A & E

Meanwhile, back in Covington ...

Yesterday's onstage news was about Jersey Productions moving its operations to downtown Cincinnati for its third season — after announcing a false start at Holmes High School's theater space. Next comes word from the Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center, where Jersey presented its shows for 2006 and 2007. The Carnegie has assembled its own productions in a four-show theater season for 2008-09:

• The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie (Aug. 15-31), directed by Greg Proccacino.

• Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (Dec. 12-28), directed by Ken Jones.

•The Secret Garden by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon, using an "in concert" staging (Feb. 20-March 1, 2009), directed by Greg Proccacino.

•Carousel by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II (May 29-June 14, 2009), directed by Alan Patrick Kenny.

The Carnegie's theater and facilities manager, Joshua Steele, has recruited three of Cincinnati's top directors to stage these works. Proccacino is the artistic director of New Edgecliff Theatre; he directed an "in concert" staging of Stephen Schwartz's The Baker's Wife earlier this year at the Carnegie, a form he'll use again for The Secret Garden. Kenny heads up operations for New Stage Collective, where he has undertaken a number of adventurous contemporary musicals; Carousel is a classic, and it will be interesting to see what he brings to it. (Kenny and Steele were co-founders of New Stage Collective.) Jones heads up the theater program at Northern Kentucky University.

The Otto M. Budig Theatre has some limitations — a cramped stage without the possibility of "flown" scenery — so these directors will have to overcome some challenges. But they bring reputations for creativity and verve that will certainly attract audiences from around the Tristate.

— Rick Pender

Over the River ... Out of the Woods?

Jersey Productions presented its initial two seasons of family-friendly musicals for 2006 and 2007 in the Otto M. Budig Theatre at Covington's Carnegie Center. When Jersey released details of its 2008 season in March, it was "thrilled" to announce a change of venue to the "gorgeous theater at Holmes High School in Covington." Artistic Director Larry Smiglewski said at the time, "We adore our status as Covington's theatre company and are thrilled to remain as such." But things didn't work out, according to Managing Director Kelly Martin, who tells me that they were notified on April 11 that Jersey would not be able to use Holmes High. Instead of "returning for its third year as Covington’s premiere professional theatre" (Jersey was, in fact, Covington's only theater company at any level) the group's 2008-2009 season will be at the Aronoff Center for the Arts in downtown Cincinnati. Says Martin, "We really wanted to stay in Northern Kentucky (specifically Covington) but obviously it wasn't working out. Maybe another time."

Shows and dates remain the same as previously announced — West Side Story (July 18-27, now in the Jarson-Kaplan Theater), Nunsense (August 8-17, in the smaller Fifth Third Bank Theater) and The Sound of Music (Dec. 12-21 in the Jarson-Kaplan). The Jarson-Kaplan Theater seats 436 people, about 10 percent less than the Budig Theatre at the Carnegie; the Fifth Third can handle 150. But since the Aronoff is in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, it's an attractive option in some ways.

Ten years ago another ambitious group, Downtown Theatre Classics, tried to make a go of it at the Jarson-Kaplan, but crashed and burned after in its third year of erratic success. Jersey Productions will need to ramp up the quality of its productions to attract subscribers to the Aronoff, where expectations will be higher than in Covington. Like the Budig Theatre, the Jarson-Kaplan stage is cramped and has technical limitations. What's more, parking around the Carnegie was simple and free; not many of Jersey's Covington patrons are likely to find their way to downtown Cincinnati where you have to pay to park then walk several blocks to the Aronoff. I hope that Jersey makes this transition successfully, but the group faces some big challenges.

– Rick Pender

Explosion of Color and Craft

ArtWorks is at it again: The local arts organization's MuralWorks project is back in full swing, this time transforming a wall of the City Cellars Fine Wine Shop on the corner of Race and Ninth streets into an explosion of color and craft.

MuralWorks debuted last year as a vehicle for teen artists to express their talents in ways that comment upon, sprout from and complement our community. Familiar with the large daisy-laced mural on Hamilton Avenue as you enter Northside from the south? That’s a MuralWorks project. The 1930s streetscape by IGA on Ludlow Avenue in Clifton? That’s them, too. There are also murals in Madisonville, Millvale, Over-the-Rhine, Price Hill, Roselawn and Walnut Hills. The project eventually hopes to touch every neighborhood in Cincinnati.

I walk past MuralWorks’ latest evolving creation on my way to work every morning. I also have a bird’s-eye view of the building from my CityBeat office window. Ever intrigued by the creative process, I decided to document the wall’s transformation from staid white-brick canvas to what is now a blossoming landscape of green trees and billowy clouds.

Wassup, April 18: Chasing Osama bin Laden

Will Morgan Spurlock's new quasi-documentary, Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?, break the string of Iraq War-related films that have flopped at the box office? It has as good a chance as any given the writer/director/star’s slick, entertaining and sometimes illuminating (if often flippant) handling of a subject that few audiences seem interested in dissecting. Read my full review here.

Five other films open this week, including a lackluster Al Pacino thriller (88 Minutes); a martial arts fantasy (The Forbidden Kingdom); a Sundance-approved drama (Under the Same Moon); a curious “satirical documentary” starring Ben Stein (Expelled); and yet another saucy comedy from the Judd Apatow movie machine (Forgetting Sarah Marshall).

(Jonah Hill and Jason Segal in Forgetting Sarah Marshall)

Stage Door: Last Chance for Lear

If you haven't seen it yet, this weekend is your last chance to catch Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's sterling production of King Lear. The final performance will be Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. It's a chance to see professional actor Bruce Cromer do something other than Ebenezer Scrooge (the role he's played at the Cincinnati Playhouse for three holiday seasons, after a long stretch as Bob Cratchitt). But as I wrote in my review in CityBeat a few weeks back, there's more than Cromer to see in this production, which showcases a strong cast, including Cincinnati Shakespeare’s three strongest females as his daughters: Corinne Mohlenhoff and Hayley Clark become selfish Goneril and hard-hearted Regan, while Kelly Mengelkoch is the warm and loving Cordelia. One of Cincinnati Shakespeare's founders, Nick Rose, is back onstage to play Kent, Lear's faithful retainer, and another longtime favorite, Giles Davies, plays another villain, as the scheming bastard Edmund. (Turns out this is Davies' swan song, as he'll be leaving Cincinnati this summer to visit family in Wales and seek acting opportunities at other theaters across the United States.) You won't be disappointed by this finely tuned production. Tickets: 513-381-2273

– Rick Pender

No Doubt About It

If you've been kicking yourself for missing the Cincinnati Playhouse's production of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, you have another chance ... although it will involve some driving. The production that was on the Marx Theatre stage has moved to Actors Theatre of Louisville, where it's being presented in the Pamela Brown Auditorium, opening Thursday and continuing through May 10. (The Cincinnati production closed on April 4.)

Doubt, the story of a strong-minded nun who grows suspicious of a popular young priest's interest in a young student, ran on Broadway for a year in 2005-06 (550 performances made it the longest-running Broadway play in a decade), winning the Tony Award for best play, the Pulitzer Prize for drama and numerous other recognitions. Shanley is also an Academy Award-winning screenwriter for Moonstruck (1987). Doubt is the most frequently produced play on regional theater stages this season, with approximately three dozen productions across the United States.

This is not a touring production in the sense of shows presented at the Aronoff. Rather it's a co-production jointly assembled by the Cincinnati and Louisville theaters. The Louisville production keeps intact Doubt's original Cincinnati cast of Ted Deasy (Father Flynn), Joy Hopper (Mrs. Muller), Caitlin O'Connell (Sister Aloysius) and Makela Spielman (Sister James) under the direction of Wendy C. Goldberg.

Actors Theatre is in downtown Louisville, about 100 miles from Cincinnati via I-71. For tickets, click on the web site here.

— Rick Pender

Breaking My OIFF Cherry

I gassed up the car, threw in the new R.E.M. (which is rawer, less ornate and more immediate if not entirely kicking my ass so far) and headed up to the second annual (but my first) Oxford International Film Festival yesterday.

I can’t remember the last time I made the 40-minute trip from Cincinnati to the modest, sleepy town that hosts Miami University — and now an endeavor that seems intent to become a serious player on the film festival circuit. In fact, given the current state of gas prices, I can’t remember any extended car-based excursion since I moved to Over-the-Rhine last summer. Ah, the luxury of walking to work.

Oxford’s tree-laden environs and low-key atmosphere is a welcome respite from my previous festival stops: Biggies Sundance and Toronto are as exhausting as they are exhilarating, logistical nightmares whose painful aspects are even more exacerbated when compared to the easy accessibility of OIFF. I arrived at the Marcum Conference Center, which hosts the majority of the OIFF’s screenings and activities, around 4:30 p.m., parked right out front, checked in at the press table and within 15 minutes I was taking in my first film, writer/director/actor Scott Prendergast’s Kabluey.

Wassup, April 11: Oxford International Film Festival

The second annual Oxford International Film Festival (OIFF) opens this week, and based on the expanded lineup (100 films, including 60 local, national and world premieres) it looks like founder/organizer/director JC Schroder is serious about it evolving into a fruitful, long-term endeavor. (Read tt stern-enzi’s interview with Schroder here.)

In addition to three days of screenings, OIFF offers a host of post-film Q&As, filmmakers’ panels and workshops as well as opening- and closing-night galas. The quality of films remains to be seen — I wasn’t able to attend the initial fest and this year’s lineup looks like a mixed bag — but I heard from good authority that last year’s documentary competition was pretty respectable.

One of the more curious of this year’s dramatic features looks to be Bruce McDonald’s The Tracey Fragments, which stars Ellen “Juno” Page as an “average teenage girl who hates herself.” McDonald’s quasi-experimental approach — the film’s narrative unfolds via split screen — will be making its regional debut at the festival. (See interview with McDonald here.)

I intend to check out much of the festival’s offerings, almost all of which takes place at Miami University’s Marcum Conference Center in Oxford. Check the A&E blog later this weekend for updates.

Elsewhere, four new movies get conventional releases on Friday, including Smart People, a mediocre Wonder Boys rip-off that's saved only by the unique chemistry between the aforementioned Page and her co-star Thomas Haden Church.

— Jason Gargano

Stage Door: Bug and a Bute

There are several excellent choices for serious (in fact, downright difficult) drama on local stages this weekend. At New Stage Collective, you can see Tracy Letts' Bug in a searing production staged by Alan Patrick Kenny, who won last year's best play CEA with is direction of another intense, difficult script, Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

Kenny has a knack not just for picking great scripts — another play by Letts', August: Osage County, just won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama — but also for assembling excellent casts. His staging of Bug features Sherman Fracher and Chris Guthrie, two of Cincinnati's finest actors, in memorable performances as drug addicts with hyperactive imaginations. (Read Tom McElfresh's review here.) Whether their afflictions are real or imagined, this is a production that will get under your skin. (And speaking of skin, you'll see a lot of it; this production includes scenes of extended male and female nudity.) Production continues through April 27. Tickets: 513-621-3700

Almost as compelling is Ovation Theatre Company's staging of Neil LaBute's This Is How it Goes, opening this weekend and continuing through April  26. It's a mind-twisting tale about a mixed marriage that's disrupted by an old acquaintance. The latter is also the play's narrator, and we're never sure if what he's telling us is the truth — because the story he tells us keeps taking new twists and turns, contradicting itself at one moment and moving off in an unexpected direction the next. (See my review here.)

The play is full of LaBute's typically frank (some would say offensive) language — the marriage of a black man and a white woman fuels numerous racially charged remarks from the narrator — but that makes the drama all the more intense. It's 100 minutes, but it flies by. Definitely worth checking out. Tickets: 513-621-2787.

— Rick Pender

Wassup, April 9: Emerging Writers, MidPoint 'Announcement' Party

The annual Emerging Fiction Writers Festival opens at UC tonight. Look for the fest to be as intriguing as it's ever been ... a vital celebration of the written word that in the past has included the talented likes of Heidi Julavits and Sam Lipsyte. This year’s lineup features four of the best fiction writers currently crafting sentences: Tom Bissell, Kelly Link, Peter Orner and Hannah Tinti.

Curated by UC’s Department of English and Comparative Literature (specifically local author/professor/all-around lit nurturer Brock Clarke), the three-day festival offers readings and panel discussions ranging from the state of contemporary fiction to editing and publishing.

Not familiar with this year’s quartet of participating authors? Here’s a quick primer: Bissell is best known for God Lives in St. Petersburg, a much praised collection of short stories inspired by the writer’s own Peace Corps experiences in Uzbekistan. Tinti’s equally lauded short-story collection, Animal Crackers, was a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway award a few years back. Her new novel, The Good Thief, will be published in June. Orner, a Chicago native, has also accumulated an impressive array of praise for his novel The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo and his collection Esther Stories. And Link is no less than one of the most imaginative short-story writers around — her stellar Magic for Beginners left me laughing for days amid its surreal mix of genre-based narrative gymnastics and spare, deadpan prose.