Stage Door: Weekend Theater Options

Couple of good choices for theatergoing this weekend, including the final chance to see Walter Mosley's world premiere play, Fall from Heaven, at the Cincinnati Playhouse (read our review here). It's a great chance to see this renowned novelist in a new genre, with his first play. It's a jazzy morality play about good and evil in a contemporary world, with some colorful characters, an incredible set and a lot of jive talk. Final performances are Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 4 and 8 p.m. For tickets: 513-421-3888.

Another almost brandl-new work is onstage at Know Theatre — Adding Machine: A Musical, in its regional premiere (read our review here). The show originated in Chicago, had a much-heralded off-Broadway run and now it's here in Cincinnati thanks to the progressive folks at Know. CCM professor Michael Burnham, a member of the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards Hall of Fame, staged the production, and music director Alan Patrick Kenny, a local favorite when he was artistic director with New Stage Collective, also works on the musical. It's onstage through March 6. For tickets: 513-300-5669.

Know Theatre is the organization behind the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, which happens in early June. If the nasty winter weather we've been having has you yearning for a shot of creative warmth, this weekend you can find it at UC's College-Conservatory of Music, where the Transmigration festival by the drama department is offering eight Fringe-styled performances in rotating rep (read a preview here). Each one is about 30 minutes long (7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Saturday), so you would need to go on two different occasions to see everything, but just one visit will prime your pump for this kind of on-the-edge talent and performance. (CCM performers have fueled many of the best Cincinnati Fringe productions for several years, so Transmigration is a great preview for this kind of work.) Best of all, performances are free — but you do need to make a reservation by calling 513-556-4183.