Depending on your theatrical preferences, you have some entertaining choices at two of Cincinnati’s fine professional theaters, just a block apart in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.
At Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati its FOURTEEN FUNERALS, which isn’t quite the downer that the title migh suggest. In fact, it’s a heartwarming comedy about a woman recruited to eulogize members of her large extended family — people she’s never met. She does this in hopes of a rumored legacy, but there’s very little go to go on. All residents of tiny Blissfield, Indiana, they perished together in a freak fireworks explosion. Sienna (Shonita Joshi, below right), a confirmed city dweller from Chicago, is none too excited to carry out the task set out for her by Millie (Maggie Lou Rader, below left), the jaunty receptionist and daughter of the owner of town’s only mortuary. But based on Millie’s random recollections, Sienna puts together a string of the unlikeliest memorials you’re ever likely to hear. Along the way, this two women — one an urban devotee, the other committed to country life — find common ground and identify something they’ve each been missing. Joshi originated this role in the show’s world premiere in Michigan in early 2025; she and Rader have worked together in several productions and play off one another in a most entertaining way. Here’s a link to my Talkin Broadway review. Through April 12. www.ensembletheatre.com [Photo below by Mikki Schaffner]
Know Theatre is presenting the world premiere of Derek J. Snow’s THE RAVENSIDE OCCURRENCE, which feels like a spooky ghost story, thanks to shadowy scenic design and eerie music. It’s about four Victorian women fleeing unjust commitment to an insane asylum. Their escape delivers them to an abandoned inn, and they frighten each other with ghost stories. But there’s a deeper tale in Snow’s script, dealing with misogyny and racism, and digging for truth about destroyed reputations. The actors do a fine job, put through their dramatic hysteria and fear by director Caitlin McWethy. Here’s a link to my Talkin Broadway review. Through April 18. www.knowtheatre.org [Photo below by Mikki Schaffner]
You can also find my theater reviews on Facebook: Rick Pender’s Theater Stages & Scenes