• REVIEW: To Kill A Mockingbird – Broadway Across America Cincinnati
  • BROADWAY REVIEW: “Take Me Out”
  • Doubly Great – I Shall Not Be Moved & Your Negro Tour Guide
  • REVIEW: Clybourne Park
  • REVIEW: Fortune
  • REVIEW: Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind
  • REVIEW: Lady Windermere’s Fan
  • FRINGE REVIEW: seXmas Cards
  • REVIEW: The Wolves
  • FRINGE REVIEW – ZOINKS! – NOT TO BE MISSED
  • REVIEW: Association of Controlled Dreamers
  • REVIEW: Skeleton Crew
  • Full Circle: A Story of Mentorship and Collaboration
  • REVIEW: The Thanksgiving Play
  • CCM’s Transmigration an Energetic Festival of New Works!
  • REVIEW: A Doll’s House, Part 2
  • REVIEW: Our Country’s Good
  • REVIEW: Ripcord
  • REVIEW: St. Nicholas
  • REVIEW: Eurydice
  • REVIEW: Mr. Burns – a post electric play
  • REVIEW: Misery
  • THE DROWNING GIRLS playing through Monday in Northside!
  • REVIEW: Jalz
  • REVIEW: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
  • FRINGE REVIEW: One More Bad Thing
  • FRINGE REVIEW: The Mountains Did Quake, The Hillsides Did Tremble
  • FRINGE REVIEW: of Monster Descent
  • REVIEW: Noises Off
  • Monday Matinee 5.7.18 – This Week in Cincinnati Theatre
  • REVIEW: A Great Wilderness
  • REVIEW: Ken Ludwig’s Treasure Island
  • Monday Matinee 4.23.18 – This Week in Cincinnati Theatre
  • REVIEW: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • REVIEW: Sooner/Later
  • REVIEW: Red Velvet
  • REVIEW: Transmigration 2018
  • REVIEW: Buried Child
  • REVIEW: The Pillowman
  • REVIEW: The Humans
  • REVIEW: Poor Behavior
  • REVIEW: The Color of the Leaves
  • REVIEW: The House
  • REVIEW: The Earth is Flat
  • REVIEW: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
  • REVIEW: Dracula
  • REVIEW: This Random World
  • REVIEW: Frankenstein
  • REVIEW: Hamlet
  • REVIEW: Typhoid Mary
  • REVIEW: Guest Artist
  • REVIEW – Cannibal Galaxy: A Love Story
  • REVIEW: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • THEATER OF WAR Opens a Dialogue about the Impact of Battle on Soldiers and Their Families
  • REVIEW: This Is Our Youth
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Invisible Girl
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Home
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Gen & Mabel
  • FRINGE REVIEW: God of Obsidian
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Balls of Yarns
  • FRINGE REVIEW: Busted Bumpers and Other Metaphors
  • FRINGE REFLECTION: Is That All There Is?
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  • FRINGE REVIEW: Pet Fish Are Made For . . .
  • I’m Feeling Fringe-y
  • REVIEW: Erma Bombeck – At Wit’s End
  • REVIEW: Master Harold and the Boys
  • REVIEW: On Golden Pond
  • REVIEW: Bloomsday
  • REVIEW: A Raisin in the Sun
  • REVIEW: All the Roads Home
  • REVIEW: Rabbit Hole
  • REVIEW: Jane Eyre
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  • REVIEW: Dragon Play
  • REVIEW: A Christmas Carol
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  • REVIEW: The Diviners
  • REVIEW: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
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  • REVIEW: The Elephant Man
  • REVIEW: Brownsville Song (B Side for Tray)
  • REVIEW: Romeo and Juliet
  • REVIEW: Disgraced
  • REVIEW: The Road Through Damascus
  • REVIEW: The Diary of Anne Frank
  • REVIEW: A Prayer for Owen Meany
  • REVIEW: The Legend of Georgia McBride
  • REVIEW: Slut Shaming
  • REVIEW: Thom Pain
  • REVIEW: Horizons of Gold
  • It’s Opening Night . . .
  • Cincinnati LAB Theatre’s 2016 Festival of New Works Coming in August
  • REVIEW: The Fisherman’s Wife
  • REVIEW: The Star Spangled Girl
  • FRINGE REVIEW: The 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide
  • FRINGE REVIEW: My Left Teeth
  • FRINGE REVIEW: The Gospel of Fat Kathy
  • FRINGE REVIEW: FURLESQUE
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  • FRINGE REVIEW: The Midnight Express
  • WRECKED: A Play Reading That Did Me In
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  • Transmigration 2016: Another Successful Festival
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  • REVIEW: The Realistic Joneses
  • REVIEW: Mockingbird
  • REVIEW: This Is Our Youth
  • REVIEW: A Christmas Carol
  • REVIEW: The Aliens
  • CCM Drama Hosts Play Reading Series
  • REVIEW: Relatively Speaking
  • REVIEW: Steel Magnolias
  • REVIEW: The Mystery Plays
  • REVIEW: Mad River Rising
  • REVIEW: The Norwegians
  • REVIEW: Buyer and Cellar
  • REVIEW: Sex With Strangers
  • Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
  • REVIEW: Luna Gale
  • Monthly Matinee: September 2015
  • Cincinnati LAB Theatre Promotes Collaboration and New Works
  • REVIEW: Lysistrata
  • REVIEW: ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS
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  • REVIEW: Taking Shakespeare
  • REVIEW: Xavier’s Spring Awakening
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  • Know Theatre’s SERIALS Adds More Intrigue to the Concept
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  • HEARTS LIKE FISTS Now Playing at Know Theatre
  • REVIEW: Buzzer
  • REVIEW: Detroit ’67
  • REVIEW: Peter and the Star Catcher
  • Transmigration 2015 – Adventurous Theatre
  • REVIEW: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
  • Five Things I Learned From CSC’s “Hamlet”
  • Still Seats Left for Tonight’s Opening of “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and Then Some)
  • A Klingon Christmas Carol – Special Pricing Tonight!
  • One More Chance to See “The Crucible” on Sunday
  • Looking Forward . . .
  • Klingons love theatre, and so do you!
  • Local Schools Producing Classic Theater This Fall
  • See “Light Sensitive” This Weekend
  • Good Will Hunting
The Sappy Critic

CCM Drama Showcase Spotlights Talent

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Connor Lawrence, AC Horton, Fabiola Rodriguez, Anna Stapleton, Nathan Wallace, Sarah Davenport, Spencer House, Carli Rhoades, and Trey Wright

 

I just love watching talent develop and grow and with four or five excellent theatre programs locally the opportunity to do so is tremendous.  I was talking to my friend Dr. Sandy Osher about this just the other evening (he joined me at PERFECT HARMONY) and we agree that the potential in this city is limitless for some of the talent we’ve been privileged to see over the last few years.

This is especially true at UC-CCM.  Last night, I caught the Drama Showcase (and will see the Musical Theatre one today) and am quite hopeful for these students as they head to NYC on Monday.  Department head Richard Hess opened the show with a reminder that when thy do their scenes for agents, there’s not a lot of response.  He encouraged us to interact with the material and the actors and this audience was great.

First up was “Bop It” featuring Connor Lawrence and Spencer House.  House plays dumb jock as well as anyone and Lawrence is excellent at conveying serious, intense, while remaining hilarious.  Next was “Tweet” featuring Fabiola Rodriguez and AC Horton.  I’ve said it before, Horton is brilliant, and she was at her quirky, strange, and fabulous best.  Its hard to take your eyes off of her for fear you’ll miss something.  Rodriguez looks like a star and balanced out Horton’s energy quite well.

Anna Stapleton paired with House for “The Coming World,” and told a story of heartbreak and sadness that accentuated both actors strengths.  “The Vandal” reunited the leads from THE HEIDI CHRONICLES (Lawrence and Sarah Davenport) for a very smart, sweet scene that highlighted their chemistry together.

“Tigers Be Still” might have been my favorite scene of the night as Horton once again stole the show with the tiniest of choices (dropping her bag on the floor, a single facial reaction, eye roll – she’s excellent).  Carli Rhoades, though, was wonderful as a therapist who had the misfortune of meeting Horton’s character.  It was great and I want to know more about this scene.

Finally, the showcase ended with “The Way I Like It” featuring a great odd couple of Nathan Wallace and Trey Wright.  Wallace is one of my favorites, too, as he can play hilarious (like in this piece but can also do intense like in MACBETH) and Wright has a nice energy about him, as well.  I had a great time and enjoyed this forty-five minutes of non-stop talent very much.

I will be looking to see where these amazing performers end up in the near future; the world is theirs and I’m confident we’ll be hearing more about them soon.

The CCM Drama Showcase will appear before industry professionals in NYC on Monday night at The Pershing Square Signature Center, 
480 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036 and then again in Los Angeles on April 14th at The Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA  91505.  For more information, click here.

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Tags: ac horton, anna stapleton, carli rhoades, ccm showcase, connor lawrence, fabiola rodriguez, nathan wallace, sarah davenport, spencer house, trey wright

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