Obie Winner Eric Ting Joins Cincinnati Playhouse's Associate Artists Program

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Artistic Director Blake Robison announced today that Obie Award-winning director Eric Ting will be added next season to the theatre's Associate Artists program, which was launched by Robison in 2013 for his second season at the Playhouse. Ting will join current associate artists Timothy Douglas, Michael Evan Haney and KJ Sanchez, who have served the Playhouse in that capacity for the past two years.

Robison has extended the Associate Artist program beyond its initial two-year mandate so that each of these artists will have an ongoing relationship with the theatre and community.

"The Associate Artists program is an inclusive, forward-looking model that has generated a lot of excitement," Robison said. "They form the backbone of our directing corps and bring diverse backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints to the Playhouse.

"I'm thrilled to welcome Eric to the Cincinnati Playhouse family," Robison continued. "As our fourth associate artist, he will direct plays, participate in season planning, join us in community outreach and bring his own network of connections to benefit the Playhouse.

"I've known Eric for nearly 15 years, when he began his career as a theatre student at the University of Tennessee. Since then, he has created an impressive body of work as one of the country's most gifted young directors. He's in touch with a new generation of American playwrights, and he brings a fresh perspective to the classics. He's distinguished himself off-Broadway with an Obie Award. And his time at Long Wharf Theatre has given him experience in an institutional theatre."

"I'm incredibly honored to be named a Cincinnati Playhouse associate artist," Ting said. "I've long admired Blake's work as an artistic leader and have been following the storied work of the Playhouse ever since my sister's family settled in nearby Montgomery. The Associate Artists program combines two of the things I hold most dear in life: art-making and community building. There's no more human art than the theatre, no art better suited to connecting us. And the Playhouse is a true testament to that."

Ting's recent directing credits include the world premiere The World of Extreme Happiness by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, which debuted at Goodman Theatre and opens in February at Manhattan Theatre Club; A Great Wilderness by Sam Hunter at Williamstown Theatre Festival; the world premiere of Rising Son by Dick Lee at Singapore Repertory Theatre; Jackie Sibblies Drury's We Are Proud to Present A Presentation on the Herero of Namibia, Formerly South-West Africa from the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915, a world premiere at Soho Rep and Victory Gardens Theater for which he received the Obie Award for direction; the world premiere of Miriam by Nora Chipaumire at BAM Next Wave; and Warrior Class by Ken Lin at Alliance Theatre. Upcoming projects include Brownsville Song:
B-Side for Tray by Kimber Lee at Long Wharf and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Appropriate at the Mark Taper Forum.

As Long Wharf's associate artistic director, Ting has directed the world premieres of Laura Jacqmin's January Joiner, Aditi Brennan Kapil's Agnes Under the Big Top and Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, which he also co-adapted. He has directed workshops and readings for the Lark Play Development Center, Vineyard Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, the Public Theater, Hartford Stage, Prelude, Victory Gardens Theater, Goodman Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Bay Area Playwrights, ACT (San Francisco) and the Vineyard Arts Project.

Ting's personal awards and grants include a Theatre Communications Group New Generations Future Leaders fellowship and a Jerome and Roslyn Milstein Meyer Career Development Prize. A founding member of the artists' collective INTELLIGENT BEASTS, his work has been presented internationally, including France, Canada, Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bali.

The Playhouse is supported by the generosity of the community contributors to the ArtsWave campaign. The Ohio Arts Council helps fund the Playhouse with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

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