CINCINNATI: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park has announced its 2021-22 season, featuring world premieres from Keith Josef Adkins, Deborah Zoe Laufer, and KJ Sanchez.
“Our community showed immense generosity and support of the Playhouse throughout the pandemic,” said artistic director Blake Robison in a statement. “I’m especially proud to restart our mainstage series with two world premieres that tell authentic Cincinnati stories.”
The Marx Theatre season will open with the world premiere of The West End (Oct. 9-Nov. 7), by Keith Josef Adkins. Set in 1941 Cincinnati, the play follows Grace, who houses African Americans migrating from the Deep South and German residents facing growing hostility on the bring of World War II, when a stranger arrives and forces her to confront her secret past. Playhouse associate artist Nicole A. Watson will direct.
Next up will be the return of Dickens’s holiday classic A Christmas Carol (Nov. 24-Dec. 30), directed by Michael Evan Haney.
The season will continue with Katie Forgette’s Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Jan. 29-Feb. 27, 2022), which follows Linda O’Shea as she narrates the most turbulent day of her life when a series of mishaps jeopardizes her middle-class Irish Catholic family’s reputation. This comedy will be directed by Blake Robison.
Next up will be Steel Magnolias (March 19-April 17, 2022), by Robert Harling, which examines the bonds between a tight-knit group of six Louisiana women who regularly gather to bond, dish, and offer advice. Laura Gordon will direct.
The Marx Theatre season will conclude with Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play (April 30-May 22, 2022), which takes place at an exclusive Ghana boarding school where a new transfer from America throws the life of the school’s queen bee into chaos. Candis C. Jones will direct.
Meanwhile on the Rosenthal Shelterhouse Theatre stage, the season will open with the world premiere of Need Your Love (Oct. 30-Dec. 12), written and directed by KJ Sanchez. Sanchez, the creator of Cincinnati King, tells the story of the life of King Records star Little Willie John.
Next up will be the world premiere of Rooted (Feb. 12-March 20, 2022), by Deborah Zoe Laufer. Noah Himmelstein will direct this play about Emery Harris, who has lived alone in a treehouse for over a decade, with the only connection to the outside world being through her YouTube channel, until strangers begin gathering near her home to inform her she’s been unwittingly elected as her followers’ new-age messiah.
The season will conclude with Mark St. Germain’s Becoming Dr. Ruth (April 9-May 15, 2022), a one-woman show about the life behind America’s favorite sex therapist from the 1980s and ’90s.
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, founded in 1959, is a professional regional theatre committed to producing and presenting the broadest range of theatre for diverse audiences in an inviting theatrical environment.
