Two more Cincinnati theaters produced shows recently, both small scale, but with some fine acting. Know Theatre launched its 2025-2026 season with Rajiv Joseph’s KING JAMES. It’s a clever two-hander about friendship, shaped by a pair of unlikely friends whose lives track along with NBA basketball star LeBron James’s on-again, off-again love affair with Cleveland, Ohio. (He grew up in Akron and was a star as a high school even before his professional career.) He’s only a character by reference, and a few moments of footage on a bar-top TV. We meet friends, Matt (KIeran Cronin, below right) and Shawn (Phillip Latham, below left), as young men in 2004 when LeBron debuted with the Cavaliers. A negotiation over a ticket package becomes the starting point for a friendship. In 2010, when LeBron became a free agent and left the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat, Matt and Shawn are heartbroken — and their friendship teeters on the brink of collapse. In 2014, LeBron’s return to the Cavs brings them together again; the Cav’s miraculous NBA championship in 2016 is the culmination of their relationship — in a form that certainly transcends mere sports fandom.
Director Darnell Pierre Benjamin has staged this tale in Know Theatre’s small, intimate Underground bar — perfect for the opening scenes, set in a wine bar. Cronin and Latham’s portraits of these young men struggling with their own friendship as well as coming to terms with parents makes for a lot of outright humor, as well as some genuine humanity. Their performances are some of the best I’ve seen at Know Theatre in several years. Here’s a link to my Talkin Broadway review. Know Theatre is located at 1120 Jackson Street in Over-the-Rhine.
Clifton Performance Theatre performs in a somewhat more remote location, the Liberty Exhibition Hall at 3938 Spring Grove Avenue, on the southern edge of the Northside neighborhood. It’s an old vaudeville venue, with a second floor dance hall. That’s where the production of THE PEOPLE IN THE WOODS is getting its world premiere, staged by director Kevin Crowley. CPT likes to take on shows that are a bit off the beaten path, and that’s certain true of Nancy Bell’s story about a couple — James (Conner Bratton) and Claire (Miranda McGee Bratton) who have retreated into a remote, wooded area to escape an increasingly tumultuous and dangerous world. After nine months they’re struggling with day-to-day existence, and their perspectives have diverged: He is still struggling to quiet his anxious mind, while she is ready to take more action, but feels pressured to follow his lead. Their equilibrium is upset by another survivalist, Richard (Randy bailey), who’s lived remotely for 16 years crashes in, and their existence is seriously upended. It’s an intriguing tale that feels very contemporary.
The Brattons are respected local theater veterans; Miranda was a longtime member of the acting company at Cincinnati Shakespeare. Since they are married in real life, their relationship has a kind of lived-in feel to it, even in the face of the extreme circumstances James has imposed. Bailey’s Richard is barely coherent, clearly someone who’s almost fully detached from society. Things don’t go well. Bell’s play might be improved with some tighter focus, but this production — featuring three fine actors — presents a perplexing situation that has relevance to today’s world. Follow this link to read my Talkin Broadway review.