FOR THE LOVE OF IT: A focus on Community Arts Organizations
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groups that bring masterpieces in various art forms right to where we live, at the neighborhood level. These groups can enlighten and inspire us just like their big cousins. The word “amateur,” after all, doesn’t mean
incinnati is blessed with top-notch professional arts organizations that produce creative work admired nationally and beyond. But we tend to not count some of our other blessings – namely, the many volunteer community
a person lacking in skill, but a person who does something for the love of it. So we’ve decided to highlight these groups of unpaid, passionate amateurs who bring the power of the arts to our community. We start this month with
Rick Pender’s look at community theater groups – who they are and why they do what they do. In the coming months, we’ll turn the spotlight on community choral groups, orchestras and arts centers.
The power & attraction of community theater By Rick Pender
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o matter where you live in Cincinnati, you’re likely to be near a community theater. These neighborhood companies provide opportunities for people who are eager to be involved in theater but can’t do it full time. Instead, they audition for roles or work backstage in their spare time. People who do community theater are devoted volunteers, making friends and creating shows they are proud of. They do it for the love of theater. Dan Maloney, whose day job is as an artwork editor, has directed shows and acted with Mariemont Players, Village Players (Ft.
bowling alley.” He’s especially proud of his production of “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” by Stephen Adly Guirgis for Village Players, recognized with an award from BroadwayWorld.com. He also points out his recent stagings of “The Spitfire Grill,” a musical for Footlighters, and “The Outgoing Tide,” a play at Mariemont Players.
recent November staging of Kander & Ebb’s “Cabaret” as “probably the darkest thing I’ve ever done and the one that had the most profound effect on the audience.” Kathy Beiting, a retired high school guidance counselor, has been a CMT regular since 1991. Most often she’s the producer, “securing props, sewing costumes or working backstage – whatever’s needed.” She handled Fenker’s staging of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” in 2019. “It had a powerful story, wonderful music, one of our best sets ever, and we were thrilled to involve the NKU Chamber Choir as our onstage choir.” She points out that CMT has presented large-scale musicals since 1963. The company recently added a studio series of smaller cabaret shows in the Aronoff’s Fifth Third Theater.
Kathy Beiting changing a light bulb in CMT’s costume storage Dan Maloney
Bringing Broadway home
Thomas), Footlighters (Newport) and The Drama Workshop (Cheviot) since 2009. His breadth of engagement led to involvement with ACT-Cincinnati, the umbrella organization supporting 16 Greater Cincinnati companies; today he’s president. “Our theaters feature everything from youth shows and more intimate, black-box productions to full-scale musicals,” he said. “You can see shows in buildings that used to be schoolhouses, churches and even a former 8
FEBRUARY 2020
Skip Fenker has been involved with community theater since the 1970s while working regularly for local restaurants. Since 1999 he has been primarily involved with Cincinnati Music Theatre. His 18th production at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater (where CMT has presented shows since 1995), will be the regional premiere in November of “Bandstand,” a Broadway show by Cincinnati composer Richard Oberacker. “I have been incredibly fortunate to direct so many terrific shows,” he said, so he is hard pressed to single out a favorite. But he points to his
Movers & Makers
Skip Fenker at the Aronoff when he staged “Billy Elliott” for CMT
An avenue for growth
Jackie Miesle represents a younger demographic. After graduating from Miami University in 2017 and
Jackie Miesle in “Grease” at Mariemont Players
becoming a business operations manager for an information technology company in Mason, the Toledo native performed in the musical “Godspell” with Mariemont Players. “This show was my return to theater after about five years off. I was brand new to the Cincinnati community theater scene, and although I was nervous to put myself out there, I knew I needed theater in my life again.” Based on the Gospel of Matthew, “Godspell” enabled Miesle to grow as a performer and as a person. “It opened my heart,” she said, “and allowed me to play and embrace a childlike wonder I hadn’t accessed in years. It introduced me to dear friends and threw me into the community theater world.” Now she’s a board member with Mariemont Players, which presents shows at the renovated Walton Creek Playhouse. “We make sure the shows we produce will be exciting for our audiences, teams, and actors. We work hard to make
