FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: March 22, 2005
Contact: Christa Skiles
Public Relations Director
513-345-2242, ext. 232

CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK ANNOUNCES
2005-2006 SEASON

(CINCINNATI) – A landmark collaboration with Broadway’s most prolific composer, a world premiere comedy-drama by Cincinnati’s favorite hometown playwright and two shows that were developed, in part, at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park all feature among the selections for the Playhouse’s 2005-2006 season. The first season selected since the Playhouse received the 2004 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, the schedule is described by Producing Artistic Director Edward Stern as a “Thank You” to the people of Cincinnati.

The highlights include a bold reinvention of the groundbreaking musical Company by Stephen Sondheim, which will feature the active collaboration of the legendary composer/lyricist; the world premiere of Stone My Heart by Cincinnatian Joseph McDonough, winner of this year’s Mickey Kaplan New American Play Prize; the return of the Reduced Shakespeare Company with two shows running in repertory for the holidays: The Complete History of America (Abridged) and All the Great Books (Abridged); and Loveland native Ann Randolph performing her own one-woman off-Broadway hit, Squeeze Box. The season also includes works by authors ranging from Agatha Christie to Tennessee Williams.

According to Stern, “We wanted to bring Cincinnati audiences the most spectacular, most special season — as a thank you for supporting us all of these years and making the Playhouse one of the best attended nonprofit theatres in the country. Our audiences always have demanded that we bring the nation’s finest actors, designers and directors together at the Playhouse, and this new season will showcase the best and brightest in all of those fields.”

The Robert S. Marx Theatre Season (sponsored by The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation)

The Marx Theatre season begins with the irreverent, fast-paced and hilarious musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, September 6 – October 7 (opening night: September 8). Often described as the funniest musical ever written, Forum features a book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart (creator of Tootsie and MASH) and is the first Broadway musical for which Stephen Sondheim wrote both lyrics and music. This Tony Award winner for best musical is a marvelous mixture of mischief, mishaps, mistaken identities, misunderstandings and mayhem. Audiences will return to ancient Rome where a crafty slave attempts to win his freedom by arranging the elopement of his brainless, innocent master to an equally brainless, innocent courtesan. Singing, dancing and (almost) a human sacrifice all combine in an evening’s entertainment — tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight!

The season continues with Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (October 18 – November 18; opening night: October 20), an explosive portrait of a family crippled by hypocrisy, greed and hidden desires. Since the premature end of his football glory days, Brick has found solace in a whiskey bottle. His sensuous wife Maggie fights to win back her husband and to preserve their piece of the family fortune from Big Daddy, a man wrestling with his own mortality. In this monumental play, the past collides with the present when family feuding and deeply held secrets reach a boiling point. Show Business described Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as “one of the greatest plays ever written by one of the greatest playwrights.” The show will be directed by Marshall W. Mason, a five-time Tony Award nominee who also helmed the Playhouse’s production of Talley's Folly.

For the holidays, the Playhouse will celebrate the 15th anniversary of its favorite seasonal tradition, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, presented by the Stona Fitch Family. A Christmas Carol returns December 1 – 30 (opening night: December 2) with a brand new Ebenezer Scrooge. The Playhouse's production features a lovingly faithful adaptation by Howard Dallin, complete with a cast of nearly 30 actors and elaborate costumes and special effects. A Christmas Carol is not part of any subscription package, although subscribers do receive discounts and early buying opportunities.

The season continues in the new year with the regional premiere of an offbeat comedy about clean houses and messy lives, Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House (January 24 – February 24, 2006; opening night: January 26). A high-powered and humorless doctor hires a Brazilian maid who hates to clean but loves to tell jokes. When the maid befriends the doctor’s oddball sister, who does love to clean, a strange match is made. That is, until a crisis at home makes a mess of the doctor’s life. The surprising relationships that result send everyone reeling in this humorous and moving new play about laughter we don’t understand, events we can’t control, houses we can’t keep tidy and the power of the perfect joke. The New York Times described The Clean House as “a fresh, funny new play by a talented young playwright.”

A bold reinvention of a classic musical equals a one-of-a-kind opportunity for Cincinnati theatre audiences with the presentation of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company (March 14 – April 14, 2006; opening night: March 16). This Tony Award-winning hit musical is a revolutionary, unconventional look at love and commitment in a complex modern world. Company is a remarkably honest, clever and sophisticated portrayal of five married couples as seen through the eyes of their mutual friend Robert, a bachelor weighing the pros and cons of wedded life. A comic and touching tale, Company explores not only fear and longing but also the simple joys of being alive. This production — complete with Stephen Sondheim’s collaboration — will be a bold reinvention of the show in which the actors sing, dance and play all of the musical instruments. The show will be directed by John Doyle, who recently brought a similar vision to a critically acclaimed production of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd in London’s West End. (Rights Pending)

Finally, the Marx Season concludes with one of theatre’s greatest mysteries and courtroom dramas, Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution (May 2 – June 4, 2006; opening night: May 4). Deceptions, disguises and Christie’s brilliant plot twists combine in this story of a soft-spoken young man who befriends a wealthy widow and becomes the primary suspect when she is found dead. His fate depends on the testimony of his mysterious German wife, but whether or not she will corroborate his alibi is uncertain. Christie’s most suspenseful tale of secrets and murder keeps audiences on the edge of their seats until the play’s final seconds. According to The New York Times, “The air in the courtroom fairly crackles with emotional electricity, until that staggering surprise.”

The Thompson Shelterhouse Season (sponsored by Heidelberg Distributing Co.)

The Thompson Shelterhouse season begins with Randal Myler’s Love, Janis (September 22 – November 6; opening night: September 29). “Piece of My Heart” … “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)” … “Me and Bobby McGee” … “Ball and Chain” — Janis Joplin, the icon of 1960s rock music, is brought back to life in both music and words. Love, Janis paints a stunning portrait of the artist not only through her legendary songs, but also in the poignant and honest letters she wrote home to her family. The show was inspired by the book of the same name by Laura Joplin and was described by the New York Post as “a potent, fresh and enormously crowd-pleasing evocation of the legacy of Janis Joplin.”

For the holidays, the Playhouse will have not one but two shows written and performed by the internationally renowned Reduced Shakespeare Company: The Complete History of America (Abridged) and All the Great Books (Abridged) (November 15, 2005 – January 15, 2006; opening night America: November 17, opening night Books: November 21). Written by Adam Long, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, The Complete History of America (Abridged) is 600 years of history in 6,000 seconds! In this smart and funny romp through the glorious quagmire that is American history, the RSC tackles such controversial questions as: Who really discovered America? Where was Lucy Ricardo when JFK was assassinated? How many Democrats does it take to screw in a light bulb? The show was described as “breathlessly paced, slapstick merriment” by The New York Times. Written by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, All the Great Books (Abridged) originally was developed, in part, at the Playhouse during the summer of 2002. Confused by Confucius? Thoroughly thrown by Thoreau? Wish Swift was swifter? Tennyson tinier? Then buckle up and hop aboard as the three cultural guerrillas of the RSC zip through everything most people didn’t get around to reading in school. A kind of Cliffs Notes with laughs, the show was described as “literature’s greatest hits condensed into a 90-minute roller-coaster ride of hilarity” by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The two shows will run in repertory.

Dael Orlandersmith’s Yellowman (February 11 – March 12, 2006; opening night: February 16) was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. The show is a study of contrasts — between light and dark, rich and poor, love and hate, free will and destiny — played out on country roads and city streets. Alma, a dark-skinned African-American woman, and Eugene, a light-skinned African-American man, have been friends since childhood. But as their friendship turns to love, the difference in their complexions raises insurmountable obstacles. A play that is at once heartwarming and harrowing, Yellowman is an edgy and provocative exploration of racial stereotypes, prejudice and their effects on us all. The New York Times described the show as “a landmark in theatre history … enthralling ... mind-altering.”

Cincinnati playwright Joseph McDonough takes home the Mickey Kaplan New American Play Prize for his newest work, Stone My Heart, which will receive its world premiere at the Playhouse April 1 to 30, 2006 (opening night: April 6). The play is a jazz-infused comedy-drama of love and evil that follows the intertwined lives of employees in Chicago’s morgue. The stammering Robby secretly loves Jessica, who is living with Marcus, the city’s chief coroner. Jessica struggles with the recent death of her father, while at the same time sensing the collapse of her stormy relationship with Marcus. Into this mix, the manipulative Terrence seizes all opportunities to use their desires and secrets for his own gain, destroying one after the other in this compelling story about the destructive forces of obsession, passion and power.

The Shelterhouse season draws to a close with the return of Loveland native Ann Randolph in her one-woman show Squeeze Box (May 20 – June 25, 2006; opening night: May 25). An earlier version of the show first appeared at the Playhouse as part of the 2002 alteractive performance series and it was a recent off-Broadway hit. Rich with pathos and humor, it tells Randolph’s tale of working in a women’s homeless shelter while simultaneously in pursuit of true love. Her painfully funny portraits of the shelter’s residents — and hilarious account of a hiking trip with Harold, the accordionist of her dreams — are beautifully drawn in this poignant story about finding dignity and grace. Often compared to the late Gilda Radner, Randolph uses her elastic face, acrobatic voice and attuned body language to play male and female, young and old characters, in this remarkably uplifting tale of self-discovery and self-acceptance. Entertainment Weekly described Squeeze Box as “a gem of a show.”

Subscriptions to the 2005-2006 Playhouse season are available now in a variety of packages. Prices range from $160-$267.50 for the five-show Robert S. Marx Season, $170-$277.50 for the five Thompson Shelterhouse shows and $172-$208 for the popular Five Star subscription, which allows patrons to choose any five shows from both theatres. Prices for the full 10-play season range from $264-$470.50, up to a 20 percent discount off the two separate series combined. Full-time students can attend all five Marx Theatre shows for $80. Full-time educators can purchase a subscription to the Marx Theatre for $145 and to the Shelterhouse Theatre for $155. (All 10 plays are just $240 for full-time educators.) Other discounts are available for senior citizens and young professionals. A couple purchasing Tuesday or Wednesday subscriptions in the Marx Theatre even can receive a $100 rebate to cover the cost of baby sitters thanks to the Baby Sitter Rebate Series.

Costs for most packages depend on the day of week and seat location desired. Some sections are sold out. Single tickets for all shows (except for A Christmas Carol) go on sale to the general public on August 26. Single tickets for A Christmas Carol go on sale to the general public in mid-September.

To purchase subscriptions or for more information about the 2005-2006 season at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, call 513/421-3888 or toll-free throughout Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana at 800/582-3208. For Telecommunications Device for the Deaf access, call 513/345-2248. Subscription information and forms also are available online at www.cincyplay.com.

Artists fly to and from Cincinnati on Delta Connection Comair, the Playhouse’s official airline.

The Playhouse is supported, in part, by the generosity of the tens of thousands of individuals and businesses that give to the Fine Arts Fund.

The Ohio Arts Council helps fund the Playhouse with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

The Playhouse also receives funding from the City of Cincinnati.

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