When Mayor Charlie Luken announced his latest curfew for Cincinnati late last Wednesday night, one of his recommendations was for people go home and watch TV. The people who run local theaters didn't have it that easy.

        On Thursday, we all woke up to the news that lock-down was 10 p.m. But a 10 o'clock curfew would wreak havoc on the city's theaters, with their traditional 8 p.m. start time.

ARTS VOLUNTEERS

Do you know someone who is an unstinting arts volunteer? Somebody who took on a special project this last year for love? Someone who's sweat equity deserves to be celebrated?    Our annual recognition of the region's wonderful arts volunteers will be printed Nov. 18, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We need your help.    Please send nominations and their stories to Jackie Demaline, c/o Tempo, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202, fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jdemaline@yahoo.com. Color photographs would be welcome. Deadline is Oct. 31. Questions? Call 768-8530.

        This is some of what happened behind-the-scenes. Cincinnati Arts Association's Steve Loftin, has three tenants in the Aronoff Center's three theaters, not insignificantly including Phantom of the Opera. Hecalled City Hall about the time it opened and politely pointed out the dilemma.

        Phantom producer Broadway in Cincinnati soon got a call back from City Hall that said, in the spirit of New York's Rudy Guiliani, “carry on.” A good thing, because otherwise the box office would have had to try to contact the thousands of people holding tickets for Phantom.

        Our town's other theater companies did have a long day on the phone. While they waited for official word that the curfew would be moved back to 11 p.m., Cincinnati Shakespeare and Playhouse in the Park moved curtain time by an hour, to 7 p.m. Playhouse had a larger question with King Lear, which runs close to three hours.

        If the curfew held at 10 p.m., even a 7 p.m. start time wouldn't be enough. The performance would have to be canceled.

        While box office personnel manned incoming calls, phone numbers of Shelterhouse ticket holders were distributed to the rest of the Playhouse staff while they waited for word on the fate of Lear.

        Word came in shortly after noon that the show could go on. At Playhouse, it was back to the phones. Happy ending: few exchanges, few no-shows, few confused late-comers. The shows went on.

        Visit from a visionary: According to a new study on building participation in the arts commissioned by the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds, raising people's level of excitement is a really good idea. (Wouldn't you love to know how much somebody paid for this?)

        At least now it's official. It turns out perception — (This is important! This is exciting! Everybody I know is/will be talking about it! Think Survivor) — has a lot to do with whether somebody buys a ticket to anything. So do the opinions of friends and relatives.

        A new Web site, www.arts4allpeople.org, has been launched to go with the report with monthly success stories by exemplary arts organizations.

        December's spotlight will be turned on the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Pittsburgh and its founder and mastermind William Strickland, who started bringing inner-city high school kids and arts together and providing vocational training for adults in 1968.

        To say the project is a national model is to understate his extraordinary accomplishments.

        “There's a way to combine the very best of the not-for-profit, philanthropic world with the very best of the for-profit, enterprising world,” and Mr. Strickland is convinced “this hybrid is the wave of the future for both.”

        We won't have to wait until December to hear the details. Arts messiah Bill Strickland comes here Oct. 4 under the auspices of ArtsLinks, Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts and Cincinnati Arts Association to do some perception-changing.

        Ponder this question of Mr. Strickland's: “You start with the perception that the world is an unlimited opportunity. Then the question becomes, "How are we going to rebuild the planet?' ”

        He'll wrap up a day that includes visits with teachers hosted by Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent Steven Adamowski and lunch with the Rotary Club, with a free after-work open forum at the Aronoff's Jarson-Kaplan. (Reception starts at 5 p.m. followed by 6 p.m. program.)

        If you don't walk in believing in the power of art to heal and change, you'll believe it walking out. Reservations are requested. Call the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts at 871-2787 or e-mail aso@artsincincinnati.org.

        "Love' deal: If you haven't booked your tickets for Love Child, Luther Goins'tough contemporary comedy (about babies having babies),you might want to consider Oct. 11.

        Ensemble Theatre is teaming with the Partnership Center at Old St. George for a $15 ticket that will include a pre-performance buffet, Love Child and a post-show talk-back with director and cast.

        For reservations and information call the theater at 421-3555.

        Local ties: Aida is the good word these days for performers with local ties. Nikki Renee Daniels (CCM fans may remember her as Aldonza in The Man of LaMancha a couple of years back) joins the Broadway cast tomorrow. She'll spend most of her time as a handmaiden but will play the title role twice a week.

        Meanwhile, Hamilton's Kelli Fournier is touring the country as Aida's arch-rival Amneris in the production that comes here Feb. 5-17 as part of Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Cincinnati.

        After graduating from Hamilton High she took an unlikely road to Broadway, first on the high seas, singing and dancing on Norwegian Cruise Lines ships for three years, then going to work for Disney in Los Angeles, doing live stage shows at the El Capitan movie theater (across from Mann's Chinese) and performing as Cell Phone Cindy in the live Toy Story show at Disneyland.

        With no formal acting or vocal training, in no time she was in Disney's production of Aida on Broadway, understudying Amneris.

        In the world of Broadway beyond Aida, Eric Sciotto, already a Broadway vet from the revival of Annie Get Your Gun, starts rehearsal for the heavily buzzed musical adaptation of Sweet Smell of Success in November. (Show is set to open in February). And Kent Zimmerman is among the cast in Thou Shalt Not, Harry Connick Jr.'s hep WWII-era New Orleans take on Emile Zola's Therese Raquin.

        Director at 21: After serving as assistant musical director on shows around town eight times, Zach Dietz finally gets promoted. At the ripe old age of 21, he's holding the baton for Lebanon Theatre Company's production of Stephen Sondheim's Company through Oct. 7.

        Between shows Mr. Dietz is a junior at College-Conservatory of Music majoring in music education.

        The theater company performs in a loft space at the Shoe Factory Antique Mall. For reservations, information and directions call (513) 494-1932. Tickets $12. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to American Red Cross for its relief efforts in New York.

        Winning "Journey': My Journey to Hear and Now by award-winning playwright and performance artist Doug Cooney wins this year's Lazarus New Play Prize for Young Audiences at Playhouse in the Park.

        Journey is the story of two young people facing parallel journeys. In 1908, Daniel finds himself on a train headed for rural Ohio as part of a movement transporting thousands of homeless New York City orphans to families in the Midwest. In 2002, disillusioned Mandy boards a bus seeking the father she has never known.

        The play will tour area schools March 18-April 19, performed by the theater's Skilken/Brown Touring Company. For more information about Playhouse education and outreach programs, call education director Bert Goldstein at 345-2242.

        Final "Fuddy': Last chance and worth it: Off-Broadway hit Fuddy Meers — never mind that you don't understand the title, you will when you see it — has its final performance at 2 p.m. today at Cincinnati Shakespeare. It will stand as one of the smartest shows of the 2001-2002 season. Catch it while you can. 381-2273.
       Contact Jackie Demaline by phone: 768-8530; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jdemaline@yahoo.com.
       
       

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