It's too late to vote early, but not too late to vote for the 2010 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. If you haven't done so yet, go to citybeat.com to pick your favorite stage performances from the past season. What's at stake? Well, no big prizes, but theaters and actors thrive on awareness and recognition, and that's what the CEAs offer. This year, with four new categories for community theater actors and productions and another four for university performers and shows at educational institutions, there are 27 categories of nominees.  

The Cincy Fringe Festival soon kicks off its sixth annual celebration of offbeat theater and other art forms. Not every city has a Fringe Festival, and occasionally people ask why we have one. The quick response is similar to the one sometimes offered as to why a city needs an alternative newsweekly like CityBeat: A conservative, buttoned-down place needs events and media that shake things up, that give us a new perspective on things.  

Earlier in April the 2009 Pulitzer Prizes were announced, including recognition "for a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life." This year's winner is Lynn Nottage's 'Ruined' — her 2007 play 'Intimate Apparel' had its local premiere at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati last season.  

Director Ron 'OJ' Parsons knows something about playwright August Wilson. In fact, Parsons met Wilson on numerous occasions before his death in 2005. He's in town to stage Wilson's 'Gem of the Ocean' at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati.  

All too often, August Wilson is termed a great African-American playwright. That's foolishness. Go see 'Gem of the Ocean' at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati and tell me if you can think of a better script by any American playwright, one with more poetry, emotion or affecting characters.   

One Irishman might entertain you for an evening with yarns. When playwright Conor McPherson brings five of them together in "The Seafarer" and fuels their conversation with pints of Harp and shots of Irish moonshine, the opportunities expand exponentially.