Cincinnati finally got its first "pop-up shop," a holiday effort by local merchants to band together to take over unused retail space in Over-the-Rhine for a short period and then vacate when done. See photos from its opening weekend here.

'Tis also the season for pop-up theater, smaller productions that are squeezed in between performances of mainstage shows. One opens tonight at Know Theatre of Cincinnati.

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I have three words for you regarding theater-going this weekend: Fringe. Fringe. Fringe.

If you haven't dropped in yet for this stimulating festival of push-the-envelope performances, you're missing out on the greatest dose of annual creativity that we get here in Cincinnati. And a lot of your friends have already caught on: Fringe Producer Eric Vosmeier tells me that as of Thursday they've hit their ticket goal for the entire festival ... and there are still two more days to go!

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The Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) manages the Aronoff Center — that means they run our downtown performing arts center on Walnut Street, but it also means they work to fill the facility with occasional performances to supplement the big shows brought to town by Broadway Across America.

The first of those opens tonight, when CAA presents Late Nite Catechism for a two-week run (Oct. 7-19) at the Jarson-Kaplan Theater. This funny one-woman show about a nun preparing adults for the rigors of the Roman Catholic Church has a built-in local appeal, what with the large number of local residents who went to parochial schools where various teachings and behaviors were drilled into them.

When this played in Cincinnati several years ago for a one-week run, people flocked to see it — laughing from start to finish as audience members were chastised, scolded and gently (or firmly) reminded of tenets of belief and proper behavior. There’s lots of audience participation (including rewards in the form of glow-in-the-dark rosaries and other nifty prizes like trading cards depicting various saints); every performance takes on a life of its own because actress Kimberly Richards as “Sister” plays off those present and responds to moments in the theater that are seldom predictable. Get tickets and more info here.

CAA recently announced an extensive lineup of other performances in the next two weeks:

1. Christian musicians Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman will offer a one-night program on Oct. 10 in the Procter & Gamble Hall.

2. NBC’s Last Comic Standing Live Tour will provide some laughs from the comedians you saw recently on TV on Oct. 16 in the Procter & Gamble Hall.

More good things are also booked for 2009:

• Lily Tomlin will offer a program of her classic routines on Feb. 6, 2009.

• Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway will offer music from a century of Broadway shows, and is likely to include some musical theater performers with Cincinnati connections. This one is planned for Feb. 20, 2009.

• DrumLine Live! happens on March 16, 2009, featuring thunderous entertainment from the African-American marching band tradition.

• The Afro-Cuban All Stars will show up on March 22, 2009. You might know some of these performers from the wonderful film The Buena Vista Social Club.

• Actor Hal Holbrook has been playing 19th-century American writer Mark Twain for more than 50 years. He’ll bring his act to the Aronoff on May 14, 2009. Holbrook has more than 16 hours of material he’s developed, and he tailors each performance to the moment, often offering comment on current events drawn from Twain’s observations. He’s a treasure of the American theater.

For more information about CAA’s offerings: www.cincinnatiarts.org

— Rick Pender

You might think that Dead City is a play about Cincinnati, especially after our second snowstorm in a week. But it's actually the next production coming to New Stage Collective, one of the "Gems of the Neighborhood," those hardy theaters that are, in fact, bringing new life to Over-the-Rhine, as described in CityBeat's cover story this week. 

Dead City was supposed to open on Thursday this week, but with all the bad weather in the past seven days rehearsal time has been held to a minimum. So NSC's Alan Patrick Kenny has decided to push his opening night to Friday.

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The 36th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville is set for Feb. 26 through April 1, 2012. The theater today announced the line-up of full-length works. (A bill of three ten-minute plays will be announced at a later date.) Here’s what’s in store for the festival that the theater world looks to every year for the hottest new plays and playwrights. (Maple and Vine by Jordan Harrison from the 2011 festival is getting rave reviews at Chicago’s Next Theatre Company and is about to open at Playwrights Horizons in New York City.)

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The League of Cincinnati Theatres LCT) continues its program of recognition for 2011-2012 theater productions with recently announced awards for productions of As You Like It at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Gruesome Playground Injuries at Know Theatre of Cincinnati. Nine shows have now been handed awards by panels of informed theatergoers.

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The 13th annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Theater were handed out last night in a loose, fun event at Below Zero Lounge in Over-the-Rhine. Amazingly, 11 different local theater organizations took home a trophy: Cincinnati Playhouse, Ensemble Theatre, Cincinnati Shakespeare, Know Theatre, College-Conservatory of Music, New Stage Collective, New Edgecliff Theatre, Cincinnati Music Theatre, Footlighters, Covedale Center for the Performing Arts and Artemis Exchange for a production at the 2009 Cincy Fringe Festival.

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A bunch of classic characters will be showing up at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company to entertain us for the 2012-2013 theater season, announced today: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson; Atticus Finch; Romeo and Juliet; Lady Bracknell; Nick Bottom and Puck. Oh, and a few kings and generals — Richard II and the bloody Titus Andronicus — plus a hearty dose of laughs with reprises of Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Here’s the rundown:

• The Hound of the Baskervilles (July 20-Aug. 12, 2012). A regional premiere of a three-actor adaptation by Steve Canny of this memorable Sherlock Holmes mystery.
  
• To Kill a Mockingbird (Sept. 7-30, 2012). A reminder that all classics need not be British. One of our region’s best professionals, Bruce Cromer, will play Atticus Finch in this adaptation of Harper Lee’s 1960 novel about prejudice, violence and hypocrisy in 1932 Alabama.
  
• Romeo & Juliet (Oct. 12-Nov. 11, 2012). You probably know the details of Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy of star-crossed lovers. The cast features Sara Clark, Billy Chace, Annie Fitzpatrick and Sherman Fracher.
  
• Titus Andronicus (Oct. 20-Nov. 11, 2012). Cincy Shakes enjoys providing a bloodbath every year for Halloween, and Shakespeare’s play about a tyrannical Roman military leader is the perfect vehicle — revenge, murder, betrayal and gruesome murders.
  
• The Importance of Being Earnest (Nov. 23-Dec. 16, 2012). The smile-inducing production for the holidays will be Oscar Wilde’s delirious 1895 comedy of manners and intentionally mistaken identities, with Jim Hopkins in the cross-dressed role of the imperious grand-dame, Lady Bracknell.
  
• Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) (Dec. 16-30, 2012). An added holiday treat from Cincy Shakes — for the grown-ups — back for its seventh season.
• Richard II (Jan. 11-Feb. 3, 2013). As the company marches toward the completion of Shakespeare’s canon in 2014, this one notches the final history play in the repertoire.
  
• Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) (Feb. 15-March 10, 2013). This 1985 play (and a 1988 Oscar-nominated movie) was adapted by Christopher Hampton from a 1782 novel about French courtiers who used sex as a weapon to manipulate and degrade. It’s a cynical, dark comedy, directed by Drew Fracher and starring Giles Davies, Sherman Fracher and Corinne Mohlenhoff.
  
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream (March 22-April 21, 2013). Shakespeare’s most popular comedy — four young lovers lost in a magical forest and a troupe of amateur actors rehearsing a silly play. Nick Rose plays Bottom the Weaver, he of the donkey’s head.
  
• Measure for Measure (May 3-26, 2013). Shakespeare’s play about the virtuous Isabella, played by Kelly Mengelkoch, one of Cincy Shakes’ best actresses, who must contend with hypocritical, religious double standards. 
  
• Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (June 7-30, 2013). A final bit of summer fun.

When you see a show like Emma, the Jane Austen musical recently presented at the Cincinnati Playhouse (pictured), do you ever wonder where it came from? If you paid attention to some of the Playhouse’s publicity, you might know it premiered at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, Calif., where it was a big box-office hit. In fact, the theater’s artistic director Robert Kelley, who staged the original, and several cast members from the original production came together again in Cincinnati for the Playhouse production.

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Marsha Hanna, artistic director of Dayton's Human Race Theatre Company, died on Monday. I was saddened to learn of her passing — especially at age 59 — because she was a passionate advocate for theater, not just in Dayton but throughout the region.

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