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Because some newspapers in Cincinnati get all wound up when theaters make their season announcements (in fact, they even fight and make threats over them), I've bypassed such competition. I figure CityBeat readers are more interested in what's happening next week than six months or a year from now. But since this is the slow season for theater, I will bring you up to speed on several theater companies who recently shared with me their plans for the 2004-2005 season.
Let's start with NEW EDGECLIFF THEATER, now presenting their shows at the Columbia Performance Center (3900 Eastern Ave., Columbia-Tusculum). They'll open with the regional premiere of Larry Gelbart's Power Failure (Sept. 8-26), and for the holidays, they'll reprise DAVID SCOTT MORGAN in David Sedaris' very funny The Santaland Diaries and Season's Greetings (Dec. 1-19). In 2005 they'll offer Lives of the Saints (Feb. 16-March 12) by David Ives (the creator of the hilarious All in the Timing) and two works in repertory (June 1-22): Finer Noble Gases by Adam Rapp (a work about dissolute Rock musicians that debuted at the Humana Festival in 2002); CSF's Brian Isaac Phillips starred in Nocturne, another piece by Rapp two years ago at CSF, and he'll handle the direction of this one. It will feature NET's Artistic Director MICHAEL SHOONER, an Equity actor, in a key role. Gases will be paired with Drinking Alone by MATT JOHNSON (familiar to CSF audiences as an actor and 2004 Fringe Festival attendees as a puppeteer), featuring NET's Assistant Artistic Director Elizabeth A. Harris in the one-woman piece.
Although their home is still at Gabriel's Corner in Over-the-Rhine, THE KNOW THEATRE TRIBE plans to be nomadic this fall. From mid-September to early October, the group will tour a 55-minute rendition of The Great Grey Poets — that's Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman on subjects ranging from environment to love and war.
Because some newspapers in Cincinnati get all wound up when theaters make their season announcements (in fact, they even fight and make threats over them), I've bypassed such competition. I figure CityBeat readers are more interested in what's happening next week than six months or a year from now. But since this is the slow season for theater, I will bring you up to speed on several theater companies who recently shared with me their plans for the 2004-2005 season. ...
Let's start with NEW EDGECLIFF THEATER, now presenting their shows at the Columbia Performance Center (3900 Eastern Ave., Columbia-Tusculum). They'll open with the regional premiere of Larry Gelbart's Power Failure (Sept. 8-26), and for the holidays, they'll reprise DAVID SCOTT MORGAN in David Sedaris' very funny The Santaland Diaries and Season's Greetings (Dec. 1-19). In 2005 they'll offer Lives of the Saints (Feb. 16-March 12) by David Ives (the creator of the hilarious All in the Timing) and two works in repertory (June 1-22): Finer Noble Gases by Adam Rapp (a work about dissolute Rock musicians that debuted at the Humana Festival in 2002); CSF's Brian Isaac Phillips starred in Nocturne, another piece by Rapp two years ago at CSF, and he'll handle the direction of this one. It will feature NET's Artistic Director MICHAEL SHOONER, an Equity actor, in a key role. Gases will be paired with Drinking Alone by MATT JOHNSON (familiar to CSF audiences as an actor and 2004 Fringe Festival attendees as a puppeteer), featuring NET's Assistant Artistic Director Elizabeth A. Harris in the one-woman piece. ...
Although their home is still at Gabriel's Corner in Over-the-Rhine, THE KNOW THEATRE TRIBE plans to be nomadic this fall. From mid-September to early October, the group will tour a 55-minute rendition of The Great Grey Poets — that's Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman on subjects ranging from environment to love and war. In the same period (Sept. 9-Oct. 2), they'll bring back CEA nominee BURGESS BYRD in her acclaimed one-woman show, Pretty Fire by Charlayne Woodard, presenting it at The Greenwich (2440 Gilbert Ave., Walnut Hills). While they haven't settled on a location yet for Conor McPherson's The Good Thief (Oct. 3-26), I suspect it will draw a crowd wherever it happens: Directed by JASON BRUFFY, who masterminded the 2004 Cincinnati Fringe Festival and has become an "artistic associate" with Know Theatre, the show will feature NICK ROSE, a founder and former artistic director of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival. This one should be a good yarn-spinner, very much like McPherson's The Weir, which Rose starred in for CSF in 2000. To wrap up 2004, Know will return to the Courtyard of Arnold's Bar & Grill (210 E. Eighth St., Downtown) for the second year of The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, performing again on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings, and likely to sell-out crowds as it did last holiday season. ...
By the way, Know Theatre is holding auditions for its 2005 season on July 16 (4-9 p.m.)and 17 (noon-5 p.m.), and they're especially looking for African-American males age 20-40. You can find out more at
 Know Theatre Tribe
The Know Theatre Tribe brings back Burgess Byrd in September for Pretty Fire.
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Because some newspapers in Cincinnati get all wound up when theaters make their season announcements (in fact, they even fight and make threats over them), I've bypassed such competition. I figure CityBeat readers are more interested in what's happening next week than six months or a year from now. But since this is the slow season for theater, I will bring you up to speed on several theater companies who recently shared with me their plans for the 2004-2005 season.
Let's start with NEW EDGECLIFF THEATER, now presenting their shows at the Columbia Performance Center (3900 Eastern Ave., Columbia-Tusculum). They'll open with the regional premiere of Larry Gelbart's Power Failure (Sept. 8-26), and for the holidays, they'll reprise DAVID SCOTT MORGAN in David Sedaris' very funny The Santaland Diaries and Season's Greetings (Dec. 1-19). In 2005 they'll offer Lives of the Saints (Feb. 16-March 12) by David Ives (the creator of the hilarious All in the Timing) and two works in repertory (June 1-22): Finer Noble Gases by Adam Rapp (a work about dissolute Rock musicians that debuted at the Humana Festival in 2002); CSF's Brian Isaac Phillips starred in Nocturne, another piece by Rapp two years ago at CSF, and he'll handle the direction of this one. It will feature NET's Artistic Director MICHAEL SHOONER, an Equity actor, in a key role. Gases will be paired with Drinking Alone by MATT JOHNSON (familiar to CSF audiences as an actor and 2004 Fringe Festival attendees as a puppeteer), featuring NET's Assistant Artistic Director Elizabeth A. Harris in the one-woman piece.
Although their home is still at Gabriel's Corner in Over-the-Rhine, THE KNOW THEATRE TRIBE plans to be nomadic this fall. From mid-September to early October, the group will tour a 55-minute rendition of The Great Grey Poets — that's Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman on subjects ranging from environment to love and war.
Because some newspapers in Cincinnati get all wound up when theaters make their season announcements (in fact, they even fight and make threats over them), I've bypassed such competition. I figure CityBeat readers are more interested in what's happening next week than six months or a year from now. But since this is the slow season for theater, I will bring you up to speed on several theater companies who recently shared with me their plans for the 2004-2005 season. ...
Let's start with NEW EDGECLIFF THEATER, now presenting their shows at the Columbia Performance Center (3900 Eastern Ave., Columbia-Tusculum). They'll open with the regional premiere of Larry Gelbart's Power Failure (Sept. 8-26), and for the holidays, they'll reprise DAVID SCOTT MORGAN in David Sedaris' very funny The Santaland Diaries and Season's Greetings (Dec. 1-19). In 2005 they'll offer Lives of the Saints (Feb. 16-March 12) by David Ives (the creator of the hilarious All in the Timing) and two works in repertory (June 1-22): Finer Noble Gases by Adam Rapp (a work about dissolute Rock musicians that debuted at the Humana Festival in 2002); CSF's Brian Isaac Phillips starred in Nocturne, another piece by Rapp two years ago at CSF, and he'll handle the direction of this one. It will feature NET's Artistic Director MICHAEL SHOONER, an Equity actor, in a key role. Gases will be paired with Drinking Alone by MATT JOHNSON (familiar to CSF audiences as an actor and 2004 Fringe Festival attendees as a puppeteer), featuring NET's Assistant Artistic Director Elizabeth A. Harris in the one-woman piece. ...
Although their home is still at Gabriel's Corner in Over-the-Rhine, THE KNOW THEATRE TRIBE plans to be nomadic this fall. From mid-September to early October, the group will tour a 55-minute rendition of The Great Grey Poets — that's Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman on subjects ranging from environment to love and war. In the same period (Sept. 9-Oct. 2), they'll bring back CEA nominee BURGESS BYRD in her acclaimed one-woman show, Pretty Fire by Charlayne Woodard, presenting it at The Greenwich (2440 Gilbert Ave., Walnut Hills). While they haven't settled on a location yet for Conor McPherson's The Good Thief (Oct. 3-26), I suspect it will draw a crowd wherever it happens: Directed by JASON BRUFFY, who masterminded the 2004 Cincinnati Fringe Festival and has become an "artistic associate" with Know Theatre, the show will feature NICK ROSE, a founder and former artistic director of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival. This one should be a good yarn-spinner, very much like McPherson's The Weir, which Rose starred in for CSF in 2000. To wrap up 2004, Know will return to the Courtyard of Arnold's Bar & Grill (210 E. Eighth St., Downtown) for the second year of The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, performing again on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings, and likely to sell-out crowds as it did last holiday season. ...
By the way, Know Theatre is holding auditions for its 2005 season on July 16 (4-9 p.m.)and 17 (noon-5 p.m.), and they're especially looking for African-American males age 20-40. You can find out more at www.knowtheatre.com. ...
FALCON THEATRE has more or less permanently re-located at Newport's Monmouth Theatre (636 Monmouth St.), according to Artistic Director TED WEIL abandoning its former venue, the Westwood Town Hall, which has been undergoing renovation that makes it less conducive to theatrical productions. To open its season, Falcon will offer its take on a Shakespearean comedy, As You Like It (Oct. 15-30). They'll offer a play from the early '80s, Michael Brady's To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (Feb. 11-26, 2005), and follow that with Donald Margulies' Pulitzer Prize winner, Dinner With Friends (March 31-April 9, 2005), which drew big audiences to Ensemble Theatre two seasons ago. One of Falcon's founders, DAVID RADTKE is back in the fold to direct the group's final show of the season, the lovely Caribbean-flavored musical by Lynn Ahrens and CCM grad Stephen Flaherty, Once On This Island (May 6-21, 2005). ...
Over at the COVEDALE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS (4990 Glenway Ave.), the fare is mainstream, aiming to land 1,600 subscribers, an increase of 33 percent from 2003-2004. The season opens with Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I (Oct. 21-Nov. 7), and Covedale will present its own version with music of A Christmas Carol (Dec. 2-19). They'll warm up the winter with the funny, two-man (but multiple role) Greater Tuna (Jan. 20-Feb. 6, 2005) and Tapestry (Feb. 17-March 6, 2005), featuring the music of Carole King and directed by the talented TERRY LABOLT. As Easter season approaches, the next show is "a modern Passion Play," Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar. ...
Do you know about the CAPPIES, the program that recognizes high school theater performers? The principal process by which such recognition is achieved is via reviews by student-critics from other schools. This year's gala event on May 25 attracted a big audience to the Aronoff Center for brief excerpts of shows and the presentation of awards. I enjoyed the chance to honor some young critics: This year the recognition went to MATT BORTHS of St. Xavier High School and LEAH SABATO of Taylor High School. Sabato had a good team at Taylor apparently, because her high school also earned recognition as the outstanding critic team. I hope one day to see some of these budding writers as colleagues in the American Theatre Critics Association.
