Things ain’t what they used to be at Ensemble Theatre. A decade ago 1127 Vine St. in Over-the-Rhine was near ground zero for some of the city’s worst behavior — drug-dealing, shootings, arrests and police controversy. During the 2001 riots, artistic director D. Lynn Meyers and the cast of a show she was rehearsing had to be barricaded and locked into the theater for their own safety.   

When you go to the theater, I suspect you focus on the actors. That’s as it should be, but it’s important to bear in mind that it’s the director who pulls a production together and evokes performances that add up to the larger whole.    

Patience. That’s Jane Austen’s prescription for love woes of any kind, and it’s my advice for enjoying Pride and Prejudice, a Cincinnati Shakespeare Company production with a lot of talking, a lot of dancing and a romantic climax that makes it all worthwhile.  

A small investment can make a big difference: In August 1986, with $200 in hand, several aspiring theater artists produced three one-act plays at Memorial Hall. Success inspired them to create Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. Two years later arts patrons Murph and Ken Mahler and Ruth and John Sawyer financed the purchase of a building that became ETC's permanent home. Now in its 25th season, the organization still represents what creativity and devotion can achieve.  

Good theater can result from good stories, good writing, good acting or good directing. All are in evidence in Ensemble Theatre's 25th season opener, 'Collected Stories,' which was a Pulitzer finalist in 1997, was filmed for PBS in 2002 and had a Broadway revival earlier this year. ETC's production is its local premiere.