Tag Archives: Know Theatre of Cincinnati

ON HER PILLOW runs Sept. 19 & 21

ON HER PILLOW
Presented by Know Theatre Cincinnati as part of the Fall Fringe Festival
Sept. 19 & 21
Over-the-Rhine

Local media coverage:  Soapbox article |

In 1977 it was cool to be a multi-racial family if you lived in San Francisco, or New York…but we lived in Addyston, Oh. Not cool…and NOT O.K. Then my parents gave me the name Honour Pillow because I wasn’t going to stand out enough as the only curly headed, biracial giant at my school. Now I was a curly headed, biracial giant named Honour Pillow. Geesh. No ordinary life could follow this beginning. I would become a Model in New York, a Comedienne in Chicago, and a Cancer Patient in Las Vegas. Being biracial was the least of my worries.

  • Wed, Sept. 19 at 7:30pm
  • Fri, Sept. 21 at 7pm

Official page with online ticketing | BTC page from June performances |

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KTC Receives Recognition from The American Theatre Wing

Know Theatre of Cincinnati receives recognition from The American Theatre Wing
Know Theatre wins prized National Theatre Company Grant honor from Founder of the Tony Awards

Know Theatre of Cincinnati is pleased to announce that the American Theatre Wing has awarded the company with one of their 2012 National Theatre Company Grants.

Know Theatre of Cincinnati is proud to have received this prestigious national award. The funds awarded will support operations for Know Theatre and its annual programs. Know Theatre of Cincinnati produces a mainstage season of innovative contemporary theatre, the annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival, a national tour of Calculus: The Musical! and The Jackson Street Market, a program dedicated to supporting and building the local artistic community. Eric Vosmeier, Producing Artistic Director, will be traveling to New York City in early October to accept the award and participate in media events and networking with the other recipients.

Other grant recipients this year are: Actors’ Shakespeare Project (Somerville, Massachusetts), ArtsWest (Seattle, Washington), Know Theatre of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, Ohio), NC Stage Company (Asheville, North Carolina), The New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch, New Jersey), CityRep (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), The Rogue Theatre (Tucson, Arizona), The Play Company (New York City, New York), The Theatre @ Boston Court (Pasadena, California), and Upstream Theater (St. Louis, Missouri).

“This grant is a huge boon to Know Theatre’s model, focus, and programming,” says Eric Vosmeier, Producing Artistic Director. “We are honored to have been recognized alongside these other amazing theaters. Know Theatre is at a crucial stage of our development and new funding such as this will be crucial for us to continue to move the organization forward. We are grateful to the American Theatre Wing for creating this program and honored to have been selected this year as a recipient.”

Created by American Theatre Wing, best known as the creator of the Antionette Perry “Tony” Awards, to recognize and support the most promising emerging theatre companies from around the country, the National Theatre Company grant honors 10 theaters annually. Companies chosen to receive the $10,000 grant have articulated a distinctive mission, cultivated an audience, and nurtured a community of artists in ways that strengthen and demonstrate the quality, diversity, and dynamism of American theatre.

“For the third year in a row, our national grants committee was astounded by the breadth and depth of the work being done by non-profit theatre companies around this country. This year’s awardees cover the entire span of the United States and demonstrate the uniqueness, courage, and creativity that is the heart of the American Theatre,” said Lucie Arnaz, Chair of the Grants Committee. “These companies prove, once again, that great theatre isn’t just on Broadway between 40th and 50th streets, but that Broadway is a road that is 3,000 miles long.”

More information about the National Theatre Company grants can be found at http://americantheatrewing.org/grants.

About the American Theatre Wing:
Best known for creating The Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards®, the American Theatre Wing’s reach extends beyond Broadway and beyond New York, with educational and media work that offers the best in theatre to people around the world. Dedicated to celebrating excellence and supporting education in the theatre, ATW has been an integral and influential part of the theatrical community for 95 years. For more information about all of the American Theatre Wing programs, go to americantheatrewing.org. ATW can be followed on Facebook.com/TheAmericanTheatreWing and Twitter.com/TheWing and additional, unique video can be found at YouTube.com/AmericanTheatreWing.

Know Theatre of Cincinnati is supported, in part, by the generosity of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign. The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Know Theatre with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Our mission is to create evocative and explosive live entertainment.
Our vision is a world awakened to its collective possibility.
We value a playful artistic community where artists can collaborate and grow.

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Know Theatre of Cincinnati Announces Fall Fringe Festival

Five performances from the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival return for encores

Know Theatre and the Cincinnati Fringe Festival are excited to announce a fall mini-Fringe Festival comprised of four encore performances from 2012 Cincinnati Fringe Festival artists! These Fringe encores will feature two returning shows: Audience Pick of the Fringe, On Her Pillow by Honour Pillow of Cincinnati, OH and Producers’ Pick of the Fringe, The Screw You Revue by Screw You Entertainment of Olrando, FL as well as two new shows by 2012 Fringe Artists Kevin Thornton and Tommy Nugent. Kevin Thornton (of Nashville, TN) will present Kevin J. Thornton: UNFRINGED and Tommy Nugent (of Detroit, MI) will present OCCUPY This: Tales of an Accidental Activist. In addition, OTR Improv, Know Theatre’s house improv team and member of the Jackson Street Market, will also present an encore of their Festival performance.

“We’re excited to continue our tradition of Fringe Encores, but we wanted to try something a little different this time around. We’re bringing all of the Fringe Encores in for one week of performances with a rep schedule similar to the main Festival. It’s important to us as a part of the national Fringe community to support these artists’ work year round. You’ll also be able to buy a pass for the whole week for just $40.”, says Producing Artistic Director, Eric Vosmeier.

Performances will occur between Wednesday, September 19 and Saturday, September 22. The full schedule is here:

Full Schedule

Wednesday, September 19th
On Her Pillow – 7:30pm
OTRi’s The Chronicle – 9:15 pm

Thursday, September 20
OCCUPY This – 7:00pm
UNFRINGED – 8:30 pm

Friday, September 21
On Her Pillow – 7:00pm
The Screw You Revue – 9:15 pm

Saturday, September 22
UNFRINGED – 7:00 pm
OCCUPY This – 8:30 pm
The Screw You Revue – 10 pm

All tickets for this performance are $12. Four show flexible passes can be purchased for $40. Tickets and passes can be purchased by visiting knowtheatre.com or cincyfringe.com or by calling the box office at 513.300.KNOW (5669).

On Her Pillow
In 1977 it was cool to be a multi-racial family if you lived in San Francisco, or New York…but we lived in Addyston, Oh. Not cool…and NOT O.K. Then my parents gave me the name Honour Pillow because I wasn’t going to stand out enough as the only curly headed, biracial giant at my school. Now I was a curly headed, biracial giant named Honour Pillow. Geesh. No ordinary life could follow this beginning. I would become a Model in New York, a Comedienne in Chicago, and a Cancer Patient in Las Vegas. Being biracial was the least of my worries.

Bio – Model turned Comedienne Honour Pillow is a Cincinnati native who has spent the past 10 years performing stand-up comedy in Chicago, Il, and Las Vegas, NV. After completing her one woman play “On Her Pillow” and battling cancer in 2010, she decided to return to Cincinnati to be closer to family where she currently lives with her husband. This is her first theatrical stage performance.

OTRi: The Chronicle
Inspired by one of the most popular shows to emerge from the Chicago improv scene, The Chronicle is OTRimprov’s take on the Armando Diaz Experience. The Armando Diaz is long-form improvisation created at improvOlympic Chicago, where a special guest shares personal stories based on an audience suggestion that weave into scenes inspired by their monologues. Featuring 2012 Fringe artists who will peel the onion of their own dysfunction bare their soul, all in the name of improv. OTRi is Know Theatre’s house improv team and member of the Jackson Street Market.

Bio – OTRimprov is an improvisational comedy troupe that’s made its home at Know Theatre of Cincinnati as part of the Jackson Street Market. Recognizing the distinct lack of regularly scheduled improv performances in Cincinnati, especially Downtown and in Over-the-Rhine, OTRi looks to provide this particular brand of entertainment in order to further strengthen Cincinnati’s established arts community.

OCCUPY This: Tales of an Accidental Activist
Comedic Storyteller “Reverend Nuge” went to Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Detroit just to carry funny signs. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Revolution – he started to believe in it. The next thing you know he’s camping with crack addicts, marching with anarchists, burying a friend and writing this show.

“Nugent has grown a smart show here, full of humor and big ideas, but it’s a blossom with even deeper roots than we expected.” – DC Theatre Scene

“A magnetic stage presence with a razor-sharp conversational performance style…with him on the streets, the 1% should be nervous.” – Fresno Bee

Bio – Just your basic preacher turned strip club bartender turned professional gambler turned law school drop-out turned street magician turned motivational speaker turned solo theater artiste and North America’s premier purveyor of Comedic Enlightenment. Tommy “Reverend Nuge” Nugent has performed for more than half a million people through the U.S. and Canada.

“Hanging out with world-class characters like Reverend Nuge is what Fringe is all about.” – Orlando Weekly.

“His aw-shucks personality keeps things light and loose, and the demons he tackles keep things meaningful…Nugent makes it look easy and fun.” – CityBeat

Kevin J. Thornton: UNFRINGED
Kevin J Thornton (Sex, Dreams & Self Control 2009, I Love You We’re F*#ked 2011, Strange Dreamz 2012) returns with “Kevin J Thornton: UNFRINGED.” Expect his signature mix of comedic storytelling and original music, but this time with a twist. The entire hour is completely unscripted and spontaneous! He knows he’s probably going to talk about the time he worked on a cruise ship in South America and then play you the joke ideas he records into his phone in the middle of the night when he’s super stoned, but that’s about it. One thing is certain, this will be never before heard material. Could be thrilling. Could be moderately thrilling. Could be something else entirely.

Bio – “Thornton toiled at Nashville area coffee shops for many years chasing the elusive record deal with his band Waves On Waves. His first musical effort “Had A Sword” won the Nashville Scene Music Award for Best Experimental Rock shortly before they disbanded in 2008. Frustrated, he relocated to Los Angeles and on the dare of a friend
began frequenting Hollywood stand up comedy open mics. Within a few months he was named a Los Angeles Times “Best Bet,” had been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and became a “New Faces Winner” at The Comedy Store in Hollywood. In 2011 Thornton was a guest lecturer at University of California, Berkeley where he spoke about the successful use of his podcast and social media in connection with his national touring act. He produces a weekly Podcast on also called “Strange Dreamz.” Thornton irreverently discusses touring adventures, current events, and issues affecting the LGBTcommunity. Thornton’s podcast is the highest rated program on the LGBT related online radio station Click Click Expose based in Miami, Florida. He’s also an author. His most recent book “The Universe Sock Puppet”
is available on his website and retailers worldwide

The Screw You Revue
Wayburn Sassy is an 89 year old self-proclaimed “Entertainment Legend” and America’s Favorite Bigot. Wayburn fears Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Japanese, Arabs, Islanders, the Taiwanese, bongo players, men in kilts, and above ALL he fears ” Whimsicals” (Wayburn’s word for Gay Men). Wayburn has the excellent fortune of sharing the stage with his “Amorous Amazon,” his “Leggy Lolita,” his “Girl-with-the-Gorgeous-Gams,” Miss Didi Panache. Didi loves everyone, but she loves Wayburn best. Together, this irreverent twosome transport the audience to a place where no subject is taboo and everyone takes part in the joke.

Bio – Screw You Entertainment is the blood, sweat, and tears of partners, (on stage as well as in life), Dewey Chaffee and Douglas McGeoch. Founded in 2007 after the highly successful debut of the company’s flagship show, The Screw You Revue, the company quickly gained a reputation for stellar productions with astounding attention to detail and quality. Keen on irreverent humor, Screw You Entertainment explores the boundaries of human bigotry, racism, and intolerance with over-the-top characters and wild guest interactions.

Since 2007, The Screw You Revue, has appeared at several Fringe Festivals through out the United States and Canada, including Orlando, Winnipeg, Indianapolis, and London, Ontario, winning 6 ‘Best of Fest’ titles, along the way. The Screw You Revue was the 2012 Producers’ Pick of the Fringe at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival.

More information about these shows, tickets, and other Know Theatre events can be found at http://www.knowtheatre.com/shows.html.

Know Theatre of Cincinnati is supported, in part, by the generosity
of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign.

The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Know Theatre with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Our mission is to create evocative and explosive live entertainment.
Our vision is a world awakened to its collective possibility.
We value a playful artistic community where artists can collaborate and grow.

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Know Theatre of Cincinnati presents music from Hundred Days on Aug. 10-12

 Selections from Cincinnati Fringe favorites The Bengsons’
new experimental folk-opera

At the 2011 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, husband and wife duo The Bengsons, participated in a workshop as part of FringeDevelopment. Other artists participating in the Festival joined The Bengsons to rehearse and present selections of their new folk-opera, Hundred Days. Know Theatre of Cincinnati is excited to announce that The Bengsons will be returning to Cincinnati and will present an early showing of music from this new work. Performances will occur at Know Theatre of Cincinnati on August 10 & 12, 2012 at 8pm.

Hundred Days is the fierce, triumphant story of a young couple who fall in love, only to have their time together cut short by illness. They decide to reject treatment and take the one year they have left together and try to live it as though it were the 60 years they had thought they would have together. They transform their apartment into a world where they can try to literally condense time, to move through their 20’s, 30’s, 60’s, 80’s, and create the experiences of a full life.

Hundred Days has been developed through workshops across the country, including at the 2011 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, and a full production will debut at Z Space in San Francisco in 2014. The Bengsons also presented Ain’t That Good News at the 2010 Cincinnati Fringe Festival to sell out audiences.

About The Bengsons
The Bengsons, a musical duo made up of Abigail and Shaun Bengson, are the best in vaudevillian indie folk and young stars of the NYC experimental music and theater community. They have performed their original shows, performances pieces and original musicals, Ain’t That Good News and The Magic Show: The Story of the Barefoot Angels, across the country and around the world. The Bengsons are also activists and teachers, who have taught students with autism in NYC’s public schools and Cambodian immigrants in Massachusetts, as well as internationally at the Market Theater Lab of Johannesburg, ZA, the Tijuana Christian Orphanage of Tijuana, Mexico, and ASAPROSA, in Santa Ana, El Salvador.

All tickets for this performance are $10. Bring anything Fringe with you (t-shirts, passes, guides, etc.) and get in for just $5! Tickets can be purchased by visiting knowtheatre.com or by calling the box office at 513.300.KNOW (5669).

Know Theatre of Cincinnati is supported, in part, by the generosity
of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign.

The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Know Theatre with state tax dollars to encourage
economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Our mission is to create evocative and explosive live entertainment.
Our vision is a world awakened to its collective possibility.
We value a playful artistic community where artists can collaborate and grow.

Leave a comment

Filed under Press Releases

9th Annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival Comes to a Close

Festival most successful to date

The ninth annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival closed on June 9th with record attendance and sales numbers. This year’s Festival featured 37 performances and special events, including two FringeNext performances and a workshop production by the group that presented last year’s FringeNext sell-out, The First Book of the Bible.

Festival growth was up for the ninth consecutive year. Single ticket purchases were up 11% while pass sales were on par with the 2011 sales numbers. Total attendance for the festival was up nearly 9% from 7,177 in 2011 to 7,728 in 2012. This year’s Festival drew artists from all over the country including Portland, OR, Houston, TX, Nashville, TN, Dearborn, MI, San Francisco, CA, Minneapolis, MN, and many more. Overall more than 230 artists were drawn to Cincinnati to show local audiences their work.

This year’s Festival saw several sales records smashed. Record breaking attendance (patrons in seats) was set for June 2nd’s performances. Total sales on this day were the highest single day of sales in the history of the Festival. The total number of sellouts is believed to be a record as well. While this information has never been tracked before, it is believed that the 24 shows that sold out are the most in any single festival. Radio Star and Strange Dreamz both sold out shows before their first performance opened. Radio Star, The Sweet Burning Yonder, Grim & Fischer, and Don’t Cross The Streams: the cease and desist musical all sold out remaining performances before their runs were complete. Radio Star and Grim & Fischer both officially sold out all of their performances.

“We were thrilled to see so many shows selling out in advance of their openings. This is a rare occurrence, and to have it happen with multiple shows was a great way to start the Festival,” says Eric Vosmeier, Producing Artistic Director.

Continued this year, FringeNext is a program aimed at providing opportunity to the next generation of artists. FringeNext had two groups of students from the School for Creative and Performing Arts who gave performances of Blown Up and You Will Have 25 Minutes to Complete This Essay. Each of these groups premiered shows that were created by, produced by, directed by, and featured some of the regions up-and-coming young artists. The School for Creative and Performing Arts’ Black Box Theatre hosted the FringeNext performances.

Also in its second year, FringeDevelopment is a collaborative effort between the community and the artists who attended the festival this year. Know Theatre curated some programming and events exclusively for artists including workshops such as Plate Spinning, Stage Combat, an Improv workshop, and a panel discussion on touring Fringe Festivals. This year’s work, Exodus (from the creative team behind last year’s FringeNext hit The First Book of the Bible), also benefited from the concentration of artists and utilized their creativity to move forward the development of a new work. Brian Isaac Phillips, Producing Artistic Director at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company led the workshop which focused on script work and culminated with a staged reading of Exodus.

Other special events included True Theatre’s second annual presentation of trueFRINGE, featuring artists from this year’s Festival including Kevin Holladay (Where is My Mind?), Kevin J. Thornton (Strange Dreamz), Tommy Nugent (American Badass in Cincy), Justin Baldwin (Quake) as well as Fringe Artist Liaison and Channel Fringe co-anchor, Sadie Bowman. Madcap Puppets presented their Strung Out Puppet Cabaret – and puppet slam. Madcap brought well known puppetry artists from all over the country to create a one of a kind puppet show.

Improvisational comedy was also well represented at the Fringe. Jackson Street Market group and Know Theatre’s house improv troupe OTRi performed their long form show, The Chronicle, to an enthusiastic Fringe audience with the help of performers from this year’s The Screw You Revue and Radio Star. In a very special late night appearance, The Second City Touring company currently performing in Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Less Pride…More Pork joined the Bar Series on Wednesday, June 6 and wowed Fringe-goers with their improv set.

Vosmeier says, “This year’s line up of Special Events was awesome. It was great to be able to collaborate with Madcap Puppets, True Theatre, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park to continue to add new programming to the Festival lineup. I love having the opportunity to show off not only our local Fringe Artists, but also some of the other companies in Cincinnati who create such diverse and quality performances.” He continues, “One of the most exciting things about this year’s Festival is the sheer number of local professional performing arts organizations that participated in some way. Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, New Edgecliff Theatre, Madcap Puppets, MamLuft & Co. Dance, and more helped make this year’s Festival a collaborative community where artists come together and share ideas and share their work. It’s the most beautiful thing I can imagine that the Cincinnati Fringe Festival contributes to the artistic community in Cincinnati in this way.”

The Bar Series continued to expand by bringing the Fringe community of artists, staff, volunteers and audience members together with a variety of events at Know Theatre’s Underground every night after the performances. Events included Fringe Olympics, Preview Night, Night without Technology, Segway Night, Fringe Prom, and Fringe-A-Oke. Bar series attendees also had the opportunity to take a ride on the Pedal Wagon and to dine on some of the areas most delicious food was provided nightly by local restaurants and food trucks.

The Visual Fringe this year involved a mural created by Higher Level Art’s mural artists, Danny Babcock and Matthew Dayler. This year’s mural drew inspiration from questions answered by Fringe artists such as, “What does Cincy Fringe mean to the Over-the-Rhine community?” and “What makes you laugh?” Also, Matt Steffen of Matt Steffen Photography added a new dimension to this year’s Fringe Festival by documenting performances and festival activities with The Visual Fringe Long Exposure Project. Throughout the festival, Matt took a series of long exposures which were displayed at Know Theatre and other Fringe venues during the Festival.

“We were unable to make the Film Fringe project happen this year, but we did continue the idea of Fringe Documented through Matt’s photography project. The photos turned out beautifully. It is fascinating to see these images, whether you were able to experience the productions or not. They have a kineticism to them that captures the performances in a static medium. It’s kind of amazing.”

Vosmeier concludes, “I am overwhelmed by the success and positive feedback from audiences and artists alike about this year’s Festival. The community created between all Festival participants grows stronger and stronger every year. The staff of Know Theatre did an absolutely amazing job at making this year’s Festival happen. I am so proud of them and everyone who pitched in to create these 12 days of absolute magic. It’s a special thing to be allowed to work with this group of people on the Fringe Festival. The Cincinnati Fringe Festival is work of hundreds of people. It is truly a Festival created by the community. The staff and Board of Directors of Know Theatre are proud to be a part of this community.”

This year, the Festival awarded four Pick of the Fringe awards. This year’s Performance winners include:

  • Dr. Robert J. Thierauf Producers’ Pick of the Fringe – The Screw You Revue
  • Artists’ Pick of the Fringe – METHTACULAR!
  • Audience Pick of the Fringe – On Her Pillow
  • Critics’ Pick of the Fringe – Bombus and Berylline or the Bumblebee and the Hummingbird
  • FringeNext Pick of Fringe – Blown Up
  • Linda Bowen Full Frontal Pick of the Fringe – Grim and Fischer: a deathly comedy in full face mask

Our mission is to create evocative and explosive live entertainment.
Our vision is a world awakened to its collective possibility.
We value a playful artistic community where artists can collaborate and grow.

Leave a comment

Filed under Cincy Fringe Festival, Press Releases