“It's terrific,” adds Greg Smith, president of the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

        “It's a great thing,” says Jay Kalagayan, artistic director of Know Theatre Tribe.

        They are all talking about Mayor Charlie Luken's “Vine Street Project,” a commitment to clean up and revitalize the main artery of Over-the-Rhine outlined in his State of the City address.

        Ensemble is at 1127 Vine. From the theater's entrance, Ms. Meyers can see the planned Over-the-Rhine home of the Art Academy on 12th Street.

        She observes that when the Art Academy moves in (2005) “it will bring a formidable force” to the neighborhood.

        The questions of the day are, what will a reconsidered Vine Street do for the neighborhood's arts, and what can the arts do to help the revitalization plan?

        A clean, vibrant and crime-free Vine Street, Mr. Kalagayan says, “would have a monumental effect on people who have stopped coming (to Over-the-Rhine).”

        Know is at Gabriel's Corner at Sycamore and Liberty streets, but Mr. Kalagayan feels the impact of the project would be felt throughout the neighborhood.

        “We love Over-the-Rhine,” Mr. Kalagayan says. “We're here for good.”

        His only cautionary comment: “I hope it won't cause problems with the lower-income folks who live here.”

        “It's good for the artists and arts organization that make Over-the-Rhine their home,” says Mr. Smith, who adds that housing will be the most “critical component” in effecting change.

        For the last few months, Mr. Smith has been quietly promoting the idea of declaring an arts district south of Liberty.

        “Obviously I have a vested interest in the area,” acknowledges Mr. Smith, and lists Music Hall, the Emery, School for Creative and Performing Arts, Main Street galleries, Ensemble and digital design businesses as neighborhood residents, as well as Art Academy in the near future.

        “There's a lot there,” he observes. He believes that a Vine Street revitalization can start to reach laterally.

        “Wouldn't it be cool if there could be cornerstones all the way up the street to Clifton?” Ms. Meyers asks.

        City Councilman Jim Tarbell, chair of council's arts and cultural tourism committee, echoes Ms. Meyers and says the best thing arts organizations and artists can do for the Vine Street Project is “the lobbying effort people in the arts can provide to make sure the politics are focused where they need to be focused.

        “As the plan is developing, for us not to have at least one person of every arts organization on or near Vine is not acceptable.”

        Ms. Meyers has a meeting with Mayor Luken later this week and plans to take a checklist along, culled from brainstorming with key ETC supporters. “I can't wait to see what comes next,” she says.

        Back at "Suessical': Songwriting team Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens are busy, busy, busy. Even as Hot Summer Nights artistic director Richard Hess compiles their work for world-premiere revue We Tell the Story, Mr. Flaherty (composer) and Ms. Ahrens (lyricist) are simultaneously working on a musical adaptation of A Man of No Importance for a fall debut at Lincoln Center and some re-working of Suessical: The Musical, about to go on tour.

        “I know it's coming to Cincinnati, so I don't want to say too much,” says Mr. Flaherty, letting the Cat in the Hat out of the bag.

        The songs aren't changing. He elaborates carefully, “the concept of how we get into the show is new.”

        It's exciting, he says, to return to the show after some time off. New director Chris Ashley has a history with Paul Rudnick comedies (Jeffrey, I Hate Hamlet). “Even his non-musicals feel like musicals,” Mr. Flaherty says happily.

        The partners are hoping to sneak into Cincinnati to catch We Tell the Story before Man rehearsals begin in August.

        Theater "Blues': Hal Scott is director of Blues for an Alabama Sky, continuing through Feb. 15 at Playhouse in the Park, a romantic drama from the mid-'90s about the waning days of the Harlem Renaissance. (Read review, Page XX).

        Mr. Scott has a great vantage point for viewing the recent history of African-American drama. He's been at it since 1960, when New York critics identified him as a young talent to watch.

        Since then he's been collecting a list of dazzling theatrical credits that could unfurl from Mount Adams to Fountain Square. He also has a footprint squarely in Cincinnati theater history.

        Mr. Scott was trained and directed by legends including Elia Kazan and Jose Quintero. He originated roles in work by Edward Albee, Arthur Miller and Jean Genet.

        On Broadway he directed Morgan Freeman in The Mighty Gents, Elizabeth Ashley in Suddenly Last Summer, Avery Brooks in Paul Robeson. He directed the 30th anniversary production of A Raisin in the Sun with Esther Rolle and Delroy Lindo.

        Longtime Cincinnatians know that he was briefly artistic director of the Playhouse from 1972-74.

        About his return to Cincinnati and the Playhouse for the first time in almost 30 years, Mr. Scott notes, “It's taken 25 years, not for me to say "yes' but for anyone to ask.”

        He used his winter break from teaching at Rutgers University to direct Blues. “I'm not trying to start a revolution, I just want to push the envelope, get people to engage in discovering what they haven't thought about,” namely, the Harlem Renaissance and social issues from a black point of view.

        After 40 years, Mr. Scott is thinking about retiring. It saddens him that the black theater movement that began with Civil Rights has gone into decline. It depresses him that white theaters tend to schedule work by African-American playwrights during Black History Month.

        He worries that too much talent gets caught up in the grind of the film industry. “Part of me is beginning to feel that theater is an art form that's a remnant from another time.”

        Mr. Scott immediately shakes off the mood. “But after 40 years, I'm still doing it, I still believe in it.”

        Reservations and information: 421-3888.

        ACT scholarships: Composer Richard Oberacker and actress Diana Rogers are both past winners of the ACT-Cincinnati Scholarship.

        Auditions for the 2002 scholarships ($1,000 and $500) will be 1:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday at Northern Kentucky University's Fine Arts Center Room 220.

        College freshman, sophomore and junior performance arts majors are eligible. To receive an application and schedule an audition time, call Dee Anne Bryll at (513) 321-0764 or e-mail bryllcohen@zoomtown.com. Two scholarships will be awarded.

        Theater notes: • Kathy Wade will replace Pam Myers in the Fitton Center's Entertainment PLUS! series on Feb. 2 — but not in the revue Love and Shrimp. Ms. Wade will appear in an evening of jazz with the John Bercaw Trio. Call (513) 863-8873 for reservations and information.

        • Two of Ovation Theatre's founders, Deb Ludwig and Joe Stollenwerk, will perform a cabaret evening, Love & Irreverence, Upstairs at Carol's (825 Main St.) beginning at 10 p.m. Saturday.

        Mr. Stollenwerk will take the first set (and promises special guest artists and “a fabulous tribute to that great mother/daughter team of Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli”), Ms. Ludwig goes on next, and they'll share the evening for the final set. Tickets $8 at the door.

        • Terrorism is the timely topic of William Mastrosimone's Cat's Paw, which plays Friday through Feb. 3 at Newport's noName Theatre (911 Monmouth St.) In this case a domestic terrorist concerned with the U.S. water supply lures a young reporter to his lair to tell his story. Information: (513) 662-5654.
        Contact Jackie Demaline by phone: 768-8530; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jdemaline@enquirer.com.
       

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