Please join me in applauding Cincinnati Theater Year 2007. Below you’ll find a list of what I liked best – tell me what moved you to a standing ovation!

Note -- this is more stream of consciousness than in a particular order:

 

“Company” winning the Tony Award for revival of a musical. (Hated that Raul Esparza didn’t win for lead actor in a musical, but that’s another story.) I’ve been blissed by John Doyle’s production since the first time I saw it at Playhouse two years ago. Talk about a 30 year-old musical for our time. Remember – you can see “Company” on Great Performances on Feb. 20. (And fingers crossed for a Grammy nod.)

New Stage Collective opening its new loft space at 12^th and Main. I’m cheering for Alan Patrick Kenny and company because I love big ambition and young energy and artistic passion, which includes knowing good material when you see it. The gangbusters opening show was the regional premiere of Edward Albee’s “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?” with big, luscious performances from Amy Warner and Brian Isaac Phillips – and I’ve never seen Phillips better. New Stage productions can skitter all over the board, but they’re never boring. That makes it consistently worth seeing and a welcome addition to a developing theater row that already includes Ensemble Theatre, Know and a new SCPA in the not-distant future.

New Director’s Competition at New Edgecliff. If there’s one thing Cincinnati needs, it’s visionary young directors. So good for New Edgecliff for opening a door with three nights of one-acts showcasing young directors’ work. Now if only we could lure a few recent graduates from major MFA programs to give Cincinnati a try…

Musicals: “Urinetown” at NKU – Bravo, Ken Jones! He delivered a wonderful ensemble production that was great fun and demonstrated just how far the NKY theater program has come in the last few years; “Calculus! The Musical!” at Fringe – What a hoot! Thanks to Mark Gutman for the best math class I’ve ever had. May he and partner Sadie Bowman return in future Fringes to offer remedial courses in algebra and trig.

Great Performances: This one is chronological and includes acting, directing and design. The production design of “1:23,” with its melding of video with highly theatrical forms was a stunner for Playhouse in the Park, and so was Eve Kaminsy’s performance as a killer; NKU’s delightful “Urinetown,” led by Roderick Justice and Denise Devlin and directed by Ken Jones with so-inventive choreography by Jane Green; Mikhail Roberts fearlessly bounding around the stage and beyond in farce “Charley’s Aunt” at CCM Drama, with spot-on direction by Terrell Finney in an overall swell production; director Drew Fracher, with stellar back-to-back entries “Opus” at Ensemble and “The Tempest” at Cincinnati Shakespeare; Amy Warner and Brian Isaac Phillips in “The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?” at New Stage (see above and below); Michael Shooner found his inner volcano in “Frozen” for Xavier Players; director Ed Stern and his acting ensemble in gloriously theatrical “Othello,” which played like Greek tragedy in Playhouse’s Shelterhouse; director Richard Hess, the design team and CCM Drama student ensemble for “Anon(ymous); terrific Taylore Mahogany Scott as an angry, poor, black single mother in the title role of “Caroline, or Change” at New Stage. 

Giles Davies – The Cincinnati Shakespeare company member is in a class of his own. How to choose between his monster Caliban in “The Tempest” and his monster “Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus”? Happily I don’t have to, we’re just lucky Davies makes Cincinnati Shakespeare his home base.

Favorite Twosome: Explosive category: Amy Warner and Brian Isaac Phillips as two-thirds of a romantic triangle in “The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?” at New Stage; Charming category: Mark Gutman and Sadie Bowman, “Calculus the Musical!,” Cincinnati Fringe

Favorite Threesome: Giles Davies, Jeremy Dubin and Chris Guthrie in “The Tempest,” Cincinnati Shakespeare

Favorite Foursome: Warren Kelley, Michael Bath, Kevin Crowley and David Arden Engel as the emotionally unstrung string quartet in “Opus” at Ensemble

Favorite Fivesome: In alphabetical order, these 2007 and 2008 grads from CCM Drama and NKU had a terrific year in 2007 on campus and beyond. We wish them well in their professional careers: Lauren Carter (CCM Drama ’08); Adrienne Clark (CCM Drama ’08); Anthony Darnell (CCM ’07); Denise Devlin (NKU ’07), Roderick Justice (NKU ’07); and Mikhail Roberts (CCM Drama ’08)l

Favorite Sixsome: The Mechanicals, led by Chris Guthrie’s Nick Bottom (or, Bot-TOME), in Cincinnati Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Guthrie shares the applause with (in alphabetical order): Billy Chace, Giles Davies, Jeremy Dubin, Justin McCombs and Josh Stamoolis.

Best New York Performance by a Cincinnati Native: Andy Blankenbuehler swept last year’s choreo awards for the Off-Broadway debut of “In the Heights.” Watch for the Broadway opening on March 9.

Best wishes for the holidays! Here’s to a grand new year of Cincinnati theater!

Cincinnati-born and –based Broadway producer Rick Steiner is hoping for another Tony-Tony-Tony, although he’ll be waiting till June to know if he needs to clear space on the mantel.

 

Steiner, who traditionally has his fingers in musicals including “Jersey Boys,” “The Producers,” and “Hairspray” (to list only the most recent, is going for drama as part of the producing team on Tracy Letts’ Broadway debut “August: Osage County” which is the buzz show.

Just how buzzy? Steiner is in NYC getting his first look and wouldn’t it be nice if the performance he attends is as star-studded as last Friday’s, which included Kevin Spacey, Julia Roberts, Mike Nichols, Stanley Tucci, Jessica Lange, Bernadette Peters and more.

Erin McCamley, daughter of favorite local actress Sherry McCamley, is a member of Nick Lachey’s Team Cincinnati on “Clash of the Choirs.” Sherry asks that if the choir makes it through tonight’s round, “it will be even more important for you all to hang in there ONE MORE NIGHT and vote vote vote!”

Sherry reminds everyone can vote multiple times starting at 10 p.m. – 10 per cellphone #, 10 per landline, blackberry, work phone. She also promises a “secret weapon” if Team Cincy makes it to the final three. Sherry calls “Clash of the Choirs” “the experience of a lifetime for Erin!”

Cincinnati’s own musical ace Richard Oberacker is back in Las Vegas conducting Cirque du Soleil’s “Ka” after a big Monday in New York, presenting “Ace” to potential Broadway angels.

 

“It’s been the most exhausting two weeks of my life,” says Oberacker, who provided the accompaniment for the industry staged reading.

 

Oberacker was thrilled with the audience’s reception, but it really is all about the day after. The show’s producer Tom Smedes “hasn’t called me. That means he’s busy.”

The clock is ticking down if “Ace” wants to fly into a Broadway theater in time for Tony consideration. We’ll know one way or the other a month from now. In the meantime – send “Ace” warmest Christmas wishes for a happy new year…

While we’re waiting for a report on Monday’s industry reading of “Ace,” here’s a little catch-up with Andy Blankenbuehler, who zipped into town last week for an early holiday visit and checked in at alma mater St. Xavier.

Blankenbuehler, who won every Off-Broadway award (and then some) for his choreo of “In the Heights” will be back at work immediately after Christmas, helping ready the much-anticipated show for Broadway. “In the Heights,” all about bodega life in NYC’s Washington Heights’ neighborhood starts previews in February and opens March 9. NYC critics like to call the show an “upper West Side Story,” Blankenbuehler likens the show’s heart and its sense of family to “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Prep will include re-thinking a lot of his multiple award-winning choreography, says Blankenbuehler, because the show is getting many touch-ups for its Broadway debut. And he wants to make a quick dash into L.A., hip-hop capital of the planet, to brush-up his moves.

Not to get ahead of ourselves, Blankenbuehler’s “In the Heights” choreography won last year’s Obie, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk, among others. Can a Tony nomination be far behind. “Knock on something,” he says.

 

This from Playbill.com: “Ace,” which shared a world premiere at Playhouse in the Park in autumn 2006, gets an industry reading tonight in NYC. Producer Tom Smedes is hoping to round-up investors for a Broadway opening before the end of the current season.

The reading is populated by Playhouse cast, including Noah Galvin (the adorable kid at the center of the show) and Gabrielle Boyadjian as his feisty sidekick. Many CCM alum populate the adult cast; only fitting since Richard Oberacker, who conceived the musical and co-writes with Robert Taylor, is a CCM grad as well as an Anderson Township native.

The cast is led by Broadway’s Mary Poppins, CCM grad Ashley Brown and Will Chase. Other CCM grads in the reading are Betsy Wolfe and Gabrielle Stravelli, who was also in the world preem co-produced by St. Louis Rep and Playhouse.

Oberacker and Taylor have been polishing and editing since the debut, but the basics are the same. According to production notes (and if you missed its local run): "Set in the American heartland in 1952, Ace is the epic story of one young boy's search to come to terms with his past, find his place in the present, and unlock his future."

"When ten-year-old Danny Lucas receives a toy plane as an unexpected gift from his foster parents, a parallel world of dreamtime adventures begins to unfold. With an ace fighter pilot as his guide, Danny is transported back in time; flying into the gathering storm over Europe and the aerial dogfights of WWI, and soaring with the daring Tiger squadrons of WWII in the skies above Southeast Asia. A tale of triumph, transcendence, humor and heart, through the prism of a child's eyes, Ace magically explores the heroic lives and unforeseen legacies of the men and women of our greatest generations."

Eric Schaeffer (Arlington's Signature Theatre, Broadway's Putting It Together, London's The Witches of Eastwick) is now attached to the project. Cincinnati native and CCM grad David Kreppel returns as music director.

Smedes fell in love with “Ace” at the January 2007 production at San Diego's Old Globe. “Ace” first found life at   the 2005 National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Festival of New Musicals in New York. Smedes has been wooing producing partners ever since.

Original plans for out-of-town performances have been scrapped for a long preview in NY should the money come together, and an opening in time for Tony Award consideration.   

Playbill’s bio of Smedes calls him a theatrical producer and general manager, recent and current productions include the London productions of Side by Side by Sondheim and Musical of Musicals (the Musical!); Dog Sees God: Confession of a Teenage Blockhead; The Waiting Room by Tony and Emmy-nominated playwright Samm-Art Williams; The Women of Lockerbie with The New Group; 21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com, written and starring Mike Daisey prior to its international tour of London, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and Sydney; and People Are Wrong at The Vineyard Theatre. He is one of the producers of the record-breaking worldwide musical revue Naked Boys Singing!, now playing at the New World Stages in New York City.

If a drive down to Actors Theatre of Louisville is an annual event for you, the 2008 line-up looks intriguing. Here’s the ATL announcement:

LOUISVILLE, KY -The 32nd annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville will feature the work of a diverse array of 17 emerging and established playwrights, Marc Masterson, the company's artistic director announced today. The festival, slated for February 24 - March 30, is acclaimed worldwide as America's pre-eminent showcase of professional stage premieres.

This year’s festival — comprised of six full-length plays, a bill of four ten-minute plays and a dramatic anthology — marks three decades of continuous support from its underwriter, The Humana Foundation.  The philanthropic arm of Humana Inc., The Humana Foundation supports and nurtures charitable activities that promote healthy lives and healthy communities.

Full-length plays are Great Falls by Lee Blessing (New York City), This Beautiful City by Steven Cosson (New York City) and Jim Lewis (New York City), Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo (New York City), Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley (Los Angeles), the break/s by Marc Bamuthi Joseph (Oakland, California) and All Hail Hurricane Gordo by Carly Mensch (New York City).

Ten-Minute plays are Tongue, Tied by M. Thomas Cooper (Portland, Oregon), Dead Right by Elaine Jarvik (Salt Lake City, Utah), In Paris You Will Find Many Baguettes but Only One True Love by Michael Lew (New York City) and One Short Sleepe by Naomi Wallace (native of Prospect, Kentucky residing in Skipton, North Yorkshire).

The dramatic anthology, Game On, is written by Zakiyyah Alexander (New York City), Rolin Jones (Los Angeles), Alice Tuan (Los Angeles), Daryl Watson (New York City), Marisa Wegrzyn (Chicago, Illinois) and Ken Weitzman (Atlanta, Georgia).

Descriptions of the festival’s world premiere lineup, along with playwright biographies, are as follows:

FULL-LENGTH PLAYS

Great Falls
by Lee Blessing
directed by Lucie Tiberghien

A man lost in his adult life drives across the West with his stepdaughter—a young girl at the beginning of hers. The broken ground is echoed by their broken past. He's trying to fit together a new life using pieces of the old. She's just trying to survive.

Lee Blessing's plays at Actors include Down the Road, Riches, Independence, Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music and Oldtimers Game, plus various shorter pieces. His Broadway/off-Broadway plays include A Walk in the Woods, Going to St. Ives, Thief River, Cobb, Two Rooms, Eleemosynary and A Body of Water (at Primary Stages next fall).

***

This Beautiful City
by Steven Cosson and Jim Lewis
music and lyrics by Michael Friedman
from interviews by The Civilians
directed by Steven Cosson

The Civilians took a group of actors to Colorado Springs—the unofficial headquarters of Evangelical America—to learn firsthand about this growing movement. The resulting musical play explores a city where questions of religion and public life are brought to the surface in ways that range from the subtle to the dramatic, notably the explosive fall of Pastor Ted Haggard. Co-produced with The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Steven Cosson is the founder of The Civilians, whose productions include the long-running hit Gone Missing; (I Am) Nobody’s Lunch; Canard, Canard, Goose? and Paris Commune, all produced at theatres throughout the U.S. and U.K. including The Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville and American Repertory Theatre. Mr. Cosson has also directed numerous world premieres and classic plays.

Jim Lewis won Tony and Drama Desk Nominations for adapting Gabriel García Márquez’ Chronicle of a Death Foretold. He works regularly in theatre, dance and opera with such artists as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Graciela Daniele, Philip Glass, Bartlett Sher and Anna Deavere Smith. Mr. Lewis is currently writing Fela!, a new musical with Bill T. Jones.

***

Becky Shaw
by Gina Gionfriddo
directed by Peter DuBois
commissioned by Actors Theatre of Louisville

A newlywed couple fixes up two romantically challenged friends: Wife’s best friend, meet husband’s sexy and strange new co-worker. When an evening calculated to bring happiness takes a dark turn, crisis and comedy ensue. This wickedly funny play asks what we owe the people we love and the strangers who land on our doorstep.

Gina Gionfriddo’s play After Ashley premiered in the 2004 Humana Festival and was subsequently produced by The Vineyard Theatre in New York. She has received an Obie Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and her play U.S. Drag will be presented off-Broadway in February, 2008. Ms. Gionfriddo is a writer for the NBC series Law & Order. 

***

Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom
by Jennifer Haley
directed by Kip Fagan

In a suburban subdivision with identical houses, parents find their teenagers addicted to an online horror video game. The game setting? A subdivision with identical houses. The goal? Smash through an army of zombies to escape the neighborhood for good. But as the line blurs between virtual and reality, both parents and players realize that fear has a life of its own.

Jennifer Haley is a Los Angeles-based playwright whose plays include S_Man, Dreampuffs of War and Gingerbreadhouse. Her work has been seen at The Blue Theater in Austin, The Empty Space, Perishable Theatre and Abingdon Theatre Company. Ms. Haley holds an M.F.A. from Brown University and recently received a 2008 MacDowell Fellowship.

***

the break/s
by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
directed by Michael John Garcés

With two turntables, live feed and a spoken word virtuoso, the living history of the hip-hop generation is dramatically realized through the performed personal narrative of poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Drawing on interviews and documentary footage, this collaboration between performer, score and projected image puts hip-hop culture into personal, historical and political perspective while exploding the boundaries of theater, dance and film.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a Stanford University IDA resident artist, HBO Def Poet, inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship and one of America's Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences as named by Smithsonian Magazine. His critical writing is currently featured in Jeff Chang's Total Chaos.

***

All Hail Hurricane Gordo
by Carly Mensch
directed by Sean Daniels

The routines of daily life get blown apart when two brothers take in a plucky young houseguest. While India is running away from her relatively normal family, Chaz is struggling to find normalcy in the one he already has. Is it possible to be your brother's keeper and have a life too? Co-produced with The Cleveland Play House.

Carly Mensch is currently a fellow at The Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrights Program and the playwright-in-residence at Ars Nova. Her play was developed at Ars Nova's Out Loud Series, the Kennedy Center's University Playwrights Workshop and Marin Theatre Company. Ms. Mensch is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

***

Tongue, Tied
by M. Thomas Cooper

Plagued by malcontent sock puppets, two lost souls seek professional help. A zany and raucous exploration of accepting oddity—even if it's stuck to your hand.

M. Thomas Cooper has studied literature and theatre at Oregon State University, the University of Oregon and Portland State University. He’s had a number of plays presented in conjunction with the Ashland 10-Minute Play Festival, Theatre in the Grove and Portland State University. His first novel, 42, will be published in June, 2008.

***

Dead Right
by Elaine Jarvik

A friend's flawed obituary propels Penny and her unwitting husband Bill headlong into prickly unanswered questions about their own lives. A touching comedy about who we are, how we see ourselves, and how we hope to be remembered.

Elaine Jarvik writes for Deseret Morning News in Salt Lake City. Among her many journalism awards are Best of the West and a Society of Professional Journalists national writing award. She is also co-founder of Senior Theatre Project, which takes plays to senior centers in Utah.

***

In Paris You Will Find Many Baguettes but Only One True Love
by Michael Lew

Liz is looking for true love and Lindy is looking to fix her broken heart—so they head, of course, to Paris. When Liz finds the man of her dreams, Lindy faces a decision: can we just let our friends be happy? Advisory: This play contains a mime.

Michael Lew recently wrote a 24 Hour Play on Broadway. His play Yit, Ngay (One, Two) is published in Plays and Playwrights 2006. Upcoming publications include The Roosevelt Cousins, Thoroughly Sauced and Magician Ben Vs. The Wizard Merlin. Residencies include Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood, Ma-Yi Writers' Lab and Old Vic New Voices. Mr. Lew graduated from Yale College in 2003.

***

One Short Sleepe
by Naomi Wallace

A young Lebanese student spins a web of connections between what he knew, what his sister saw, and the war that threatened them both.

Naomi Wallace’s work has been produced in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. She has received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Kesselring Prize, Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award and an Obie Award. Ms. Wallace is also a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship.

***

DRAMATIC ANTHOLOGY

Game On
by Zakiyyah Alexander, Rolin Jones, Alice Tuan, Daryl Watson, Marisa Wegryzn and Ken Weitzman
music and lyrics by Jon Spurney
directed by Will MacAdams

We’re ready to play with guts and heart and rise to the challenge of examining American culture through the prism of sports. Sports touch all of our lives whether we are fans, players, tax- or tuition-payers. In this Olympic and election year, what do sports tell us about ourselves?

Zakiyyah Alexander’s plays have been seen or developed throughout the country and in South Africa. She’s a resident member of New Dramatists, The Dramatists Guild and Partial Comfort Productions and a graduate of Yale School of Drama (M.F.A. in Playwriting). Ms. Alexander is a native New Yorker and was raised in Brooklyn.

Rolin Jones’ play The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow received the 2006 Obie Award for Excellence in Playwriting and was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. His ten-minute play Sovereignty and The Mercury and the Magic and Ron Bobbie Had Too Big a Heart (part of The Open Road Anthology) were produced at Actors Theatre’s Humana Festival. Mr. Jones is a writer/producer for Showtime’s award-winning series Weeds.

Alice Tuan received emerging artist recognition from both Los Angeles' Richard E. Sherwood Award and the New York's Colbert Award for Excellence in 2000. Productions include Ajax (por nobody), Last of the Suns, Ikebana, Some Asians, New Culture for a New Country and an adaptation of Middleton's The Roaring Girle.  Latest plays include Iggy Woo, HIT and P.O. Box.

Daryl Watson is the author of Prime Time, The Blueberry Hill Accord (published by Vintage in Laugh Lines: Short Comic Plays) and Snap (Celebrity Judge Panel Award and Audience Favorite Award at the 2005 Battle of the Bards; published by Playscripts, Inc. in Great Short Comedies: Vol I ). His television credits include Johnny and the Sprites (co-creator).

Marisa Wegrzyn’s play The Butcher of Baraboo was produced in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s First Look Repertory and premiered off-Broadway at Second Stage. Ms. Wegrzyn is currently working on commissions from Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Yale Repertory Theatre. She is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists and a founding member of Theatre Seven in Chicago.

Ken Weitzman’s work has been seen at Actors Theatre’s 2007 Humana Festival, Atlantic Theater Company, New York Stage and Film, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Bay Area Playwrights Festival and Dad’s Garage. Awards include a 2003 Weissberger Award and commissions from Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage and South Coast Repertory. Mr. Weitzman holds an M.F.A. from University of California, San Diego and teaches playwriting at Emory University.

TICKETS
The festival plays will be presented in rotating repertory in Actors Theatre’s 637-seat Pamela Brown Auditorium, 318-seat Bingham Theatre and 159-seat Victor Jory Theatre.

Two weekends featuring festival plays are slated for industry professionals. Theatre Professional Weekend (March 21 – 23) is for artistic directors, literary managers and playwrights. Press, producers, directors, casting agents from stage, film and television are invited to Special Vistors Weekend (March 28 – 30). For information contact Katherine Bilby at 502-584-1265.

New Play Getaway ticket packages, which offer discounts to multiple plays and to area hotels, are available for weekends in March. For getaway package information, call (502) 585-1210.

For information or reservations call (502) 584-1205 or 1-800-4-ATL-TIX, or visit Actors Theatre's website at www.ActorsTheatre.org.

 

CCM grads Kristy (Elphaba) Cates and Tory Ross? Look for them in NYC’s hottest ticket – the concert performance of “Jerry Springer, the Opera” at Carnegie Hall Jan. 29-30. Look for New Stage artistic director Alan Patrick Kenny in the audience, maybe taking notes for his promised summer production. His invite came from local theater fan and arts philanthropist David Herriman, who is among the “Springer” investors.

The Cincinnati Directors Competition returns for a second year! New Edgecliff Theatre’s competitive directing showcase returns March 6-8 and now accepting applications. Directors from Greater Cincinnati and around the country are invited to present their best work in 30-minute entries. 

Here’s how to win: original shows, one-person shows and segments of shows are welcome. Entries are evaluated on execution of material, not on the material itself. Entries are scored by combining the votes of theater professionals and the audience (just like “Dancing with the Stars”!)

Go to www.directorscompetition.com for an application form. All applications must be received no later than Feb. 1. Contact directorscompetition@gmail.com with any questions. Grand Prize is $500; runner-up receives $250.

Local playwright Phil Paradise offers a double bill of seasonal one-acts for the December entry in Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative’s monthly reading series, set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Aronoff’s Fifth Third Theater.

 

“Soldiers’ Christmas” is a comedy/drama that Paradise describes as “a timely parable of war and peace” set along the front lines in northern France in late December 1914 and based on an historical truth  -- through encounters in no man's land, enemy combatants “discover their common humanity and (much to their officers' chagrin) fraternize with the enemy, playing soccer and singing Christmas carols as they celebrate Christmas during a temporary cease-fire.”

 

Nice cast includes Michael Bath, Kevin Crowley, Bill Hartnett and Don Volpenhein, who also directs.

Second half of the bill is “The Footprints of the Polar Bear,” about an encounter between a firefighter and a homeless man who identifies with the precarious life of the polar bear. Crowley and Hartnett are the readers.

 

Paradise is president of CPI and lives in Fort Thomas. This is his sixth CPI reading.

 

Tickets are $6, $3 students at the door. Advance reservations available at the Aronoff Center box office, or call 513-621-2787, and online at www.cincinnatiarts.org.

There’s always a needs list at a small professional theater company and Cincinnati Shakespeare managing director Rebecca Bowman pulled out hers, both for Shakespeare fans and to remind us just how much it costs to present live theater:

Here are some items that could make all the difference – and for everybody re-decorating, don’t overlook #5. 

 

 

1. A New Lighting System:  The company has outgrown its aging equipment (our current light board is no longer serviced anywhere in the U.S.) and is in dire need of a new light board, dimmer packs, and instruments.  In an emergency earlier this fall, the show went on only thanks to the help of other theatres in town who graciously loaned us their equipment.  We’re also currently seeking grant opportunities to solve this problem.

 

 

2. Powered and Non-Powered Speakers; Outboard sound effects processor; Dynamic and condenser microphones:  Unfortunately, our sound system is also struggling—new speakers will make for better sound quality for our audience.  Microphones will allow sound designers to record and create unique sounds for shows.

 

(Condenser Microphones -- $150 each (need 2)

 

         3.  Dress-Rite Dress Forms (one male and one female): With the size of casts expanding, our Resident Costume      Designer needs to be able to have more costumes on dress forms throughout the season.  Being able to fit the costume to the form first helps make fittings with actors more efficient. (Dress-Rite Professional forms -- $600 each, need one male, one female)

 

4.  Benches/Chairs for the Lobby: Now that our lobby has been beautifully renovated, the old benches culled from various shows are just too shabby (and uncomfortable).  We need a few simple, cushioned benches to give our older patrons a spot to rest at intermission. ($170 to $250 each. The theater needs 2, cushioned and backless)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love what “Striking 12” is supposed to be. It’s a deliriously hip holiday entertainment that takes the sad, sad New Year’s Eve story of “The Little Match Girl” as inspiration and swings it into the tale of a grumpy office worker who, dumped by his fiancee, is date-less for the big night.

 

He is visited by a Goth-y door-to-door light bulb saleswoman, and for 75 minutes we should be swept up in a clever (and satisfactorily heart-wrenching) musical riff on a story that most of us have forgotten.

 

New Stage Collective introduces the show to Cincinnati audiences (through, appropriately, Dec. 31) and pop the champagne cork for Mikhail Roberts, the little drummer boy who gets it right – what this show needs are singing actors, and that’s what Roberts is (although music seems to be a serious sideline, considering his percussion work here and guitar accompaniment in CCM Drama’s “Anon(ymous)” earlier this autumn.)

 

But aside from Roberts, nobody is having enough fun, or, more to the point, making sure the audience is having enough fun. Lara Courtney can sing, but she’s no actress. Alan Patrick Kenny can tickle that keyboard like nobody’s business, but he’s no actor. There’s no program credit for a director, which shows.

 

A director probably would have told the ensemble, “Turn on the charm. Have fun.”

There certainly needs to be a tickle of something between the gal and the guy. When the tunes are this good, and a show is smart enough to reference Bing Crosby, David Bowie, Jean-Paul Sartre and Yanni – the audience is with you.

But you gotta give us an emotional connection. We want hope -- that the guy is going to find meaning in this night, and maybe for a long time to come.

Man of all hats Kenny (he’s the show’s music director, too, as well as the theater’s artistic director) needs to breathe deeply. New Stage is a great addition to the Cincinnati theater scene, but there’s not a lot of room for bad calls.

 

New Stage’s “Striking 12” is strictly by the numbers. The band isn’t into it, either – although they play well. The original was performed by GrooveLily, a band with a shared history, and they must have had the audience cheering and dancing in the aisles.

 

Everybody at New Stage has to loosen up and enjoy each other before we paying customers can enjoy it with them. (Remember, it’s not a job – it’s Christmas.)

My New Stage wish for 2008 – that the theater is discovered (not a moment too soon) and some restaurants open within walking distance. “Striking 12” is a show that is part of an evening. At 9:15 everybody should have the opportunity to exit the theater and do the pedestrian thing to some great neighborhood cafés.

 

Madcap Puppet Productions invites fans to be a part of the creation process. Every wonder how much it costs to create one of the company’s wonderful puppets? Madcap’s Christine Arnison breaks down the costs, and invited Buzzzz…. to send it off to all the family theater-loving, would-be Santas in Greater Cincinnati.

 

Madcap calls it transforming money into magic:

$ 25            Nip/Tuck puppet style: Repair an aging puppet’s face 

$ 50            1,000 Puppet Eyes—the googly kind

$ 80            Puppet hair for five small bald puppets

$ 90            Supplies for a classroom workshop

$100            Fur for one puppet “creature”

 

$400            A whole puppet character up to 3 feet tall, or

$325            Just the body of a puppet, or

$ 75            Just the head of a puppet

In case you’re not on the e-mail list:

 

Cincinnati Fringe Festival will celebrate five years in 2008. Want to get in on the act? You have just until the end of the week -- Dec. 7 – to get your application in.

 

Fringe runs May 28 through June 7, 2008. New producing director is Eric Vosmeier, formerly theater director for The  Carnegie in Covington.

Entries are invited in media including theatre, dance, music, poetry, visual art, film and everything in between. Go to this link to get an application. http://www.cincyfringe.com

 

 

 

 

 

Buzzzzz prints theater “wish lists” this week. Today, a few things Ensemble would by happy to find in Santa’s bag:

Don’t forget that your favorite local theaters appreciate a visit from Santa, too.

 

Buzzzzz will print theater “wish lists” this week, starting with Jersey Productions, which opens a holiday run of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” on Dec. 14 at The Carnegie in Covington.