Actress MARNI PENNING, a co-founder of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival (CSF), now lives in New York City, but she's begun finding professional work at theaters all over the Eastern U.S. Penning returned to CSF last fall for the company's 10th anniversary production of The Taming of the Shrew. She recently wrapped up the lead in Sophie Treadwell's Machinal at Gunston Theatre in Arlington, Va. It's not exactly Shakespeare, but the suspenseful 1928 play, which explores the psyche of a woman who murders her husband, has been a great vehicle for Penning. The Washington Post called her work, a "tense fascinating portrait of a woman come undone ... grippingly portrayed," and Potomac Stages said, "The performance of Marni Penning as the woman at the center of the vortex is an evening-long marvel ...
a high-energy, highly intelligent performance." The actress, a frequent nominee for Cincin-nati Entertainment Awards during her years at CSF, will perform close to Cincinnati this fall, at ACTORS GUILD OF LEXINGTON, in Diana Son's Stop Kiss, about two women who fall in love and pay a high price for their feelings. Actors Guild's new artistic director, Rick St. Peter is an old friend of Penning's; it's their first chance to work together. Info: www.actorsguildoflexington.org. ...
Speaking of local folks who have done well, how about CHRISFENWICK. Just a few summers ago, while he was still an undergraduate at UC's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), he served as music director for one of the last iterations of Hot Summer Nights. Since graduating from CCM in 2001, he's worked steadily in New York City and nearby. He tells me he's involved in a new musical, Mimi Le Duck, premiering at the Adirondack Theatre Festival later this month. Next, it gets five performances during the New York Fringe Festival from Aug. 13-25. Fenwick played piano for the Broadway production of Chicago for more than a year. This fall he'll tour with PATTI LUPONE for her concert program, Matters of the Heart, stopping at the Aronoff Center, Oct. 19-31, as part of the Broadway in Cincinnati series.
