Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's 30th Season Includes Classics and Fresh Adaptations

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Photo: Mikki Schaffner Photography

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company will be featuring performances of Gaslight in September 2023 as part of its 30th season.

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s 30th season will feature three plays by Shakespeare, classic comedies, fresh adaptations and world premieres.

• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (Aug. 4-20): The hilarious 1895 “trivial comedy for serious people” recently had its newly minted sequel, The Rewards of Being Frank, onstage — and that production is currently transferred to Off-Broadway. Cincy Shakes' appetite for Wilde’s humor is evident, and bringing back Wilde’s classic tale of two bachelors who avoid social engagements by gallivanting under the false identity of “Earnest.” (This production is not part of the mainstage subscription package).
• Gaslight by Steven Dietz (Sept. 8-24), in a co-production with the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Massachusetts: Based on Patrick Hamilton’s play Angel Street, this new version is by prolific playwright Dietz, whose shows have been produced locally by Cincy Shakes, the Playhouse and Ensemble Theatre. A recent bride in New York City has her reality sinisterly twisted by her husband, forcing her to question the truth and her husband’s intentions. The 1944 film starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman injected the title into the English language, and in 2022, “gaslight” was the word of the year.
• The World Premiere of Wrecking Ball by Zina Camblin (Oct. 13-28): A comedy by Cincinnati native Camblin who is getting her local debut via Cincy Shakes’ New Works program. A team of screenwriters seek to adapt a beloved, yet controversial, classic play as a TV series, but it gets derailed by a shocking truth. Camblin is currently a staff writer for Wu Tang: An American Saga airing on Hulu.
• Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Nov. 10-Dec. 2): This might be the Bard’s most popular comedy. This production will relocate its comic characters, lovers and fairies from the traditional summer setting to a frozen, midwinter world.
• Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and Then Some!) (Dec. 7-30): This is one of Cincy Shakes’ most popular annual offerings. (It’s not part of the mainstage subscription package, but it typically sells out most of its performances.) Three actors seek to escape another annual production of A Christmas Carol by surveying an array of “Beloved Holiday Classics” — It’s a Wonderful Life, The Grinch, Rudolph, Charlie Brown and more. With lots of cheeky topical references to keep things in the moment, it’s 90 minutes of holiday jollity.
• The Amen Corner by James Baldwin (Jan. 26-Feb. 11, 2024). This scalding masterpiece of modern American theater is the story of conflict in a God-fearing church on a street corner in Harlem. Its pastor is confronted by her complicated past when her estranged husband shows up, and their son is pulled between them and the judgmental congregation.
• Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (March 1-23, 2024): Set in contemporary crime-riddled Rome, this production will explore themes of power and cutthroat politics when ambitious Caesar is the target of assassins who are his trusted associates.
• Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (April 12-May 5, 2024): Beatrice and Benedick can’t stand each other, but it’s because they’re so much alike. Their scheming friends decide to trick them into fall in in love with rumors and saucy gossip.
• The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields (May 24-June 16, 2024): A murder mystery produced by a fledgling community theater is about to open, but the cast of accident-prone actors have to cope with a corpse that won’t play dead and a leading lady who keeps getting knocked out. The deliriously funny show becomes a fantastic farce as the evening quite literally brings down the house. This show has been a hit in London, on Broadway and on tour (including an offering at the Aronoff Center).

Season tickets are presently on sale and can be obtained via cincyshakes.com or by calling the box office at 513-381-2273, x1. Single tickets will go on sale on May 1. An additional option for ticket buyers is Cincy Shakes’ “Rush Ticket” program, starting one hour before each performance when unreserved tickets can be purchased for $12. For $14 via the Access ticket program, tickets for seats in the company’s Upper Gallery can be purchased in advance.

For more information about Cincy Shakes, visit cincyshakes.com.