByrinth Theatre Company; On the Levee, Lincoln Center Theater; The Book of Grace, The Public Theatre; and Zooman and the Sign, Signature Theatre Company. His film credits include Roman J. Israel Esq, Detroit, Crown Heights, Moths & Butterflies, The Alchemist Cookbook, Django Unchained, Newlyweeds, Night Catches Us, and Knucklehead. His television credits include Numb3rs, Chase, Detroit 1-8-7, and Georgetown.

Ernaisja Curry (Shanita) returns to Ensemble Theatre having last appeared in This Random World. A Florida native, she has made Cincinnati her home after completing the Bruce E. Coyle Acting Internship with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Some of her recent credits include Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride, Know Theatre of Cincinnati; Dreamgirls, The Carnegie; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; and The Comedy of Errors, Kentucky Shakespeare.

Brian Marable (Reggie) makes his Ensemble Theatre debut with this production. His professional regional theatre credits include Spunk, American Stage; Detroit ’67, Baltimore Center Stage and Detroit Public Theater; Skeleton Crew, The Old Globe (San Diego) and People’s Light; and Pipeline, Detroit Public Theater. Mr. Marable created his own theater company, The Clubhouse Theater, in the city and neighborhood where he grew up. His film credits include Standing in the Shadows of Motown, Have a Little Faith, The Citizen (2012) and Low Winter Sun.

Production team includes D. Lynn Meyers (Producing Artistic Director), Brian c. Mehring (Set & Lighting Designer), Jack Murphy (Technical Director), Matthew Hollstegge (Production Manager), Shannon Rae Lutz (Properties Master & Design Assistant), Matt Callahan (Sound Designer), and Stormie Mac (Costume Designer). Production Stage Manager is Brandon T. Holmes. Assistant Stage Manager is Lexi Muller.

Performance Information
Performances run Tuesday through Sunday. Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 pm; Friday and Saturday, 8:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 2:00 pm; and Sunday, 7:00 pm. A complete calendar of performances is available online at www.ensemblecincinnati.org. 

Ticket Prices
Ticket prices start at $35 for adults; student tickets are $28; and children are $24. Half-Price Rush Tickets: All remaining tickets for the current day’s performance(s) are available two hours prior to each show time for half-price (discount does not apply to children’s tickets) when purchasing by phone or in person. $15 Student Rush Tickets: Students may purchase up to two $15 student rush tickets two hours prior to show time with valid student I.D. Available in person only.

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2018-2019 Season Presenting Sponsor is the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation. Additional support provided PNC.

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.

(Cincinnati, OH) Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati’s Producing Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers is being honored by ArtsWave with the 2018 Rosa F. and Samuel B. Sachs Fund Prize for her regional arts impact and leadership. The Rosa F. and Samuel B. Sachs Fund Prize recognizes individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the cultural life of Cincinnati, bringing distinction to themselves and the region through their work.

First awarded in 1929, this prestigious award was endowed to ArtsWave by the late Samuel B. Sachs to honor outstanding accomplishments in the arts — inclusive of visual arts, music, theatre, dance, literature, sculpture and architecture. Previous recipients include Zaha Hadid, Leah Stewart, Phyllis Weston, Stephen Sondheim, Shepard Fairey, James Conlon, Kathy Wilson, Jim Borgman and Jay Chatterjee.

The Sachs Fund Prize Committee, led by ArtsWave Life Trustee Richard Rosenthal, decided early on not to make this a competitive process with a call for nominations and/or applications. Rather, using the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grants” as a model, ArtsWave assembles a group of this region’s most knowledgeable leaders in the areas of theater, music, dance, architecture, visual arts, photography, and literature to select the individual who, in their combined estimation, best meets the criteria for this award.

“It’s something I never would have thought possible,” says D. Lynn Meyers. “I received a voicemail from Dick Rosenthal telling me that I’d won and I was so stunned that I listened to it three times! I am beyond humbled, honored, and extremely grateful.”

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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 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.

2018-2019 Season Presenting Sponsor is the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation. Additional support provided by PNC. 

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.

(Cincinnati, OH) Nora’s back, and this time, she’s kicking down the door! Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati presents the regional premiere of the scintillating comedy that’s sweeping the nation, A Doll’s House, Part 2. Nominated for eight Tony Awards, Lucas Hnath’s completely unauthorized sequel to Ibsen’s theatrical classic is a thoughtful and contemporary commentary on marriage and how the roles of women have—and haven’t—changed over time. Playing March 2-30, 2019. Directed by Regina Pugh. Production Sponsor is John Goering.

Nora famously slammed the door on her marriage, leaving her family behind in Ibsen’s 1879 revolutionary classic, but what happened to the iconic heroine next? This audacious sequel imagines her 15 years later as a changed woman. Universally acclaimed on Broadway, this smart, sophisticated comedy crackles with razor-sharp humor that speaks directly to today’s audiences, giving new voice to its predecessor’s themes of marriage, fidelity, and personal independence.

“I love that this play forces us to confront our own beliefs about marriage and family,” says director Regina Pugh.  “All of the characters in this story make extremely good arguments and extremely flawed arguments and, ultimately, it becomes very hard to tell one from the other. Life is like that. We often feel like we are doing the exact right thing and exact wrong thing at the exact same time.”

About the Cast

Tony Campisi (Torvald) returns to Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, having previously appeared in The Humans, Permanent Collection, and Glimmer, Glimmer, and Shine. He was seen at Playhouse in the Park in Men on the Take, Durango, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and You Can’t Take it with You. Other regional theatres include Cleveland Play House, McCarter Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Mark Taper Forum, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Geva Theatre Center, New York Stage and Film, and Hudson Guild, among others. Broadway: Awake and Sing! (Tony Award), The Nerd, and Pvt. Wars. Off-Broadway: Lincoln Center Theatre, Roundabout Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, and Primary Stages. His television credits include: Seven Seconds (Netflix), Blue Bloods, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Ally McBeal, Profiler, Matlock, EZ Streets, and several soap operas; film credits include: Cruzando, A Home of our Own, Tyson (HBO), and Green Plaid Shirt.

Christine Dye (Anne Marie) last performed at Ensemble Theatre in The Humans and When We Were Young and Unafraid. She has also appeared onstage in Much Ado About Nothing, Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival; August: Osage County, Riverside, and Sarge, Clifton Performance Theatre; Dracula, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; House of Yes, Untethered Theatre; Jeffery, Parallel Lives, and Valhalla, Ovation Theatre; Power Failure, Night of the Iguana, and Bus Stop, New Edgecliff Theatre; and Vagina Monologues, Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, and Shirley Valentine, Middletown Lyric Theatre. Her film credits include Carol, Old Man and the Gun, Donnybrook, A Case of Murder, Mom and Dad, Aftermath, and First Kill.

Connan Morrissey (Nora) makes her Ensemble Theatre debut. Her previous credits include roles in new and classical plays at Arena Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Asolo Theatre Center, Folger Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Round House Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Clarence Brown Theatre, PlayMakers Repertory, Capital Repertory, North Carolina Stage Company, Vermont Stage Company, and Peterborough Players. She has worked as a performance coach for companies including Deloitte, PWC, Unilever, and Fifth Third. Ms. Morrissey has an MFA from the University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill.

Esther Cunningham (Emmy) is a current member of the Professional Acting Apprentice Program at Ensemble Theatre, where she understudied Crabble in Fly by Night and the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. Off stage, she works with the ETC Education Department as a teaching assistant for the Hunter Heartbeat Program. She is a graduate of Wheaton College with a BA in Theater, where some of her favorite credits include Julius Caesar, The Sparrow, and Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Production team includes D. Lynn Meyers (Producing Artistic Director), Brian c. Mehring (Set & Lighting Designer), Jack Murphy (Technical Director), Matthew Hollstegge (Production Manager), Shannon Rae Lutz (Properties Master & Design Assistant), Matt Callahan (Sound Designer), Stormie Mac (Costume Designer), and James Geier (Wig Designer). Production Stage Manager is Brandon T. Holmes. Assistant Stage Manager is Lexi Muller.

Performance Information
Performances run Tuesday through Sunday. Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 pm; Friday and Saturday, 8:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 2:00 pm; and Sunday, 7:00 pm. A complete calendar of performances is available online at www.ensemblecincinnati.org. 

Ticket Prices
Ticket prices start at $35 for adults; student tickets are $28; and children are $24. Half-Price Rush Tickets: All remaining tickets for the current day’s performance(s) are available two hours prior to each show time for half-price (discount does not apply to children’s tickets) when purchasing by phone or in person. $15 Student Rush Tickets: Students may purchase up to two $15 student rush tickets two hours prior to show time with valid student I.D. Available in person only.

###

2018-2019 Season Presenting Sponsor is the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation. Additional support provided PNC.

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.

A Doll’s House, Part 2—At A Glance

What:  A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath

Where: Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, 1127 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 

When: March 2 – 30, 2019
Opening Night: Wednesday, March 6 at 7:30 pm

Times: Tues-Thurs at 7:30 pm; Fri & Sat at 8:00 pm; Sat & Sun at 2:00 pm; Sun at 7:00 pm

Tickets: Start at $35 for adults; students, $28 

Content Advisory
This production contains adult language and may not be suitable for all audiences. 

Discounts
Half-Price Rush Tickets: All remaining tickets for the current day’s performance(s) are available two hours prior to each show time for half-price (discount does not apply to children’s tickets) when purchasing by phone or in person. $15 Student Rush Tickets: Students may purchase up to two $15 student rush tickets two hours prior to show time with valid student I.D. Available in person only. Group discounts available for 8+. Complete details available at www.ensemblecincinnati.org. 

Parking:
Surface lot and Gateway Garage, both at the corner of 12^th and Vine Streets. Parking also available at the Washington Park Garage and Mercer Commons Garage. 

CAST
Torvald: Tony Campisi*
Emmy: Esther Cunningham
Anne Marie: Christine Dye*
Nora: Connan Morrissey*

PRODUCTION TEAM
Director: Regina Pugh
Costume Designer: Reba Senske
Production Stage Manager: Brandon T. Holmes*
Sound Designer: Matt Callaha
Set & Lighting Designer: Brian c. Mehring
Wig Designer: James Geier
Properties Master & Design Assistant: Shannon Rae Lutz
Production Manager: Matthew Hollstegge

*Denotes a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.