Cincinnati Playhouse In The Park Announces Plan For The 2021-22 Season

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park today announced the restart of its mainstage season for October 2021.

The 2021-22 season will be comprised of eight shows and features world premieres by Keith Josef Adkins, Deborah Zoe Laufer and KJ Sanchez, who brings a spin-off story from her hit Cincinnati King to the Rosenthal Shelterhouse.

The season also features two fresh comedies; a well-known story celebrating female friendships; a one-woman show about Dr. Ruth Westheimer; and the joyous return of the full production of the Playhouse's annual holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol.

"Our community showed immense generosity and support of the Playhouse throughout the pandemic," says Artistic Director Blake Robison. "I'm especially proud to restart our mainstage series with two world premieres that tell authentic Cincinnati stories."

• A major American playwright and a Cincinnati native, Adkins was commissioned by the Playhouse to write about historical Cincinnati. His play, The West End, is set in 1941 and shines a light on a transformative chapter in local history.

• Sanchez is a former associate artist for the Playhouse and a nationally known playwright and director. Her play Cincinnati King had its world premiere in the Rosenthal Shelterhouse in 2018. It was the culmination of years of interviews and research about Cincinnati's historic King Records. Need Your Love expands on the story of Little Willie John and features hits from the King Records music catalog.

• The third world premiere in the season, Rooted by Laufer, was also commissioned by the Playhouse. In this quirky comedy, a reclusive amateur botanist unwittingly becomes a new-age, YouTube messiah. "Our audiences loved Deb's last world premiere at the Playhouse, Be Here Now, and Rooted rekindles some of the same characters and themes," says Robison.
• A Christmas Carol will return with its cast of nearly 30 actors, elaborate costumes and thrilling special effects. The other four shows planned for the 2021-22 season are:
• Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a new comedy by Katie Forgette about an Irish-Catholic family in 1973.
• School Girls: Or, The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh, a biting comedy about teenage girlhood.
• Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling, the beloved story celebrating female friendships.
• Becoming Dr. Ruth by Mark St. Germain, a one-woman show about sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

"The new season showcases the range and diversity of the Playhouse, and we can't wait to get back to producing a full schedule of live theatre for Cincinnati," adds Robison.

All the 2021-22 productions, except Need Your Love, were previously announced as part of the cancelled 2020-21 season. The Playhouse usually produces a total of 11 shows per season. The smaller, eight-show lineup is to accommodate a later start for COVID-19 safety and an early end to begin the final phase of construction on the new mainstage theatre complex.

Since COVID-19 health and safety guidelines for the fall are still unknown, subscriptions and tickets to the 2021-22 Playhouse season will go on sale later. Current subscribers will receive renewal statements in the summer. Individual tickets are expected to go on sale later in the summer or in early fall.

For more information, visit cincyplay.com or call the Box Office at 513-421-3888 or 800-582-3208 toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Patrons who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind or speech disabled dial 711 to connect to the Box Office via Ohio Relay Services. The Playhouse is fully accessible.

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