TITLE: Producing artistic director of Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati
HOMETOWN: Cincinnati
WHY WE LOVE HER: For believing in Over-the-Rhine’s renaissance before the Gateway Quarter and bringing world-premiere theatrical productions to the city.
D. Lynn Meyers grew up in Bridgetown on the West Side, attended Mother of Mercy High School and studied at Thomas More College. A job at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the 1980s laid the foundation for an impressive theatrical career, directing plays and casting movies. (She hired actors for The Shawshank Redemption in 1994.) In 1995, Ensemble Theatre turned to her at a dark moment when it seemed to be on the brink of closing.
Asked what lessons life has taught her, Meyers says, “Never compromise. Never settle. Live each day as if it’s the only one you get.”
That’s exactly what Meyers did, spurring ETC’s board to change its mind about shutting down. Instead, they offered her the position of artistic director. She’s been with ETC for two decades, staging local premieres of great plays by some of America’s best playwrights. ETC is respected nationally, and Meyers has provided work for numerous local professional actors and built a talented and fiercely loyal staff.
She’s also held fast to the belief that Over-the-Rhine would rise again to the neighborhood she knew as a kid, when her grandfather worked at Findlay Market. Despite nearby crime and deterioration in OTR in the late 1990s, Meyers believed that better days were ahead.
Now she and ETC are surrounded by thriving restaurants and shops. On Feb. 26, Ensemble Theatre celebrates its 30th-anniversary season at the Music Hall Ballroom. The legendary local band Over The Rhine will perform, with some numbers by the Marvelous Wonderettes, a quartet featured in four sold-out ETC musicals. And Meyers and her board will announce plans for an expansion of the facility, a dream she has long nurtured.
What aspects do you love about your job?
My work is part of my life, so I don’t really see it as a job. However, I love giving people jobs! My job allows me to work for a better community and world while giving talented people the chance to create, share and grow their art. It’s a great life. I’ve never seen any work I have done as a job — just a chance to do something worthwhile.
What are you most passionate about?
Making a difference for the world around me and for the people in my life. I need to feel that I’m contributing to a greater good. That’s the core of who I am. We are the sum of everything we do in life. While life ends, our impact should go on. That’s how we invest in the future.
It’s Friday night after a long week. Where would you love to be?
My week doesn’t end on Friday, but I love Friday nights in OTR, having ice cream at Graeter’s and looking in storefronts, feeling a part of a community at play, having music fill the streets, spilling out from here and there. Joy replacing fear. Yeah, that’s a great Friday night.
What do you love about Cincinnati?
It’s filled with possibility and promise as long as you wake up every morning and look for the promise rather than dwelling in the problems or the past. It’s a work-in-progress city and a great place where you can make a difference. I love its hills, the fact that you never know what the weather will do, that Reds Opening Day is a citywide party, that neighbors really are part of your family, that healing and hope walk hand-in-hand and sometimes end up on Fountain Square. If you can dream it, you can do it here.
Do you have a favorite place in Cincinnati? Why do you love it?
Ensemble Theatre, of course. But that’s too easy. My other favorite place is Coney Island — particularly Moonlight Gardens. It’s brimming with a rich feeling of the souls who danced and had great moments there. My grandparents and parents told me stories of their years there, and perhaps that has influenced me, but honestly my heart is just happy when I am standing on that wonderful floor surrounded by that wedding-cake architecture. It is my happy place and I go there whenever I can.
What’s the best lesson life has taught you about love?
You can’t create it, and you can’t control it. You simply need to breathe it in and accept. It’s as much a part of life as breath. Love is not casual. Love is not a coincidence. Without it we aren’t human.
Learn more about ENSEMBLE THEATRE at ensemblecincinnati.org.
This article appears in Feb 10-17, 2016.
