(Cheviot, OH) The Drama Workshop, the award-winning community theatre based at The Glenmore Playhouse in Cheviot, is pleased to announce its shows for the 2014-2015 season. For the first time in its history, TDW will offer its patrons six productions, spanning the gamut from small-town Texas matrons to British butlers, and from classic plays to musicals.
In July, 2014, The Drama Workshop is proud to welcome to its stage the one-woman-played-by-one-man show, “Precious Heart”, written by Ted Karber, Jr, and directed by Blake Senseman. Miss Fleeta Mae Bryte is a solid, ordinary looking country woman in her mid-sixties who lives life to the fullest in a small town in southwest Texas. She will welcome you to her home, and make you a cup of coffee and share stories and memories of her past, her family, her friends, and her enemies and her dreams of the future. Fleeta Mae is the type of woman you would expect to find in any small town in America. Her charm rests in her ability to tell a story, her bustling good nature, her sense of humor, and her old world notions of life in general. A gut-busting comedy which may remind you of Tyler Perry’s Madea character, “Precious Heart” will run from July 25 through August 3, 2014.
September 2014 will usher in the comedy classic, “Arsenic and Old Lace”, by Joseph Kesselring, directed by Lynn Aronson. This farcical comedy revolves around Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and local police in Brooklyn, NY, as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves. His family includes two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and “just a pinch” of cyanide; a brother who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt and digs locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar of the Brewster home (which then serve as graves for the aunts’ victims); and a murderous brother who has received plastic surgery performed by an alcoholic accomplice, Dr. Einstein, to conceal his identity – he now looks like horror-film actor Boris Karloff. This classic, laugh-a-minute comedy is a must for all audiences. It will run from September 12 through September 28, 2014.
Following will be Ken Kesey’s masterpiece, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, directed by Joe Penno. With an insane asylum standing in for everyday society, this play is a comically sharp indictment of the Establishment urge to conform. Playing crazy to avoid prison work detail, manic free spirit Randle P. McMurphy is sent to the state mental hospital for evaluation. There he encounters a motley crew of mostly voluntary inmates, including cowed mama’s boy Billy and silent Native American Chief Bromden. The ward is presided over by the icy Nurse Ratched, and Ratched and McMurphy quickly recognize that each is the other’s worst enemy: an authority figure who equates sanity with correct behavior, and a misfit who is charismatic enough to dismantle the system simply by living as he pleases. Also a classic movie starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” runs the range from hysterical to poignant. Show dates are November 7 through November 23, 2014.
In December, we are proud to present “Putting it Together”, by Stephen Sondheim, directed by Adam Drake, with music direction by Jay Myers and choreography by Pam Blessing. A humorous, poignant and sophisticated musical review, “Putting it Together” is a celebration of the stage and screen work of multiple Tony Award-winner Stephen Sondheim, the foremost theatrical composer and lyricist of our time. Putting It Together weaves a lyrical story around the emotions and relationships of five guests attending a Manhattan holiday cocktail party, studded with material from a number of Sondheim’s original musicals and films including “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, “Anyone Can Whistle”, “Company”, “Follies”, “A Little Night Music”, “Sweeney Todd”, and “Into the Woods”. “Putting It Together” will run from December 5-21, 2014.
TDW’s Winter 2015 offering will be Neil Simon’s “Rumors”, directed by Julie Jordan. “Rumors” is a farce which takes place in the upscale home of New York City’s deputy mayor, Charley Brock. Charley and his wife, Myra, have invited friends to a party there to celebrate their 10th anniversary, but before the party begins, Charley has suffered a gunshot wound to the earlobe which may or may not have been self-inflicted. Myra is nowhere to be found. As guests arrive, each learns of the situation but tries to keep it hidden from the next guest to arrive. As the play progresses, the guests share rumors about the party’s hosts and about each other. What will happen when the police arrive? Come see this comedic tour-de-force and find out! Show dates are February 27 through March 15, 2015.
Finally, May 2015 will see the return of the classic P.G. Wodehouse character, the lovable butler Jeeves, in “Jeeves in Bloom”, adapted by Margaret Raether and directed by Dennis Murphy. Bertie Wooster has been summoned to the country house of his aunt and uncle, and is accompanied by his trusted butler, Jeeves. Thank goodness for that, as Jeeves is called upon to rescue Bertie and his upper-class friends and relations from the ridiculous situations they create for themselves. All too quickly, Jeeves’ many talents are called into service as nefarious plots, bizarre escapades and romantic interludes play out in the quiet English countryside. We dare you not to laugh! “Jeeves in Bloom” will run from May 1 through May 17, 2015.
Season tickets will go on sale in March, 2014. If you would like to be added to the TDW mailing list and receive a season brochure, please leave your contact information at the TDW ticket line at 513.598.8303, or by contacting us through our website at thedramaworkshop.org. Season tickets may also be ordered at one of the performances of TDW’s current production, “Twelve Angry Men”, running from March 7 through March 23.
THE DRAMA WORKSHOP was founded in 1954. TDW is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to advancing education and promotion of the theatrical arts. The Drama Workshop is widely recognized as one of greater Cincinnati’s most accomplished community theater organizations, garnering dozens of awards annually from the Cincinnati Association of Community Theatres. TDW productions have been regularly selected to represent the Southwest Ohio region at the Ohio Community Theatre Association annual conference, and TDW was also honored to represent the state of Ohio at the American Association of Community Theatre regional conference in 2013. The Drama Workshop recently was recognized by the Cincinnati Preservation Association for their efforts to rehabilitate the former Glenmore Bowl into The Glenmore Playhouse. Prospective members, and individuals or businesses interested in becoming involved or in helping advance TDW’s mission are encouraged to contact the group through our website at thedramaworkshop.org, or by phone at 513-598-8303.