The first time Joe Moeller sat in the balcony of Cincinnati’s Aronoff Center for the Arts, he wasn’t onstage. The then-young boy watching Thoroughly Modern Millie with his mother stared down at the stage and wondered what it might feel like to stand there himself.

Years later, he returned to that same stage as a lead actor.

When the curtain closed on Shucked’s Sunday performance in his hometown, Moeller’s full-circle moment was complete.

His musical journey began in seventh grade, thanks to his sister, Nikki Fromm. She was running sound for Ursuline Academy’s performance of The Sound of Music when she invited her younger brother to tag along.

“I had a friend get sick, so I asked Joe to come with me,” Fromm said.

Moeller barely remembers touching the soundboard.

“I don’t remember adjusting a single knob,” he said, laughing. “I just sat there and watched the show and became completely enamored. Seeing people transform into different characters right before your eyes. It just felt like the coolest thing in the world.”

Fromm remembers seeing her brother fall for theater.

“There are moments that define our lives,” she said. “That was one of them for Joe.”

By eighth grade, Moeller was onstage himself, joining the ensemble in The Music Man before landing the title role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat later that year.

For the first time, his family heard him sing solo.

“My grandparents were like, ‘We need to get Joe voice lessons,’” Moeller said. “That was when it became real.”

With his family’s encouragement, he threw himself into musical theater at St. Xavier High School and later at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music.

Many CCM graduates land on Broadway quickly. Moeller took an alternative route.

Instead, he built his career the long way with regional theaters and then national tours. Within a year and a half of graduating, he booked his first tour, a milestone he once considered the ultimate goal.

“I was successful,” he said. “I made a living doing what I loved. Not everyone gets that, especially in theater.”

He worked consistently at regional theaters, including North Shore Music Theatre outside Boston and the now-closed Westchester Broadway Theatre in New York. When he joined the national tour of Mary Poppins, a dream show of his, he felt he had reached a new level.

But Broadway still lingered in the background.

“It was 10 years before I finally got there,” Moeller said. “By that point, I’d made peace with the idea that it might never happen.”

Then a friend texted him a dance audition video for & Juliet, asking for feedback.

“I was like, ‘What is this for? This is exactly what I do,’” he recalled. “Why don’t I have an audition for this?”

His agent had already tried to get him an audition. The production wasn’t interested.

Moeller recorded the material anyway and asked his agent to submit it on the off chance they’d accept his video.

They did. He was cast in his first Broadway show as a member of the ensemble.

“I cried the whole time watching him in & Juliet,” Fromm said.

Broadway, he quickly learned, is as unpredictable as it is glamorous. After his debut, he joined The Heart of Rock and Roll, the Huey Lewis musical that closed in 2024 after a short run.

“That’s the reality,” Moeller said. “Broadway is a commercial business.”

Still, he kept working. He worked as a member of the ensemble or an understudy. Roles he appreciated, but ones that didn’t always put him center stage.

“I trained to take on leading roles,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be at the front of the stage, singing the song, having the moment.”

The opportunity came through a connection. His dance partner in The Heart of Rock and Roll, Robin Masella, associate choreographer for Shucked, connected him to the audition.

This time, he landed the role of storyteller 2 in the Tony Award-winning musical’s national tour, a leading part packed with rapid-fire dad jokes and high-energy narration.

“It’s my favorite role I’ve ever done,” Moeller said. “When I saw Grey Henson do it on Broadway in 2022, I remember thinking, ‘I would love to play that part.’ And now I get to do it.”

For Moeller, the role feels personal.

“I get to be a silly, gay comedian,” he said. “That’s who I am. It’s perfect.”

When the tour prepared to stop in Cincinnati, Moeller spent weeks hyping up his castmates.

“I told them, ‘You’re going to love the audiences here,’” he said. “Cincinnati didn’t disappoint.”

He describes the city as “farm-adjacent” and deeply rooted in the arts — a perfect match for Shucked’s corny humor and big-hearted storytelling.

But performing at the Aronoff meant more than just a strong crowd. This was a theater he had been able to work at once before in an ensemble, but now as a lead actor, it meant so much more.

“There’s something special about wanting to be out there for the kid sitting in the balcony,” he said. “The way I was.”

Fromm says the hometown pride runs deep.

“All of us feel it,” she said. “Joe getting the lead and doing what he loves in the place that made him who he is, that’s everything.”

Moeller agrees.

“Cincinnati is the kind of place where you’re from Cincinnati, even if you’re from Milford or Fairfield,” he said. “And when something good happens, the city rallies around you.”

On Sunday night, as the curtain fell and applause filled the Aronoff Theatre, Moeller stood center stage — no longer the kid in the balcony, but the performer under the lights.

Somewhere up there, another kid might have been watching, wondering what it felt like.

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This Friday, audience attendees of the opening night of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: the Musical will have a special treat – a chance to hear directly from the creator who started it all. 

The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati continues its inaugural season in the restored Emery Theater with Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical, opening Friday at 7 p.m. The opening performance will feature a special post-show chat with the author of the book series, Jeff Kinney, offering fans a behind-the-scenes look at the series. Tickets are on sale now at thechildrenstheatre.com. 

Based on Kinney’s book series, the musical brings Greg Heffley’s middle-school misadventures to life with humor, heart and high-energy music.

“Bringing Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical to the Emery Theater is incredibly exciting, and having Jeff Kinney with us for a post-show talkback makes this moment truly special,” said Kim Kern, President & CEO of The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, in a press release. “This production celebrates storytelling, imagination, and the joy of live theatre—exactly what this historic stage was meant for.” 

In addition, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical will support literacy efforts across the region through a book donation drive benefiting Queen City Book Bank. Audience members attending any performance (school or public) are encouraged to bring a new or gently used children’s book to donate.

Public Showtimes include: 

• Friday, Feb. 20: 7 p.m. – OPENING NIGHT 
• Saturday, Feb. 21: 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
• Sunday, Feb. 22: 2 p.m.
• Saturday, Feb. 28: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. (ASL and Audio Described Performance) 
• Sunday, March 1: 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, March 4: 2 p.m. (Sensory-Friendly Performance) 
• Saturday, March 7: 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
• Sunday, March 8: 2 p.m 

This show is ideal for ages 4 and up. This production runs approximately 60 minutes without intermission. This production uses theatrical fog and flashing lights. No strobe lights are used. 

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Registration for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park‘s summer theater camps and performance academies opened this week. Camps take place at locations in Mount Adams and Mason and are designed for students in grades 1 to 12.

“The campers grow every single week, and we see it,” said Ariana Moses, Playhouse’s education director, in a press release. “A camper who comes in on the first day of a five-day camp is not the same camper who leaves on Friday. They’ve made friendships, they’ve formed a community, they’ve learned new skills, and they’ve put together something to show their family and friends.” 

Early bird registration is open until Feb. 28. Early bird tuition ranges between $320 and $750, depending on the time slot and location. Tuition levels all increase by $45 on March 1. Scholarships are available for students who demonstrate financial need, and before and after care is available at all locations.

Get more details on specific camps, locations and pricing at cincyplay.com/learn/summer-theatre-camps.

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This Valentine’s Day weekend, a classic ballet returns to the Queen City.

Cincinnati Ballet and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will perform Swan Lake, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s iconic tragedy, at Music Hall in Over-the-Rhine starting this Friday. Performances will run throughout this weekend and next.

In Swan Lake, one of the most famous romantic tragedies of all time, Princess Odette is cursed by an evil sorcerer and forced to spend her daylight hours transformed into a swan. Later on, she meets and falls in love with Prince Siegfried.

Famously, it is one of the hardest ballets to perform, due to the extreme difficulty of the choreography and the duel role of Odette and Odile that one ballerina must play. A press release from Cincinnati Ballet said the choreography “demands extraordinary versatility, asking dancers to transform seamlessly from a figure of light and love into one of darkness and deceit within the same performance. This duality not only tests technical precision, but also demands profound emotional depth and dramatic nuance.”

New for this version are refreshed costumes, which have been unchanged in performances of Swan Lake since the 1990s. Prince Siegfried and various members of the Corps, in particular, will look drastically different.

Tickets are available now on the Cincinnati Ballet’s website.

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There were numerous excellent theater productions during 2025 on Cincinnati stages. CityBeat writers single out several they found that were especially memorable.

Primary Trust, Feb. 1-23, 2025, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

Since winning the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust has been one of the most produced plays in the country. In an era of extreme incivility, Booth creates a lovely world populated with sweet, thoughtful characters. The strong Playhouse cast featured DeShawn Harold Mitchell and Shane Taylor admirably supported by chameleons Lilian Oben and Peter Bisgaier inhabiting multiple roles. The set embodied the magic and whimsy of the story. The kindness of these characters helped Kenneth along on his journey to adapt to unexpected changes and find his place in a challenging world. Watching him connect with his new coworkers and neighbors generated much laughter and a few tears. When Kenneth says, “I don’t believe in God or Heaven or Hell, but I do believe in friends,” it’s impossible to disagree. (Julie Carpenter)

English, March 1–30, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

On its intimate Shelterhouse stage, the Playhouse’s production of Sanaz Toossi’s 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning play portrayed four Iranian citizens struggling to develop fluency in a difficult foreign language, English. Their patient teacher, with her own set of concerns about her nationality and her language, connected with each of them. Her students had individual reasons to become certified by TOEFL, the “Test of English as a Foreign Language.” Toosi’s ingenious script had them speak halting English as they sought proficiency, often shifting into fluent, conversational English during moments of frustration. The story had no singular dramatic moment; rather the personal arcs of each character revealed basic human needs — a qualification for a job, a generational family connection, a desire to appreciate pop culture — that audience members could fully relate to. This thoughtful 95-minute play used warmth and engagement to explore how personal identity is embedded in the language we speak. (Rick Pender)

A Room in the Castle, March 4-April 6, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company

Shakespeare’s Hamlet found its way twice into Cincy Shakes’ season, from a 2024 summer touring production and a fall staging of Fat Ham, James Ijames’s 2022 Pulitzer Prize winner, prior to staging this show by prolific American playwright Lauren Gunderson. Her 85-minute script was commissioned by Cincy Shakes and co-produced by Washington, D.C.’s venerable Folger Theatre. The three-character play was set in a room in Elsinore Castle: Manipulative Queen Gertrude (Oneika Phillips) advised Ophelia (Sabrina Lynne Sawyer), Hamlet’s on-again, off-again fiancée. A new character, Anna (Burgess Byrd), Ophelia’s lady-in-waiting, served as the young woman’s constant confidante. Guest director Kaja Dunn reinforced the script’s feminist perspective. Snatches of Shakespearean dialogue were used, but most conversations were in contemporary English. It was an intriguing extension of these women, reimagining them in ways that made sense in today’s world. (RP)

Mrs. Dalloway: A New Musical, May 23-June 15, 2025, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company

Lindsey Augusta Mercer wrote the book, lyrics and music for this adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel into a world premiere musical. I was not a fan of the novel, so I came to this production with a bit of trepidation but enjoyed it immensely. Christiana Cole, Byron St. Cyr, Bex Odorisio, Noah Berry, Courtney Lucien and Robby Clater brought their roles to life through strong performances and exceptional singing. The musical numbers drew on a wide range of styles, from folk to rock to rap. Mercer cleverly repeated themes and images which gave the disparate musical styles continuity and cohesiveness. I loved the pairing of the characters for unexpected duets and scene partners. The emphasis on the importance of human connection and celebrating life resonated in these post-pandemic, highly fragmented times. (JC)

Tea TIME, May 29-June 13, 2025, Cincinnati Fringe Festival

Full disclosure: I am a tea drinker who has spent 30 years frustrated at the normalization of terrible tea in the United States. As Dame Maggie Smith in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel said, “Everywhere I’ve been in this country, they slap down a cup of tepid nonsense, you know, with the teabag lying beside it, which means I’ve got to go through the ridiculous business of dunking it in the lukewarm piss, waiting for the slightest change of color to occur.” So with joy and delight, I watched Erika MacDonald’s Cincinnati Fringe Festival show, Tea TIME, one of the fringiest of Fringe shows. Storytelling and performance art, singing and some serious topics — it was weird! But as colonists dumped tea in Boston Harbor 250 years ago, I dumped my expectation of a linear plot at the door and steeped myself in this charming, wandering contemplation on the world’s best caffeinated beverage. MacDonald was an engaging storyteller and performer, and her show was as brisk and refreshing as a proper cup of tea. (JC)

King James, Sept. 11- 27, Know Theatre

Two NBA fans, one Black, one white, come together (and nearly pull apart) around the early career of professional basketball star LeBron James. Rajiv Joseph’s play offered four scenes, termed “quarters,” from 2004 to 2016. But the sport was really the context and metaphor for the ups and downs of this unlikely friendship between the pair of Clevelanders, Matt (Kieran Cronin) and Shawn (Phillip Latham). Staged with insight and feeling in Know’s intimate Underground Bar — doubling as a struggling wine bar — by Darnell Pierre Benjamin, this two-hander offered a highly believable, deeply felt portrait of two young men learning more about what’s truly important in life. The production was a strong and promising kickoff for Know’s new management team, led by Artistic Director Bridget Leak. (RP)

Honorable Mention: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, May 31-June 22, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati

Thanks to Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, I learned a lot about what goes on in hair salons catering to Black women. Jocelyn Bioh’s recent Broadway hit was a 90-minute lesson in the artistry, socializing and humanity of women in this unique universe. Director Torie Wiggins led a top-notch cast through an entertaining and thoughtful story. (RP)

Honorable Mention: Die Hard is a Christmas Movie, Nov. 28-Dec. 21, Know Theatre

This is my new favorite holiday show. In addition to hitting all the best lines/iconic scenes from Die Hard, the show perfectly balances parody and tribute. Maybe its popularity will convince the CSO to screen the film with live orchestration? Please? (JC)

This story is featured in CityBeat’s Dec. 24 print edition.

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A new Christmas-themed comedy show from Improv Cincinnati’s musical improv team, Hot Mic, is showing at the Clifton Comedy Theatre this December. Law & Order: Santa Victims Unit will put an investigative spin on the holiday season.

“In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally festive groups: the police, who investigate cookie crimes, and the elves, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.” (Dun, dun)

Hot Mic says the show follows the “Musical Crimes Unit,” which was called in to investigate after the nation’s top holiday treat, Santa’s Special Spearmint Santadoodles, began to put people into magical comas. Law & Order: Santa Victims Unit will feature musical numbers, plenty of holiday spirit and a dash of chaos. 

“It’s everything we love about Law & Order, but a musical and holiday-themed. So it’s three times the fun!” director Tatina Godfrey said in a press release. 

The show opens Friday, Dec. 12 and runs every Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. throughout December. Tickets are $15.45 and can be purchased here.

Clifton Comedy Theatre, 404 Ludlow Ave., Clifton. More info: improvcincinnati.com.

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Haul out the holly! It’s time to celebrate the season with an assortment of holiday theater productions. There’s no shortage of holiday favorites for the Christmas traditionalists. For the Scrooges among us, there are some non-seasonal offerings too. Grab your candy cane, don your red and green, and then follow the sound of jingle bells and ho-ho-hos to the closest theater.

Cincinnati Music Theatre kicks off the traditional familiar favorites with A Christmas Story: The Musical (Nov. 14-22), where the Red Ryder BB guns, leg lamps and unfortunate bunny suits are supplemented with song. Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol returns to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park (Nov. 21-Dec. 28) and NKU mounts their version of the show (Nov. 21-Dec. 7). 

Fans of Bing Crosby’s iconic song “White Christmas” should check out the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts’ production of Holiday Inn (Dec. 4-28), a stage adaptation of the 1942 film where the song first appeared (the White Christmas film was released in 1954 to capitalize on the popularity of the song). Another film-to-stage production is It’s a Wonderful Life Radio Play (Dec. 9-10), featuring University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) students at The Carnegie. Theatergoers who prefer more music with fewer words can get their traditional jam on with Cincinnati Ballet’s The Nutcracker (Dec. 18-28). 

If you love all the traditional shows but are so busy you can only pick one, perhaps Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s production of Every Christmas Story Ever Told (Dec. 10-28) will do the trick. It’s irreverent, but it covers everything from Dickens to the Grinch, with Rudolph, Charlie Brown and George Bailey thrown in for good measure.

Silencing years of silly debate, Die Hard is a Christmas Movie (Nov. 28-Dec. 21) at the Know Theatre definitively puts the argument to rest. Die Hard is, indeed, a Christmas movie. Perhaps not traditional, but still a Christmas movie. When Gen X is finally in charge, it will be officially added to the canon.

Another new, less divisive addition to the Christmas canon is Elf, the 2003 film starring Will Ferrell, which will be screened by the Cindependent Film Festival during Snowtime Cinema (Dec. 6). To quote Buddy the Elf, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati takes that to heart with Elf, the Musical (Dec. 5-21) in its new space at the Emery Theatre.

Cincinnati stages ring with the sound of music this holiday season. Cincinnati Arts Association presents a seasonal musical and two holiday concerts. In ‘Twas A Girls Night Before Christmas: The Musical (Nov. 29), a sequel to Girls Night: The Musical, the girls take a break from visiting in-laws and holiday stress for a night on the town. Christmas Together (Dec. 5) features Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and CeCe Winans performing holiday favorites, followed by Jim Brickman’s concert The Gift of Christmas (Dec. 13). Cincinnati Arts Association is also hosting an unexpected blend of genres with ABBA Holly Jolly Christmas (Dec. 7), a revue mixing ABBA classics and Christmas carols.

If you’re looking for inspiration to work off all those Christmas cookie calories, Exhale Dance Tribe celebrates with Hollapolooza (Dec. 5). Cincinnati Arts Association has two performances that’ll get you moving: Campana Sobre Campana: Christmas in Mexico (Dec. 2) features musicians and dancers from Mexico sharing their Christmas traditions, and the variety show A Magical Cirque Christmas (Dec. 12) includes acrobats, jugglers and more.

For those looking to make new traditions or have a not-for-children holiday outing, make the drive up the road to The Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton. Seasonal Shorts (Dec. 10-21) features six short plays of holiday humor for grown-ups, including one by Cincinnatian Torie Wiggins.

By the time the holidays roll around, it’s easy to be already over it, after all, the decorations have been in stores since July. Luckily, for those looking to escape the Christmas chaos, there are plenty of options where the holiday is not part of the story.

Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati presents It’s Fritz (Dec. 3-31). Fiona might be the most famous hippo in the world, but her little brother is still figuring out his place in Hippo Cove. His journey of discovery is the heart of this musical for all ages.

Because You’re Mine (Dec. 3-23) brings country music to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in a revue that showcases famous pairings. The music features songs by Johnny Cash and June Carter, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, John Prine and Iris DeMent and more.

Emerging talent on stage and behind the scenes enters the spotlight over the holiday season. Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative presents An Evening of Short Plays (Nov. 18) featuring staged readings of four plays. NKU highlights student talent with the First Year Showcase (Nov. 7-8) and Emerging Choreographers’ Showcase (Nov. 23-24). CCM’s The World Goes ‘Round (Dec. 4-6) is a revue featuring music by Tony Award-winning duo John Kander and Fred Ebb, known for Chicago and Cabaret. 

Broadway in Cincinnati brings Hamilton (Dec. 16-Jan. 4) back to Cincinnati, so you can avoid the holidays and get a jump on your 2026 United States Semiquincentennial celebrations.

Give yourself the gift of theater this holiday season. Get more information on holiday shows and tickets by visiting theater websites.

This story is featured in CityBeat’s Nov. 12 print edition.

The post Where to See Holiday Theater in Cincinnati: Classics, Musicals and More appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

The fifth-annual Cincinnati Storytelling Festival returns this Thursday for a weekend of twisted tales, scary stories, comedic chronicles and everything in between, this time in a new venue.

The Cincinnati Storytelling Festival was co-founded in 2020 by professional storyteller and theater artist Paul Strickland, with the ultimate goal of bringing people of all ages and backgrounds together through the power of storytelling. Traditionally held across venues in Westwood, the Cincinnati Storytelling Festival this year will move to the Know Theatre in Over-the-Rhine.

The festival will run Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 13-15 and feature eight storytelling events from nationally recognized storytellers like Charlotte Blake Alston, known for her traditional and contemporary tales inspired by African and African American oral and cultural traditions; Bill Lepp, who spins humorous and family-friendly tales; and Strickland.

Stories will be told from a variety of genres and topics, with “Gather Round” and “Twisted Tales” on Thursday, “Laugh Riot”  and “Spooky Stories” on Friday and “Children’s Stories,” “True Theatre,” “Old Tales Told New” and “My Favorite Stories” on Saturday — and no story will be repeated. All storytelling events are suitable for ages 13 and up, and all ages are welcome to the “Children’s Stories” event.

Tickets for the Cincinnati Storytelling Festival are still available here. Tickets are available for full weekend passes, day passes and single-event passes. 

Know Theatre, 1120 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine. To learn more about the Cincinnati Storytelling Festival, visit cincystoryfest.com. 

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Coming up next at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park is Lloyd Suh’s The Heart Sellers. Suh is one of the most produced playwrights in America today. In 2023, the Playhouse staged Suh’s The Chinese Lady, about Afong May, the first Chinese woman who entered America and was toured around as an attraction across the United States in the 19th century. The tour stopped for several days in Cincinnati in 1834. Like The Chinese Lady, The Heart Sellers, a heartfelt comedy, explores being a “stranger in a strange land.” It’s been one of the most produced plays in the U.S. since its debut in Milwaukee in early 2023. Ten theaters staged it a year ago, and eight more are offering it during the current season. 

The Heart Sellers is about a pair of 20-something Asian women in an unnamed midwestern U.S. city in 1973. Brought to America by their med student husbands, they are more or less set adrift. Jane from South Korea is reserved and has a limited command of English; Luna from the Philippines is a chatterbox, given to oversharing. They meet on Thanksgiving Day in a K-Mart and bond during a lonely celebration as they struggle to make a traditional American meal in Luna’s apartment. Fueled by wine, they talk about their isolation, their hopes and the families they yearn for. They fear their heritage will be diluted or forgotten altogether by future generations.

The play’s title is derived from U.S. legislation passed in 1965. Luna explains, “My sister says they call it the Hart-Celler Act because somebody whose name is Hart and somebody whose name is Celler, they wrote this thing and it got made into law and stuff just a few years ago, and I guess before it happened hardly nobody could come from Philippines or from Korea or no place where there’s people like, you know, like us?” Luna and Jane recognize that their journey to a foreign land could mean they’ve sold their hearts for new lives and drifted away from beloved traditions. 

The Hart-Celler Act, or the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, as it was formally known, was signed into law by former President Lyndon B. Johnson. The act reformed the nation’s immigration system, doing away with a discriminatory quota system that had favored people from Northern and Western Europe and limited immigration by many from other countries. Its legal framework prioritized highly skilled immigrants, such as Jane and Luna’s med student husbands. In 1960, 84 percent of immigrants to the U.S. were from Europe or Canada. Immigration grew by nearly a half million people annually post-1965, and the law eliminated “national origins” quotas and shifted the balance of immigrants to Latin America, Africa and Asia. 

May Adrales, who staged the play’s first production in Milwaukee, said in a program note there: “The Heart Sellers speaks specifically about a Korean woman and a Filipina woman, but it’s a universal story about what it means to migrate when that may or may not have been your choice and to be thrust into a set of cultural norms and a language that you don’t quite understand.” She added, “This play reveals what it means to be isolated and try to find a community when there’s seemingly nobody who can understand your experience. … Anyone who has transplanted from one culture to another or has faced a loss of identity and started anew will relate to the experiences of these characters. My great hope is that audiences come away with radical compassion, that they see the humanity within another person whom they didn’t think they had anything in common with.”

Desdemona Chiang is staging The Heart Sellers for the second time at the Playhouse. (She directed it over the summer for the Virginia Theatre Festival). Her first name, Desdemona (the tragic wife in Shakespeare’s Othello), surely set her up for a career in theater, including several years with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. But her horizons expanded well beyond that. Of Taiwanese descent, she immigrated with her family to America when she was 3 years old. In college at UC-Berkeley, she was pre-med, but a basic acting class drew her to theater and a double degree in that discipline and biology. These days, she dissects and stages plays across the U.S. that resonate with her heritage.

The show’s cast will be two actors new to Cincinnati audiences. Bridget Kim graduated from the University of Louisville and earned her master’s degree at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Over the summer, she played Jane in Chiang’s Virginia production of The Heart Sellers. She’ll repeat that role at the Playhouse opposite Angeleia Ordoñez, a graduate of the University of Michigan, as Luna.

Suh is a little surprised at the geographical spread of The Heart Sellers, from the West Coast to Austin and Atlanta, as well as Chiang’s Virginia Theatre Festival staging. The playwright told an interviewer for American Theatre magazine, “The totality of it — to see it means this much to a much wider audience than I imagined — is so meaningful.” The Playhouse production is Cincinnati’s chance to join that audience.

The Heart Sellers, presented by the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park on its Rosenthal Shelterhouse Stage in Mt. Adams, opens on Oct. 30 and continues through Nov. 23. For more information, visit cincyplay.com.

This story is featured in CityBeat’s Oct. 29 print edition.

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It’s no secret that AI has infiltrated every art medium, from writing and digital drawings to video and music. But do you think you can accurately identify what’s AI and what’s manmade? That’s the premise behind a new show from the Clifton Players coming this November. 

A co-production with The Southern Theater Company of Hot Springs, Arkansas, the Clifton Players’ Man vs. Machine will present audiences with six small plays. Four of those plays were written by people, including one by Pulitzer Prize finalist Lee Blessing; AI crafted the other two. 

“Is AI where art will come from? Are we prepared for the stories AI tells?” the Clifton Players ask.

You will not be told which plays are AI and which are human-created; it’s up to you to figure out. A discussion will follow each show. 

The Clifton Players will reveal which plays are AI in the final show on Sunday, Nov. 23. If you attend an earlier show, you will be allowed to return to the reveal for free, or you can sign up to receive an email to see if you are a master at spotting AI, or if you were duped by technology. 

Man vs. Machine will run Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays Nov. 7-23 at the Liberty Exhibition Hall in Northside. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased here.

Liberty Exhibition Hall, 3938 Spring Grove Ave., Northside. Learn more about the Clifton Players at cliftonperformancetheatre.com.

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