BY Jackie Demaline
The Cincinnati Enquirer
College-Conservatory of Music is stressing the contemporary in 2000-01 with almost all the work on its stages from the 1990s. Workshop productions in the new Studio Theater include an array of breakthrough work by minority artists.
The mainstage season opens with Six Degrees of Separation from 1990, the best-known work by acclaimed playwright John Guare. His work is rarely performed here. (There was a film version in 1993.)
Inspired by a true story, the play follows the trail of a young black con artist who insinuates himself into the lives of wealthy New Yorkers.
Our Country's Good, by Timberlake Wertenbaker, was last produced here almost 10 years ago by Playhouse in the Park. It's a dazzling dark comedy and the true story of Australia's first theatrical performance in 1789 as a penal colony celebrates the king's birthday.
The workshop series in CCM's new Studio Theater will please the palates of audiences longing for exciting new voices.
The Village Voice calls Obie Award-winning Marisol (Nov. 2-4) “angry, fearsome, fantastic and ... a cry from the poet's heart.”
A New Brain (Nov. 30-Dec. 2), about to have its area premiere at Footlighters in Newport, is by William Finn (Falsettos), about a young composer awaiting brain surgery.
CCM faculty member Michael Burnham will explore the totality of the Vietnam experience from a variety of perspectives with his original The Vietnam Project (Feb. 15-17). It's based on the books A Piece of My Heart, Carried to the Wall, Bloods and The Things They Carried.
Lucky Stiff (March 8-10) is a musical mystery comedy by CCM alum Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, composer/lyricist for Ragtime and much anticipated Suessical.
Cult favorite The Rocky Horror Show (April 26-28) returns after a several-year absence.
Pearl Cleage, known for creating dramatic portraits of moments in African-American history, turns her attention to the Harlem Renaissance and the Great Depression in Blues for an Alabama Sky.
Auditor confident she'll beat charge
Traffic stop ends in fatal shooting
Building a bridge between faiths
Lebanon, state in tiff over retirement buyouts
Local patient gets latest in pacemakers
Monroe expected to OK Hustler store
Paul Brown Stadium deemed fund hog
Local filmmaker's 'Golem' ready at last
AM REPORT
'Angel' won't fall from lineup
Answers sought after Hilltop fire
Book helps own ers master canine communication
Commission: Education should be the focus over politics
Get to it
Great Danes, rescuers need aid months after fire
Just 1 remains on MRDD board
Learning project brings new building
Legal Aid Society gets $350,000 grant approval
Library wins parking spaces
Middletown OKs golf-fee increase
Monroe board sets open enrollment priorities
Nearly all CCM season created in '90s
Proffitt returning to Ohio
Students study a river's life forms
Suspect can't recall shooting
Teen charged in death of friend
Teen saves sister, self from fire
Volunteer groups honored for 'making a difference'
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
