Tag Archives: Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati

(Cincinnati, OH) Grab your guitars and look to the stars! Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati begins its 2018-2019 Season with the charming regional premiere of Fly By Night written by Kim Rosenstock, Will Connolly, and Michael Mitnick. This enchanting musical sparkles with humor and heart as two sisters follow their stars to New York City’s stage and food service industry where the light of love leads to unexpected discoveries about fate and fortune. Playing September 1-29. Directed by D. Lynn Meyers. Production Sponsor is The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation.

In this darkly comic rock-fable, a gypsy prophecy propels melancholy sandwich-maker Harold and two bewitching sisters through a star-crossed journey of love and connection. Featuring a catchy score and inventive story-telling, this sweeping ode to young love culminates during the Northeast blackout of 1965 and is a tale about finding light in a world beset by darkness.

Producing Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers says: “Having ended last season with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I wanted to start this season with a musical celebrating the universal language of music. Fly By Night is a beautiful parable about fate—about accepting the good in our lives as well as the bad. Somewhere mixed up between the earth and the sky is our destiny. A lot of it is up to us, but a lot of it is about making sure we’re looking up to the stars for guidance.”

About the Cast

Michael Gerard Carr (Harold McClam) returns to Ensemble Theatre, where his favorite shows include First Date, The Legend of Georgia McBride, and Hands on a Hardbody. He is a proud graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Acting Program and a past ETC acting intern. He is also an adjunct instructor at the University of Cincinnati’s Musical Theater Department.

Brooke Steele (Miriam) has appeared numerous times at Ensemble Theatre, where some of her favorite credits include Violet, Cinderella, and The Marvelous Wonderettes. Most recently, Ms. Steele was seen at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company in Noises Off!. When not performing, she teaches with Community Arts Initiatives.

Maya Farhat’s (Daphne) is a proud graduate of Xavier University and the 2016-2017 ETC Professional Acting Intern Program. Her favorite previous credits include First Date and The Dancing Princesses at Ensemble Theatre and, most recently, The Bureau, which was Cincinnati’s Audience Pick of the 2018 Fringe Festival. She has also dabbled in film (Hallmark’s A Christmas Melody) and commercial work for Hulu. 

Michael G. Bath (Crabble) has appeared in ETC’s productions of The Dancing Princesses, Cinderella: After Ever After, The Legend of Georgia McBride, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Hands on a Hardbody. His other regional credits include Superior Donuts with The Clifton Players and Angels in America at Know Theatre. Mr. Bath has also performed with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, the Performance Gallery, Showboat Majestic, and Stage First Cincinnati. 

Phil Fiorini (Mr. McClam) was last seen at the Ensemble Theatre in Violet, as well as Sleeping Beauty and Hands on a Hardbody. He performed in Taylor Mac’s Hir at Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City this summer where he then donned some large heels in La Cage Aux Folles and The Legend of Georgia McBride at Kansas Repertory Theatre. Mr. Fiorini was seen in The Realistic Joneses at the Clifton Performance Theatre and spent three years on the Broadway tour of The Lion King as Pumbaa the Warthog.

Nathan Robert Pecchia (Narrator) returns to Cincinnati from Washington state, where he played in Oklahoma! as an AEA Guest Artist for Wheatland Theatre Company. Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, he is currently based in New York City. He is an alumni of Wright State University’s Musical Theatre Program, where his favorite credit was The Music Man. Some of his other recent credits include First Date, Ensemble Theatre; Spamalot!, Short North Stage; Miracle on 34th Street, Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts; and Sweeney Todd and the American premiere of Legendale: A New Musical, Human Race Theatre Company.

Patrick Earl Phillips (Joey Storms) received his BA in Theatre from Xavier University and was an Acting Intern at Ensemble Theatre during the 2014-2015 Season. He was last seen at ETC in This Random World, as well as Bloomsday, Cinderella: After Ever After, Violet, Luna Gale, and Love and Information. His other regional theatre credits include The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre; Henry VI, Part I, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; and Saint Joan and Relatively Speaking, Diogenes Theatre Company.

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), Scot Woolley (Musical Director), Patti James (Choreographer), and Reba Senske (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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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.

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

Todd Almond as Hedwig & a. Beth Harris as Yitzhak in ETC’s 2003 production. Photo by Sandy Underwood.

(Cincinnati, OH) Take a walk on the wild side! Dressed to impress, Todd Almond steps back into the title role of Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati’s season closer Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Written by John Cameron Mitchell with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, this award-winning rock musical is an innovative, heartbreaking, and wickedly funny story of a gender-crossed glam rocker determined to become a superstar. The regional revival of ETC’s 2001 and 2003 hit production is a rocking ride, entertaining, touching, and ultimately inspiring to anyone who has felt life gave them an inch when they deserved a mile. Playing June 5-July 1, 2018. Directed by D. Lynn Meyers. Presented by The Rosenthal Family Foundation and sponsored by LPK.

This landmark musical tells the captivating story of Hedwig, a fourth-wall-smashing, rock ‘n’ roll goddess. Backed by her punk rock band “The Angry Inch,” Hedwig weaves her tragically beautiful journey: escaping East Berlin as Hansel and arriving at a Kansas trailer park as Hedwig. Through the soaring rock songs and sidesplitting monologues, we follow Hedwig as she stalks rock star Tommy Speck’s world tour. Divided between conqueror and victim, Hedwig demands redress from Tommy for stealing her songs, her fame, and her love. Called “the best rock musical ever,” by Rolling Stone, this genre-bending musical sensation, with a pulsing score and electrifying performances, is a darkly humorous tale about sacrifice, gender identity, and love in all its forms.

“We were compelled to do Hedwig and the Angry Inch this season to celebrate a play that kept us open in 2001 when very few people were coming to Over-the-Rhine,” says Producing Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers. “However, we survived and are now thriving. A lot of that started with Hedwig. It’s amazing to tell a story with this much heart, compassion, and understanding that also has an amazing score and an awesome band. It’s going to be fabulous!” 

About the Cast

Todd Almond (Hedwig) is a composer, lyricist, and playwright. His Ensemble Theatre credits include I Am My Own Wife (subsequently reprised at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Florida Studio Theatre, and New Hampshire Theatre Project ), Hedwig and the Angry Inch in 2001 and 2003, the world premiere of James and Annie, and Vigil. His other credits include musical director for the recent production of Suzan-Lori Park’s F**cking A, Signature Theatre; original music for the off-Broadway production of How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, Lincoln Center; original music for the Broadway production of Noises Off!, Roundabout Theatre; book for Girlfriend (songs by Matthew Sweet, directed by Les Waters), Center Theatre Group and Know Theatre of Cincinnati; book, music, and lyrics for Kansas City Choir Boy (also starred alongside Courtney Love and was directed by Kevin Newbury), Prototype Festival, American Repertory Theater, and Center Theater Group; music, lyrics, book/adaptation for The Odyssey, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest (directed by Lear deBessonet), Delacorte—Public Theater’s Public Works Program; Iowa (collaboration with playwright Jenny Schwartz, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll), Playwrights Horizons; and score for Melancholy Play (a chamber-musical version of Sarah Ruhl’s play).

Beth Harris (Yitzhak) appeared at Ensemble Theatre in the 2001 and 2003 productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Her other acting credits include Skin Tight, Syncopation, the 1999 production of Violet, and many others. She is busy in the studio recording backing vocals for various artists and recently toured with Erika Wennerstrom
from Heartless Bastards to promote Wennerstrom’s solo album “Sweet Unknown.” Currently, Ms. Harris is collaborating with songwriter and front man Nic Powers from the bands Static Falls and The Sweep on various projects while also performing with him on his solo material, joined by local guitar favorite Brendan Bogosian from the bands Vire, Static Falls, and The Tigerlilies. She is a longtime member of legendary Cincinnati bands The Hiders and The Perfect Children and recently joined The Brian Olive Band. Ms. Harris is the co-owner and operator of The Listing Loon, one of Cincinnati’s staple establishments for beer, wine, and live music, located in historic Northside.

Rejoining Todd Almond and a. Beth Harris for this production are band members from ETC’s original Hedwig productions: Billy Alletzhauser (guitar), Andrew Smithson (keyboard), and Sam Womelsdorf (guitar). Additionally, ETC welcomes to the band Josh Pilot (bass) and Tim Seiwert (drums).

Production team includes 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), a. Beth Harris (Musical Director), Stormie Mac (Costume Designer), and Raven D. Payne (Wig & Makeup Designer). Production Stage Manager is Brandon T. Holmes. Assistant Stage Manager is Elizabeth Freyman. 

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 and $28 for students. 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, tickets and seating subject to availability.

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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.

2017-2018 Season Presenting Sponsor is the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation. Additional support provided 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.