Playhouse World Premiere ‘Seven Spots on the Sun’ Earns National Recognition
Actors Theatre’s Humana Festival is indeed a launching pad for exciting new works. That makes its final weekend the perfect moment for the American Theatre Critics Association to recognize a set of outstanding plays produced at regional theaters during 2013. None of the 2013 Humana Festival shows was nominated, but one of the three works…
Event: CORV Local Food Guide Release Party
The annual Central Ohio River Valley (CORV) Local Food Guide celebrates its release (inside of next week’s CityBeat) and upcoming Earth Day with a party at Om Eco Café on Ludlow in Clifton. The CORV guide is a very complete directory of area food resources that connects residents of Greater Cincinnati, Southwest Ohio, Southeast Indiana…
Event: Urban Hike + Brunch
Burn off some of those beer and coney calories you ingested watching baseball this weekend with a mid-morning hike. Join the Imago Earth Center environmental education crew, Park + Vine and other hikers as you make your way to the top of Price Hill and back. Point out some of Price Hill's most coveted gems,…
Event: Deaf Zoo Day
Community Services for the Deaf (CSD) and the Hearing, Speech & Deaf Center of Greater Cincinnati (HSDC) host 2014 Deaf Zoo Day in partnership with the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. HSDC believes in strengthening our community through advocacy and support by providing a barrier-free, inclusive environment. The zoo will feature American Sign Language interpreted…
Sports: Weekend Workout at Washington Park
Washington Park hosts a series of free weekly Saturday workouts through the end of May. This week, take Yogalates with Jenn, a mix of Pilates and yoga led by fitness instructor Jenn Hlavaty. 9-10 a.m. Saturdays. Free. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, washingtonpark.org.
Classes: Bombshells of Cincinnati ArtsWave Sampler Art Class
As part of Macy’s Arts Sampler weekend, visit the 21c Museum Hotel for a free, interactive yarn bombing class with the Bombshells of Cincinnati, a group dedicated to “juxtaposing vandalism with the non-threatening nature of fibers.” Learn to make some knitwear (kids are encouraged to bring stuffed animals to dress) and grab a cocktail at…
Event: Total Lunar Eclipse
A total lunar eclipse is set to sweep the night sky as the sun, Earth and moon align in cosmic harmony. In honor of this special event, The Bank of Kentucky Observatory will host a lecture series to discuss the cause of eclipses and everything you need to know for observing the crimson moon in your…
Event: Slow Art Day
A visit to an art museum is not meant to be a track meet, but too many people treat it that way and spend only minutes in a gallery before moving on and quickly forgetting what they saw. To remedy that, Cincinnati's art museums are participating in Global Slow Art Day on Saturday. Starting at…
Event: Pura Vida: Butterflies of Costa Rica International Butterfly Show
The butterflies of Costa Rica are poised to take over the Krohn Conservatory for their annual butterfly show. More than 16,000 butterflies will provide colorful scenery alongside waterfalls, stone sculptures and floral arrangements. There will also be special events featured in conjunction with the show: Check out the Photographer Nights, where photographers can bring in tripods…
Event: Asian Culture Fest
The Cincinnati Museum Center will hold its 10th annual Asian Culture Fest this weekend. The fest highlights the rich histories, arts and traditions of China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Nepal through demonstrations, storytelling, dance performances, workshops, cultural displays and an Asian marketplace with authentic Asian merchandise. Activities in the rotunda and surrounding areas are…
Event: Gay Prom
The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network of Greater Cincinnati (GLSEN) presents its LGBTQ Youth Prom, a safe and inclusive school prom experience for students age 13 through high school. The theme of the 14th annual event is “Night of Noise,” celebrating the empowering voice that LGBTQ youth have in their schools and communities when…
Event: Ladies Night Out in MainStrasse Village
Ring in the spring season and “shop ’til you drop” in MainStrasse Village. The businesses of MainStrasse invite area women to update their spring wardrobes while enjoying strolling musicians, drinks, food, discounted retail therapy and service specials all evening long at vendors including It’s Only Fair!, Covington Yoga, Cake Rack Bakery, Ottoman Imports, Strasse Dog,…
Event: TEDx at Xavier University
The newest installment of TEDx (this time Xavier University is playing host) promises to fight spring fever for students and the rest of us, too, with six talks that focus on topics we all can related to: the importance of storytelling, community and creativity in combatting violence and conflict. Key members of the Cincinnati community,…
Event: Visionaries + Voices Double Vision V Fundraiser
Visionaries + Voices, the nonprofit organization that works with more than 150 artists with disabilities each week and presents five exhibitions per year in their Northside gallery, is hosting their fifth annual fundraising auction, Double Vision V. The benefit features more than 20 collaborations by artists such as Mark Smith and Jamie Muenzer. The result…
Event: Pleasant Ridge and Kennedy Heights Shop Hop
Merchants in Pleasant Ridge and Kennedy Heights host a weekend shop hop at locally owned businesses, with specials and discounts. Visit participating businesses or go online to get a coupon offering specials such as 10 percent off at Emanu Ethiopian restaurant, 10 percent off a purchase at Dandy Haberdashery, 50 cents off any drink at…
Dance: DanceCincinnati 2014
A host of the area’s diverse dance companies are uniting for the second weekend of DanceCincinnati 2014 at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater. Now in its sixth year, the mini-festival of pre-professional and professional companies offers a broad range of dance delights, from classical ballet to contemporary. The brainchild of de la Dance Company (and…
Comedy: JR Brow
When JR Brow decided to give stand-up comedy a try, it was really a matter of economics. “I was in a band and there were five of us,” he explains. Splitting $300 from a gig didn’t go very far, of course. Being the band’s lead singer and de facto front man, he had experience talking…
Art: Alice Aycock
Alice Aycock, one of America's most distinguished public sculptors, will be here Thursday to dedicate her 19-foot-tall, aluminum-and-steel "Super Twister" at the five-year-old CARE/Crawley Building on the University of Cincinnati Medical Campus (3230 Eden Ave., Clifton). The artwork is funded by the Ohio Percent for Art program. While the noon reception is an invitation-only event…
Onstage: Gypsy
To many theater historians, Gypsy is the greatest show from the Golden Age of Musicals. They maintain that Rose, the domineering, unforgiving vaudeville-age stage mother, is one of the greatest of all theatrical roles. Cincinnati actress Sherry McCamley will take on all of Rose’s mad, self-centered glory as she pushes her daughters June, who must…
Event: Celebrating Self: Greyhound Adoption Center of Greater Cincinnati
Brenda Pennix, president of the Greyhound Adoption of Greater Cincinnati, Inc., will speak as part of the Fitton Center’s Celebrating Self casual luncheon series. Pennix will discuss the organization’s dedication to finding good homes for retired racing greyhounds and raising community awareness about greyhound racing. (A few greyhounds will be at the event as well.)…
Music: Beach Day
The members of trio Beach Day formed their shimmying Indie Pop band over a mutual love for the classic “Girl Group” music of the ’60s in Hollywood, Fla., an actual beach town (so no detached irony here … well, at least not too much). The group’s sound is full of classic beats, chord changes, melodies…
Your Weekend To Do List: 4/4-4/6
Ei8ht Ball Brewing hosts a party this Saturday that echoes most folks’ sentiments after the past few months. The brewery’s “F#$K Winter” bash features the tapping of Ei8ht Ball’s new double IPA, Preach, the grand opening of its patio, live music from Honey & Houston and a pig roast with all the fixins. Give Old…
OTR Foundation to Host Property Rehabilitation Series
The Over-the-Rhine Foundation will host a series of upcoming workshops aimed at educating people interested in downtown living on how to rehabilitate properties. Part of the nonprofit’s mission is to engage community members in the neighborhood’s future as a compliment to larger development companies’ efforts, which have largely shaped the neighborhood’s resurgence in recent years.…
Healthy Effort
T he United Way of Greater Cincinnati, Interact for Health and the Hamilton County Health Department have tasked a nonprofit organization with improving the health of Cincinnatians through data analysis and program development. A recent statewide study ranked Hamilton County poorly in terms of overall health, considering 29 factors regarding behavioral, environmental and socio-economic issues.…
Twenty Questions with Jean-Robert de Cavel
In 1993, French chef Jean-Robert de Cavel came to Cincinnati from New York to be Chef de Cuisine of the five-star-rated Maisonette. Over the next 20 years, he drastically changed the way the Queen City looked at French food, became an integral part of our local tapestry and fostered the careers of countless young chefs.…
Crest Makes a “Be” Line for Millennial Wallets
The Crest brand dominates most toothpaste aisles with a cornucopia of flavors and brushing focuses. You can get Crest products that zero in on whitening, “stain protection” and “enamel renewal,” as well as fresh breath, “gum protection” and “cavity protection” (things one would assume all toothpastes were designed to do). And the flavor spectrum includes…
Music: Bruce Springsteen
Tension is building as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, with special guest guitarist Tom Morello, prepare to “open” their 2014 U.S. tour on Tuesday at U.S. Bank Arena. “Open” is in quotations because, after the tour was announced, Springsteen added another date — a free show at Dallas’ March Madness Music Festival two…
CityBeat Staff Picks
This week (4/2-4/9), check out Know Theatre's The Twentieth-Century Way, a play about Long Beach, Calif., police in 1914, who actors to entrap gay men in the crime of “social vagrancy”; the Monster Jam monster truck show; the Victory of Light Expo; RE:BEL, concert:nova performance and three-course dinner, at Rhinegeist Brewery; and more. Find more staff picks here.…
I Just Can’t Get Enough
The stoner gods have answered our prayers by way of Taco Bell’s “first meal.” Now folks across the country can start living mas as soon as they wake up, because everyone's favorite south-of-the-border fast food chain now serves breakfast. Taco Bell giant unveiled the new morning menu with a commercial that takes a dig at…
Music: St. Vincent
Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, is a mysterious lady whose increasingly impressive musical output is informed by her expressive guitar playing and catchy, intricately crafted songs. St. Vincent’s just-released, self-titled fourth album is rife with contradiction, syncopated rhythms and surreal flourishes, the work of an artist who continues to expand her horizons. St. Vincent performs Tuesday, April…
Music: Dom Flemons
For eight years, Dom Flemons was a part of the retro-yet-groundbreaking Carolina Chocolate Drops.The Chocolate Drops brought modern sensibilities into their music, finding success with satisfied audiences wherever they played and taking home a Grammy award in 2011 for their Genuine Negro Jig album. (The band’s 2012 album Leaving Eden was also nominated for a Grammy.) After a great…
Music: Bobaflex
More than a decade and a half ago, brothers Marty and Shaun McCoy assembled a group of friends in their native West Virginia to form Bobaflex. The Nu Metal quintet (the name is a riff on Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett) started conceptually when Shaun McCoy met Aaron Lutz and Chris Drummond at Huntington’s Marshall University…
Music: Twenty One Pilots
Twenty One Pilots formed in 2009 when college pals Tyler Joseph, Nick Thomas and Chris Salih channeled their musical interests into an Indietronic trio. Joseph christened the group after studying the Arthur Miller morality play All My Sons (where a businessman directly causes the deaths of 21 pilots in World War II with his shoddy airplane parts);…
Onstage: Henry IV
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, nearly finished with the immense task of staging all 38 of Shakespeare’s surviving plays over its 20-year history, has launched another noteworthy effort: It’s staging — in chronological order — the eight plays that constitute the “History Cycle,” documenting dynastic struggles in 14th- and 15th-century England. When this five-year project is finished,…
Music: Phantogram
Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter have known each other since attending junior high together in upstate New York in the late ’90s. Their friendship came in handy when, in 2007, Carter was looking to start a new musical project, one in which Hip Hop beats could commingle with atmospheric Indie Pop. Enter Phantogram. The duo’s…
Onstage: Don Pasquale
As Omer Ben-Seadia talks about directing Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, the final production in the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM)’s opera series, she alternates between the calm assurance you’d expect from a seasoned theater professional and the wide-eyed delight of a first-timer in charge of a main stage production. Don Pasquale is Ben-Seadia’s final production…
Art: WomenWorkBooks
A new exhibition of art books by a local group of female artists, Art4Artists, joyously fills the galleries at Kennedy Heights Arts Center. The exhibit, titled WomenWorkBooks, is meant to serve as a springboard for discussion on a wide range of women’s issues. This exhibition attempts to demonstrate women’s concerns through “visual representations of hopes, dreams,…
Literary: Kelly Cogswell
Kelly Cogswell's Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger is an evocative, frequently funny glimpse at a provocative movement, a fascinating memoir about lesbian activism that spans more than two decades. Cogswell was a member of the Lesbian Avengers, an influential group that would affect changes large and small — from the streets of New…
Event: Oxford Kinetics Festival
The Oxford Kinetics Festival is a celebration of people-powered propulsion. With tons of activities for kids, live music and creative fun, highlights of the event include The Scramble — part parade, part race and part obstacle course — and hands-on kids’ activities. For the hands-on activities, learn to build your own kinetic contraption or make something…
Onstage: RE:BEL, an anti-gala and performance
Innovative chamber music ensemble concert:nova presents RE:BEL, an anti-gala and performance, at Rhinegeist Brewery. The program will feature a variety of Classical composers who broke the mold and changed music forever, including Bach, Claude Debussy, Luciano Berio, John Cage and Morton Feldman. The program will also feature countertenor Michael Maniaci, a critically acclaimed male singer…
Music: Acarya EP Release Party
Fresh off of its trip to Texas for the South By Southwest festival, Cincinnati duo Acarya returns to local stages this weekend to celebrate the release Is Fio Glacies, the second in a series of EP releases the twosome is calling “The Elemental Collection.” Each EP is thematic, dealing with a different natural element (“Is…
Art: Got iArt: xChange Cincinnati
An event that grew out of Joi Sears’ recent Artist as Activist program at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center, xChange is a one-night eco-conscious “pop-up creative placemaking experiment” celebrating local artists, activists and entrepreneurs who use their creativity as a vehicle for social change. The event will serve as the launch for Free People International’s…
Event: Victory of Light Expo
For more than 20 years, the Victory of Light Expo has put all things mind, body and spirit together under one roof. It’s a weekend full of natural products, healing techniques, live music and relaxation. Learn how to massage like a champ, buy that ghost hunting kit you’ve always wanted or talk to a psychic…
Onstage: Shanti: A Journey of Peace
Fusing Eastern and Western culture into a unifying audio-visual experience, Shanti: A Journey of Peace returns to Cincinnati for its 10th anniversary celebration. With themes of peace and harmony, 200 performers and a massive 150-member choir will come together to celebrate diversity and the interconnectedness of us all through the dance, music and images of…
Event: Monster Jam
Watch monster trucks face off in racing and freestyle competitions during the world’s largest and most famous monster truck tour. Giant trucks with big ass wheels, nitrogen-filled shock absorbers and humorous names come together in this blend of sports and showmanship for a live show that pits truck against truck in a display of speed,…
Event: Foam n’ Glow
This ain’t your average spring break foam party. Foam N’ Glow takes the foam party format to the next level with music, ultraviolet dancers, fire performers, laser shows and a ton of foam. Basically, it’s a rave. 9 p.m. Friday. $26. Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville, bogarts.com.
The Unknown Known
Errol Morris (The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara) has made a name for himself as a documentarian by using his unique and probing insight to uncover the truth behind all manner of complexities and nefarious cover-ups, which makes his latest film — The Unknown Known — even more…
The Lunchbox
Cases of mistaken identity can certainly advance a plot, but rarely do these artificially imposed manipulative elements create an organic or believable situation that approximates the randomness of daily life. But when skillfully employed, as in the case of writer-director Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, such a silly contrivance can recall the everlasting reflective hold of…
Onstage: Pixar in Concert
The Cincinnati Pops presents Pixar in Concert, featuring a soundtrack provided by 13 of Pixar’s most adored films: the Toy Story trilogy, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Brave and more. The concert will fuse footage from the films with their memorable scores. 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets start at…
Jinn
Forgotten legends recall the birth of three creations at the beginning of time. First, there was Man, shaped from the clay; then the Angels, creatures of light; and finally the Jinn, born of the smokeless fires. Tales of angels and men dominated the world, with man gaining a degree of supremacy over the angels; all…
Onstage: The Twentieth-Century Way
Know Theatre likes to take on adventurous scripts, and that seems to be precisely what they’ve chosen for their next production. Tom Jacobson’s The Twentieth-Century Way starts as a tale of two actors auditioning for a show, but it evolves into a story of a near-forgotten slice of American history: 1914 in Long Beach, Calif.,…
God’s Not Dead
A college student named Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper) confronts a modern-day crisis of faith when his philosophy professor (Kevin Sorbo) challenges the notion that God exists. The story for the movie, conceived by Hunter Dennis, Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon (written by Konzelman and Solomon) sounds like an anecdote from an all-night bull session staged…
Frankie & Alice
Based on a true story, Frankie & Alice sets itself up as a sensitive exploration of a complex example of schizophrenia, and indeed there are some thoughtfully engaged exchanges between Frankie (Halle Berry), the dominant personality struggling to maintain her status inside a cauldron of hurt and internal squabbles, and Dr. Oz (Stellan Skarsgård), the…
Comedy: Jimmy Dore
There are some who would label Jimmy Dore a “liberal” comedian, but such a description could not be more inaccurate. Recently, on his weekly radio program, Dore and his panelists made fun of Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was all for the NSA and CIA spying on Americans — until her office became a target.…
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The Marvel film dynasty makes a quantum leap from the Iron Age to what audiences, looking back years from now, will recognize as a true Golden Age in several ways. Not only are the stories and characters demanding more attention (versus the never-ending battles and special effects), but also thanks to this shift, the films…
Breathe In
Writer-director Drake Doremus follows up Like Crazy — his romantic drama starring Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin as a young couple struggling to maintain a sense of connection as they navigate the tricky waters of immigration issues — with Breathe In, another drama featuring Jones as a foreign exchange student. This time she upsets the…
Filmmaker Denis Henry Hennelly Discusses Futility of Isolationism
A certain sect living in the modern world fantasizes about living off the grid, away from the pervasiveness of technology, what we perceive to be an inorganic way of life and the pettiness of human interactions. It doesn’t require much in the way of thoughtful transference to imagine previous generations feeling the same way about…
Geeking Out over ‘Game of Thrones’
Shows with a nerdish cult following are a dime a dozen today — you could find a die-hard fan of any program in this week’s listings. But when it comes to a series that transports viewers to another world and forces us to connect with countless characters, only to have them hurled into a different…
Women Artists Collaborate on Book-Making
A new exhibition of art books by a local group of female artists, Art4Artists, joyously fills the galleries at Kennedy Heights Arts Center. The exhibit, titled WomenWorkBooks, is meant to serve as a springboard for discussion on a wide range of women’s issues. Art4Artists, a group meeting regularly at Clifton Recreation Center, is made up…
Thrifting of Champions, or Hello Blue Novel
Bethany Atchison did not expect to find anything besides a compelling satire between the covers of Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions when she recently bought the book at the Valley Thrift Store in Evendale. Her particular copy of Vonnegut’s beloved novel is gorgeous: a dark blue leather-bound cover with golden text and flourishes, gilded pages…
Plays and Musicals: What’s the Difference?
As CityBeat’s theater critic, I write about plays and musicals, so I’m occasionally asked which I like better. The truth is I appreciate both forms. But they are distinct, so let me hold forth on some differences and similarities. Both happen onstage using actors, scenery, costumes, lighting and so on. A musical adds music to…
Exit Laughing
A s Omer Ben-Seadia talks about directing Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, the final production in the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM)’s opera series, she alternates between the calm assurance you’d expect from a seasoned theater professional and the wide-eyed delight of a first-timer in charge of a main stage production. “To actually do…
The Will to Live
My phone rang fairly late one evening during the summer of 2000. I was in bed, but my son was still up. On the phone was a nurse from the nursing home in Vevay, Indiana. My mother was staying there recuperating from knee surgery — her left knee. She had her right one replaced a…
Why CNN Had Malaysia Flight 370 All to Itself
Imagine when CNN wasn’t there to cover a world-class breaking news story. It happened. Long ago in a far away land. Or not so long ago. It was 1979 and young, angry and humiliated Iranians occupied the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. There was no CNN. Most of us watched the “hostage crisis” play out over…
The Goddesses of Food
W hen Time magazine published its “Gods of Food” story last fall, it featured the magazine’s short list of the people who influence what you eat — chefs, farmers, activists, bureaucrats and businessmen who “help determine what goes on your plate or in your cup,” the magazine says — along with a resplendent cover shot…
