Good theater is not limited to Cincinnati’s and Northern Kentucky’s professional and semi-professional stages. Our numerous community theaters use volunteer power and talent to present engaging shows featuring skilled actors, directors, designers and promoters — frequently with surprisingly good results.
Three of these groups own permanent homes in adapted facilities, rather than the standard community theater practice of renting at various locations: Footlighters Inc., The Drama Workshop and Mariemont Players have turned historic buildings into functional performance venues. Operating these facilities comes with added responsibility and expense, of course, but it also means that rehearsals can happen onstage and scenic construction can be done under the same roof.
Footlighters was established in 1963 and often presented shows at the Westwood Town Hall before moving to Northern Kentucky. In 1987, the company took over the onetime Salem United Methodist Church (802 York St., Newport), built in 1882 and named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Now called The Stained Glass Theatre, the building features several performance spaces, including a 163-seat mainstage that was once the church’s sanctuary.
Footlighters’ current production is Urinetown (through May 19), which was nominated for nine Tony Awards in 2002. It’s a hilarious, satirical musical about a Gotham-like city where a water shortage — the result of a 20-year drought — has led to a government-enforced shutdown of public toilets. A malevolent corporation, Urine Good Company, charges exorbitant admission for limited access to such facilities. Bobby Strong (Robert Breslin IV), a charismatic hero, and mouthy Little Sally (Rebecca Mactaggart) are the spark plugs for a public revolt. Veteran director Bunny Arszman is staging the show. Tickets: footlighters.org.
On Cincinnati’s West Side, The Drama Workshop is offering The Sting (through May 20) at its Glenmore Playhouse (3716 Glenmore Ave., Cheviot). The company began producing shows in 1954 and also spent time at Westwood Town Hall for some years, then hopscotched to other rental spaces. In 2013, TDW took over the former Glenmore Bowl (built in 1928), where lots of sweat equity by volunteers has converted the venerable recreation space into a viable theater.
The Sting is David Rogers’ stage adaptation of David Ward’s screenplay for the Oscar-winning 1973 movie that starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford as a pair of small-time hustlers in 1936 Chicago. Grifter Johnny Hooker (played by Nathan Henegar) joins forces with genuinely accomplished con artist Henry Gondorff (Chris Bishop) to exact vengeance on powerful racketeer Doyle Lonnegan (Kevin Noll). Staged by director Fred Hunt, this production has nearly 40 actors, the largest cast ever for a TDW show. Tickets: thedramaworkshop.org.
Since 1960, Mariemont Players has presented its shows at a two-story schoolhouse built in 1910, now called the Walton Creek Theater (4101 Walton Creek Road, Plainville).
The second-floor auditorium (accessible by elevator) has been renovated with comfortable seating and a sound induction loop for those with hearing issues. Sight lines are excellent.
On Friday, the group opens Bruce Graham’s The Outgoing Tide (through May 27), a three-person drama directed by Dan Maloney. With dark humor and powerful emotion, it’s focused on the challenges of aging. In a home on Chesapeake Bay, Gunner (Harold Murphy), an opinionated elderly man suffering from memory loss and dementia, hatches an unorthodox plan to avoid moving into an assisted-living center.
But Peg (Barbara Karol), his wife of 50 years, and Jack (Michael Ireland), his son who’s going through a divorce, are resisting — and time is running short. Mariemont Players has a history — dating back to 1936 — of producing six ambitious, dramatically satisfying shows per season, a fuller schedule than most community theaters. Tickets: mariemontplayers.com.
Tickets at community theaters are affordably priced. You can see The Sting for $18, The Outgoing Tide for $20 and Urinetown for $22. You’ll pay twice that much — or more — for seats at many of Cincinnati’s fine professional theaters. Of course, those need larger budgets to pay their designers and performers. But you’ll get a lot of satisfaction from the volunteers at our local community theaters.
Contact Rick Pender: rpender@citybeat.com
This article appears in May 2-9, 2018.
