Mr. Fuller isn't alone in identifying culture as good for community. Now the nation's governors have jumped on board.

        A recent report from the National Governors Association notes “Thriving cultural life generates income, jobs and tax revenue and it also creates visibility for a state.” (The italics are mine, and the word “state” can be replaced with “city” or “region.”)

        “In the New Economy,” the report continues, “the arts are gaining recognition for their role in making communities attractive to workers who want to be identified with — and participate in — these opportunities during their scarce leisure time.”

        The report pulls up some interesting numbers:

        In 1998, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, consumers spent $9.4 billion on admissions to performing arts events, $1.8 billion more than total spending on spectator sports. Spending on performing arts events increased by 16 percent ($1.2 billion) between 1993 and 1998.

        Nor is it lost on state leaders that the not-for-profit industry adds up to $37 billion annually and that on average $1 invested in arts has a $10 return in direct spending.

        An “ad hoc” (Artists Dedicated to Healing Our Community) committee of arts advocates are putting together a candidate questionnaire with League of Cincinnati Theatres president Nicholas Korn coordinating the effort.

        Look for candidates' responses in this column in October.

        Curtain up: Reminder: The League of Cincinnati Theatres holds Curtain Up 2001! A Celebration of Cincinnati Theatre from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Monday at Playhouse in the Park.

        Fifteen theater companies will be sharing the good news about their seasons. Phil Burkhead of the Dee Felice Trio will provide live piano jazz, and there will be free ticket drawings and grazing food provided by the theaters. If we're lucky, Lynn Meyers' mom, Audrey, will make the great cupcakes that she bakes for almost every ETC occasion.

        Last year, Women's Theatre Initiative capped the evening with a splendid staged reading of One Flea Spare (which went on to a full production in July.)

        WTI returns with Bridget Carpenter's funny and poignant coming-of-age story Fall, directed by Rebecca Bowman and featuring Regina Pugh.

        The free reading begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Shelterhouse.(Fall is the first of five staged readings between now and December to choose the theater's July 2002 production.)

        See you there.

        Theater winners: Cincinnati stole the show at the statewide OCTAfest last weekend in Columbus, sweeping more than half the two dozen awards at the annual Ohio Community Theatre Association competition.

        Big winner (not surprising anyone) was Cincinnati Music Theatre's Evita, which took seven awards, including outstanding choreography to Dee Anne Bryll and outstanding musical accompaniment to Dick Wesp and his orchestra.

        Nods for excellent work went to co-directors Ed Cohen and Ms. Bryll and to principals Debbie Schubert, Brian Anderson and Rick Kramer.

        The Drama Workshop's Pride's Crossing took four awards, including rare “outstanding” mentions for director Ed Cohen, acting ensemble and actress Sue Breving. Footlighters' Weird Romance was also a multiple award winner with Jay Dallas Benson singled out for performance.

        Labor day labor: Talk about debuts. Local actor Blake Bowden was expecting the premiere of his adaptation of Fellowship of the Rings (on Sept. 21 by Ovation Theatre) and first-time fatherhood within days of each other.

        Samuel James Bowden arrived a little early — on Labor Day. With mom Wendy Dorn and baby doing fine, Mr. Bowden can return to Fellowship rehearsals. He'll be playing Frodo sidekick Sam.

        On the walls: Fans of Saw Theater accustomed to seeing new puppetry art performances every fall will have to be content to visit local galleries to enjoy the work of Mark Fox and Tony Luensman.

        Both artists have (separate) showings at the Aronoff's Weston Art Gallery later this season.

        These days Mr. Fox's work is getting double exposure. His recurring theatrical theme of tornado finds its way into film loops, works on paper and installations in Downburst at Linda Schwartz Gallery (315 W. Fourth St.) through Oct. 13. Twist is on view at semantics (1107 Harrison Ave.).

        “The shows are thematically related,” Mr. Fox says. “They both deal with (my seemingly eternal) themes of cataclysmic destruction and the rebuilding of life/self afterwards.

        “Twist refers to the motion of a cyclone, as well as a new thinking of an old idea. Downburst refers to a phenomenon similar to a tornado, a quick force of art blowing downwards to the earth in a sudden burst.”

        Both shows, he adds, deal with the creative process and the “manipulative?” relationship between the artist and what he creates.

        The exhibitions aren't “so much a breather from performance but an extension of it. Most of the performances begin with ideas and themes worked out on paper, and this work is a kind of meditation on the next large-scale performance.”

        Moliere for today: Stage First Cincinnati artistic director Nicholas Korn loves 17th-century French social satirist and slapstick artist Moliere, so much so that every season includes his work.

        Stage First opens its season Thursday with The Imaginary Invalid, about a hypochondriac and the charlatans who treat him. The only thing missing are references to HMOs and health-care reform.

        Mr. Korn considers Moliere a most modern artist — or maybe it's just that people don't change all that much, even over the course of hundreds of years.

        In the spirit of the contemporary social satire available on late night talk shows, Mr. Korn offers his Top Ten Reasons Moliere Still Matters:

        10. In an era that loves rap and hip-hop, rhyme-master Moliere rules.

        9. Moliere lampoons religion, education, medicine and business. But better than Jay Leno.

        8. Many of his plots are almost identical. Could anything be more Hollywood?

        7. The word “enema” appears in the Imaginary Invalid script 19 times. Take that, South Park.

        6. The costumes are fabulously retro. Think The Artist Known as Prince when he was still just Prince.

        5. Tartuffe was banned in 1664. Now it's a classic. Are you listening, Cincinnati?

        4. Moliere lived in an era when men wore wigs and high heels.

        3. Tragedy is easy, comedy is hard.

        2. Most computers are obsolete after three years. Moliere is still funny after 300.

        1. As a purveyor of the ridiculous, Moliere is almost as funny as the Bengals.

        Mr. Korn doesn't mention that the comedy features Michael Bath in the title role and reliable players including Carrie-Ellen Zappa, but it's another good reason to check it out.

        The Imaginary Invalid continues through Sept. 30. Call the box office at 241-7469.

        Up the road: Local actor Mike DiSalvo, seen most recently on the Ensemble Theatre stage in last season's closer Sense of Place, opens the Human Race season in Dayton in Over the River & Through the Woods by Joe DiPietro, who has been described as an “Italian-American Neil Simon.”

        The comedy is about a New Jersey guy (Mr. DiSalvo) who finds his dream job in Seattle and his maternal and paternal grandparents who try to keep him home where he belongs.

        The show continues through Sept. 30. For reservations and information call the box office at (937) 228-3630.
        Contact Jackie Demaline by phone: 768-8530; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jdemaline@yahoo.com.
       

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