Welcome to the first weekly column for Coming Up in Cincinnati Theatre. My name is Rob Bucher and I’ve been covering Greater Cincinnati’s thriving theater scene for over a decade… and now DMM has invited me to share performance information to Dayton theater fans here on On Stage Dayton. You can plan a short road trip south to enjoy some of the Queen City’s exciting offerings on stage. The “BTC listing” links below will take you to individual show listings on my blog, Behind the Curtain Cincinnati. I’m looking forward to seeing you at the theater.

…BLINK AND THEY’RE GONE

WRAPPED IN CLOVER

Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative

The Story: A staged reading of a new work by local playwright Tammy Brady. Experience the ultimate Christmas gift of true love between a young married pair. The couple lived in dysfunctional families in their past, which spawns discord in their present until an affair brightens their future.
Date: Feb. 14, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative | BTC listing

GEE’S BEND

Middletown Lyric Theatre

The Story: Beginning in 1939, the play follows Alice, her daughters Sadie and Nella, and Sadie’s husband, Macon, through segregation, family strife, and the Civil Rights movement. Throughout their lives, the women’s extraordinary quilts provide a respite from the turmoil around them.
Dates: Feb. 16-18, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Middletown Lyric Theatre | BTC listing

TRANSMIGRATION: A Festival of Student-Created New Works

UC CCM Drama

The Story: A festival of new works created by the acting students in CCM Drama. Performed simultaneously in different locations throughout CCM Village, TRANSMIGRATION will allow the audience to sample four different 30-minute new works of their choosing in one spectacular evening.
Dates: Feb. 16-18, 2012
Tickets and More Information: CCM blog | BTC listing
Please note that tickets are free and reservations are required.

…NEW THIS WEEK

ADAPTATION and NEXT

Oxford Area Community Theater (OxACT)

The Story: An evening of two one-act plays. ADAPTATION is a contest in which players advance through the seven ages of man. The play creates a picture of man from birth until death, with all its madness, familiarity, and nonsense. NEXT is set in an Army Induction Center, where an overweight, overage and overwrought draftee has reluctantly reported for his physical after being mistakenly called by the draft. A battleof-wits is waged between Marion Cheever, determined to avoid military service, and the career officer, just as determined to sign him up.
Dates: Feb. 16-26, 2012
Tickets and More Information: OxACT | BTC listing

COME BACK TO THE 5 AND DIME JIMMY DEAN JIMMY DEAN

Village Players

The Story: In a small town store in West Texas, the Disciples of James Dean gather for their 20th reunion. Now middle aged women, they were teenagers when Dean filmed Giant two decades ago. One of them has a child whom she says was conceived by Dean on the set. The ladies’ reminiscences mingle with flash backs to their youth
The Dates: Feb. 17-25, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Village Players | BTC listing

THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION

Northern Kentucky University

The Story: Philo Farnsworth, a boy genius from Rigby, Idaho who, at age 22, invented television only to become involved in an all-or-nothing legal battle with David Sarnoff, the young president of RCA and America‘s first communications mogul. In this classic tale of little guy versus the corporate machine, Farnsworth not only fights for his rights but for his slice of the American Dream.
The Dates: Feb. 16-26, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Northern Kentucky University | BTC listing

THE ODD COUPLE (Female Version)

Fairfield Footlighters

The Story: Neat-nick and soon-to-be-divorced Florence Unger moves in with her housekeeping-challenged friend Olive Madison in Neil Simon’s feminine take on his classic play.
The Dates: Feb. 17-26, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Fairfield Footlighters | BTC listing

RENT

Footlighters, Inc.

The Story: Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer-prize winning Broadway musical based loosely on Puccini’s opera “La Bohème.” RENT follows a year in the lives of seven friends living the disappearing Bohemian lifestyle in New York’s East Village.
The Dates: Feb. 16-March 3, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Footlighters | BTC listing

Sara Clark as Marianne Dashwood, Giles Davies as Colonel Brandon, Kelly Mengelkoch as Elinor Dashwood & Brent Vimtrup as Edward Ferrars. Photo by Jeanna Vella.

Jane Austen’s SENSE & SENSIBILITY

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company

The Story: When a lack of luck makes for difficult marriage prospects, the Dashwood sisters set sail on the volatile seas of courtship. The sisters soon discover that neither reserved Elinor’s common sense nor impulsive Marianne’s passion offer the key to happiness. Scandalous secrets, burning betrayals, and suave (and some not-so-suave) suitors line the path to true love in this fresh adaptation.
The Dates: Feb. 17-March 18, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company | BTC listing

…CONTINUING

The cast of Falcon Theatre's THE 39 STEPS. Donnie McGovern, Dan Doerger, Mike Hall & Elizabeth Molloy.

THE 39 STEPS

Falcon Theatre

The Story: What do you get when you combine the genius of Alfred Hitchcock,the zany humor or Monty Python and the boundless energy of four incredibly versatile actors? You get one hysterical parody of all the great Hitchcock film thrillers.
The Dates: through Feb. 25, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Falcon Theatre | BTC listing

A CLOSER WALK WITH PATSY CLINE

La Comedia Dinner Theatre

The Story: Experience the look, the sound, the magic and the music that made Patsy Cline the first lady of Country. Follow her climb to stardom from her hometown in Virginia to The Grand Ole Opry, Las Vegas and Carnegie Hall. This musical tribute includes “Crazy,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “A Closer Walk With Thee” and other favorites.
The Dates: Through Feb. 26, 2012
Tickets and More Information: La Comedia | BTC listing

COLLAPSE

Know Theatre of Cincinnati

The Story: In 2007, the Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring another 145. Hannah’s husband David was driving one of the cars that went off the bridge. He is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, but refuses to attend a support group. Hannah’s life is falling apart. She can’t get pregnant, she’s one step away from losing her job, and she thinks her husband, who hasn’t been to work for months, may be an alcoholic. COLLAPSE is an uncomfortably funny exploration of the crumbling structures that undergird our bridges, our economy, and our most intimate relationships.
The Dates: Through March 3, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Know Theatre | BTC listing

Buz Davis as Gus, Rachael Christianson as Valentine, Micheal Bath as Lubbock, Adam Marzheuser as Alex & Reggie Willis as Mr. Barcroft in The Clifton Players' DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES.

DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEES

The Clifton Players

The Story: A comedy set in a single branch of the United States Postal Service along “Tornado Alley” in Oklahoma. These characters are the sorters, handlers of each letter, parcel, and package on route to its destination. It is an endless task. It takes guts, determination and SELF DELUSION. The moment leaves you wondering who could go “postal” first.
The Dates: Through Feb. 26, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Clifton Performance Theatre | BTC listing

THE DIXIE SWIM CLUB

Sunset Players

The Story: Five Southern women, whose friendships began 33 years ago on their college swim team, set aside a long weekend every August to recharge their relationships. Free from husbands, kids and jobs, they meet at the same beach cottage on North Carolina’s Outer Banks to catch up, laugh and meddle in each other’s lives.
The Dates: Through Feb. 25, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Sunset Players | BTC listing

Bruce Cromer as Pete & R. Ward Duffy as Leon in PIP's SPEAKING IN TONGUES. Photo by Sandy Underwood.

SPEAKING IN TONGUES

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

The Story: Love, sex and deceit create the emotional labyrinth in this stylish, noir thriller. This theatrical jigsaw puzzle of parallel stories explores the betrayals of two married couples and the unexpected links among five isolated strangers
The Dates: Through March 4, 2012
Tickets and More Information: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park | BTC listing

…ENDING THIS WEEK

Kevin Breslin as Edward & Robert Breslin as Mickey in BPI's BLOOD BROTHERS. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

BLOOD BROTHERS

Beechmont Players Inc

The Story: A single mother in financial desperation gives away one of her new-born sons and attempts to keep them from discovering one another’s true identity. The pressures of superstition, economics and class trap the brothers and seal their fate.
The Dates: Through Saturday
Tickets and More Information: Beechmont Players | BTC listing

Mike Dennis & Jeff Groh in the Covedale Center's THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL. Photo by Holly Yurchison

THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL

Covedale Center for the Performing Arts

The Story: A young lieutenant has relieved his captain of command in the midst of a typhoon on the grounds that the captain, Queeg, is a psychopath in crisis and would have sent the ship and its crew to their destruction. Naval tradition is against the lieutenant, but what secrets do the testimony reveal?
The Dates: Through Sunday
Tickets and More Information: Cincinnati Landmark Produtions | BTC listing

Disney’s MY SON PINOCCHIO JR.

The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati

The Story: The classic tale of an aging toymaker and his puppet, Pinocchio, takes on timely issues in Disney’s MY SON PINOCCHIO JR. Grammy Award-winner and master melodist Stephen Schwartz adds a compelling score of original songs to the beloved classics “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “I’ve Got No Strings.”
The Dates: Saturday
Tickets and More Information: The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati | BTC listing

THE WHIPPING MAN

Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati

Ken Early & Jarred Baugh in ETC's THE WHIPPING MAN. Photo by Ryan Kurtz.

The Story: It’s Passover, 1865. The Civil War has just ended and the annual celebration of freedom from bondage is being observed in Jewish homes across the country. Caleb DeLeon, a Jewish Confederate soldier, returns wounded from the battlefield to find his family home in ruins, abandoned by everyone except Simon and John, two former slaves, who were raised as Jews in the DeLeon home. As the three men wait for the family’s return, they wrestle with their shared past as master and slave, uncovering a tangle of long-buried family secrets as well as new ones.
The Dates: Through Saturday.
Tickets and More Information: Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati | BTC listing | Rob’s review |