New Stage Collective (NSC), under the guidance of producing artistic director, Alan Patrick Kenny, is making the leap from a summer of three shows over four weekends to a full-blown summer season that includes five shows, five months and 50 performances. That’s good news for the performers and technicians who make all the work happen, and even better news for Cincinnati theatre lovers.
While NSC performed most of their season last summer at the Contemporary Arts Center, they’re moving on to new digs, thanks in part to
The Know Theatre Tribe’s move to Jackson Street in Over-the-Rhine. Following NSC’s first production of the season, “Kooky Tunes,” a musical review which will play at Hamburger Mary’s Sunday, April9-Tuesday, May 2, the rest of the season will be split over The Know’s former home, Gabriel’s Corner on Sycamore, and their new home on Jackson.
So what prompted the move and the change in format and programming? Kenny took a few moments away from auditioning potential cast members and doing research on the productions to come to share some of his thoughts.
“This year we are actually creating an all-encompassing summer stock environment,” Kenny explained. “[In the past], although we worked all summer on our shows (three shows in three months every season), our productions would only run one or two weekends, simply because of our incredibly limited finances, logistics with the spaces that we were working in, and the fact that almost all our performers were volunteering their time.”
In addition to “Kooky Tunes,” which was written Keith Thompson, a colleague of Kenny’s from his days at NYU, NSC will produce four other productions: “All We Can Handle,” by Cincinnati native Andrew Dainoff (in conjunction with the
Cincinnati Fringe Festival), “A Number” by Caryl Churchill, “The Full Monty,” and “The Book of Liz,” a bizarre comedy by brother and sister team in wackiness, Amy and David Sedaris.
“All five of our productions have one major common theme: the incredible resilience and power of the human spirit, and how, when supported, [it] can triumph over any obstacle,” Kenny said. “In this time of uncertainty, unrest, and unacceptance, I think that these are stories that need to be told - stories that focus on understanding how real people can work through their struggles to do extraordinary things.”
Besides a change in venue and programming, Kenny decided to use the approach of a core company to aid in casting and producing NSC’s season. The acting company comes from a variety of sources and backgrounds, although several members can be seen and heard on the CCM stage. They are: Adam Standley, Dan Davidson, Sydney Morton, Lindsay Valitchka, and Anthony Darnell.
In addition to the major changes on stage, NSC is offering a lot backstage as well. The Summer Theatre Intensive, an educational program designed for pre-professional actors and musical theatre performers, will take place Monday, July 17-Friday, August 11.
Kenny is quick to point out that “[the Intensive] is not anything like a ‘summer theatre camp!’ Participants in the intensive can expect a truly unique training environment,” he explained. “We've structured the program so there's no time wasted - it's simply three hours a day of concentrated work on the most important and vital techniques a performer needs to compete in today's theatre world.”
The curriculum is designed by Elaine Eckstein Wilson, a performer and teacher at the School for Creative and Performing Arts as well as the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music Preparatory Academy. Classes will meet five days a week for three hours daily, with a concluding showcase on Saturday, August 12. Courses, designed for pre-professional actors and musical theatre performers ages 12-16 and 17-22, include Viewpoints, Suzuki, Song Analysis and Performances, Scene Study, Movement, Conditioning, Pilates/Yoga, Ensemble Building, and Contemporary Theatre Dance.
Clearly, Kenny has a lot on his plate. But he is confident that the changes taking place at NSC can only make the company better and better. “We are continuing our transition to becoming a fully professional theatre organization,” he stated. “I have a spectacular core company of incredibly talented actors, teachers, designers, directors, and managers who will work full time throughout the season. New Stage Collective has always been a group effort - it's now time to allow the collective to continue to build - to fulfill our mission to develop these incredible pre-professional artists and present spectacular, rarely-seen works in this community.”
We can’t wait to see what’s going to happen.
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