Ace

Sandy Underwood CCM graduate Matt Bogart stars in the Playhouse's production of Ace.

The new musical ACE by Cincinnati native and University of Cincinnati grad RICHARD OBERACKER that's in the midst of its world premiere performance at the Cincinnati Playhouse (it runs through Nov. 17) is on a flight path that might take it to Broadway, although it's connecting through the West Coast. The story about a lonely boy in the 1950s who finds family and identity in dreams about a fighter pilot has been picked up by San Diego's Old Globe Theatre for a month-long run beginning on Jan. 18, 2007. Ed Stern, producing artistic director at the Playhouse, says, "We're very excited that Ace will continue to see life beyond its Playhouse run. Audiences here have truly embraced this remarkable new musical, and the many Cincinnati and CCM connections within the cast and creative team are a true showcase for the talent fostered by the arts community in this city." Ace's lead adult characters are played by husband and wife MATT BOGART and JESSICA BOEVERS, both 1994 graduates of CCM. The entire Playhouse production and cast are expected to move to San Diego.

Thanks to the Playhouse, we get to see a lot of great new theater. The recent production of IN THE CONTINUUM that opened the Shelterhouse season was recently one of 10 works to be the subject of Best Plays of 2005-2006. That volume identifies nine other works we haven't seen yet in Cincinnati, but you can bet that Stern and Ensemble Theatre's Lynn Meyers are weighing some of these for their next season. Also on the list is the musical Grey Gardens, which recently moved to Broadway.

The new musical ACE by Cincinnati native and University of Cincinnati grad RICHARD OBERACKER that's in the midst of its world premiere performance at the Cincinnati Playhouse (it runs through Nov. 17) is on a flight path that might take it to Broadway, although it's connecting through the West Coast. The story about a lonely boy in the 1950s who finds family and identity in dreams about a fighter pilot has been picked up by San Diego's Old Globe Theatre for a month-long run beginning on Jan. 18, 2007. Ed Stern, producing artistic director at the Playhouse, says, "We're very excited that Ace will continue to see life beyond its Playhouse run. Audiences here have truly embraced this remarkable new musical, and the many Cincinnati and CCM connections within the cast and creative team are a true showcase for the talent fostered by the arts community in this city." Ace's lead adult characters are played by husband and wife MATT BOGART and JESSICA BOEVERS, both 1994 graduates of CCM. The entire Playhouse production and cast are expected to move to San Diego. ...

Thanks to the Playhouse, we get to see a lot of great new theater. The recent production of IN THE CONTINUUM that opened the Shelterhouse season was recently one of 10 works to be the subject of Best Plays of 2005-2006. That volume identifies nine other works we haven't seen yet in Cincinnati, but you can bet that Stern and Ensemble Theatre's Lynn Meyers are weighing some of these for their next season. Also on the list is the musical Grey Gardens, which recently moved to Broadway. The remainder are Tony Award winner The History Boys by Alan Bennett, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow by Rolin Jones, The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh, Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire, Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp, Shining City by Conor McPherson, Stuff Happens by David Hare and Third, the final play by the late Wendy Wasserstein. ...

This list is also a reminder that good theater doesn't always flow out from New York City. Jones' thoughtful comedy is about a young woman's search for identity: She builds a robot and sends it to China to find her birth mother. The script won national recognition in 2003. I saw Hare's Stuff Happens — which includes as characters George Bush, Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Tony Blair and others involved in decisions about going to war in Iraq — in Los Angeles in 2005. A production of Sarah Rule's The Clean House recently opened in New York City to a positive review in The New York Times. Critic Charles Isherwood called it "one of the finest and funniest new plays you're likely to see in New York this season." Then he added, "I'm not just playing prophet here. There is evidence to support that bold assertion. Ms. Ruhl's play has been produced to widespread acclaim at various regional theaters over the last couple of years and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005." In fact, the Cincinnati Playhouse's January 2006 production of The Clean House won Cincinnati Entertainment Awards as the year's best premiere and the outstanding play of the season. So we already knew. ...

Another show we saw at the Playhouse more than a decade ago, Ariel Dorfman's intense 1991 drama DEATH AND THE MAIDEN, has become a classic. The play (which also became a 1994 movie starring Sigourney Weaver) about the abuse of human rights is as timely today as it was in the 1990s. It's being staged in a student production this weekend by Xavier University (Thursday-Sunday) at the Gallagher Student Center, and Dorfman, a novelist, playwright and ethicist will speak on about "Living, Feeling, Writing in Many Worlds: Reaching Out to the Global Community" on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. at the Schiff Family Conference Center. (See an interview with Dorfman on page 49.) Info: 513-745-3939.