Murph Mahler & Ruth Sawyer

THE POWERHOUSES: Women who shaped Cincinnati’s cultural landscape

A series by David Lyman

This is the third installment in our occasional series of stories about energetic, influential women – particularly from the second half of the 20th Century – who profoundly enriched the cultural life of Greater Cincinnati.

Murph Mahler & Ruth Sawyer

The women who rolled up their sleeves to make ETC what it is today

It was more than 30 years ago, but Jeff Seibert and David A. White III both remember the incident with absolute clarity.

Seibert and White launched Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, as the fledgling theater group was known, in 1986, before it dropped the “of.” Their first shows were presented in a ground-level meeting room in Memorial Hall. It wasn’t glamorous. But it was a beginning for their ambitious plan to create a professional theater using local actors, directors, designers and, as much as possible, local playwrights.

But by the end of 1987, a week before they were to launch their second season, the money ran out. That’s when Ruth Sawyer stepped in.

“When Ruth learned we weren’t going to make payroll, she dropped a $10,000 check on me,” recalls Seibert, managing director then, now an executive with the Mayerson Foundation (White is executive director of the Springfield, Mo., Arts Council).

“Down on the memo line, she wrote ‘For the next phase,’ ” Seibert says.

It was, at the time, a monumental gift, one that quite literally saved the company. It was something Sawyer and her friend and fellow ETC volunteer Murph Mahler would do again – several times. Eventually, along with their husbands – John Sawyer and Ken Mahler – they would purchase the building that would become ETC’s Vine Street home and then put several million dollars into its renovation.

“I don’t think they solicited my advice when they bought that building,” says Ruth’s brother, Dudley S. Taft Sr. “At the time, it didn’t seem like such a good decision. But in retrospect, it looks like they were visionaries.”

“Without Murph and Ruth, there would be no ETC,” says D. Lynn Meyers, the theater’s current producing artistic director. “This building wouldn’t be here. None of this would have happened.”

The women’s patronage, which would continue until their deaths, was remarkable. But Mahler and Sawyer were ever so much more than that. It’s one thing to write a check, to be a philanthropic supporter of a favorite institution. It’s quite another thing to give of your time as well. And Murph and Ruth did just that. Day in and day out, they were there, painting, working in the office, building sets and, in Murph’s case, occasionally appearing onstage.

Tireless workers

“The first time I met Ruth, she was in her paint clothes, holding a Diet Coke can in one hand and a cigarette in the other,” recalls Shannon Rae Lutz, a student at CCM at the time. Today, she is ETC’s property master and runs the theater’s apprentice program. “I just knew that I wanted to work with this little powerhouse of a woman. She would spend hundreds of hours getting a show ready. It had to be just right.”

“She had a cot in the old bank vault,” says White. (ETC’s building was originally a bank.) “I would get there at 9 a.m. and was never sure if she was there or not. If she was, you’d find her curled up on that old cot. She’d sleep for a while, then get up and paint for an hour or two, then go back to sleep. She was tireless.”

Indeed, they were so involved at ETC that many people came to accept them as just a couple of middleaged women who had spent their lives working in various aspects of theater. To many people, Meyers included, it would come as a surprise when they learned the pair were matriarchs of two of Cincinnati’s most established old-money families.

Sawyer’s husband John was a part owner and the founding president of the Cincinnati Bengals. He ran a massive farm in central Ohio and was himself a prominent philanthropist. For her part, Mahler was almost secretive about her full name – Mary Taft Mahler. And yes, she was one of those Tafts. Her father, Hulbert Taft Jr., was chairman of the Taft Broadcasting Company.

Meyers met Murph in 1991, when Meyers was hired to direct a production of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” She already knew Ruth from her time at the Playhouse in the Park. Ruth was on the board, while Meyers, assistant to the producing artistic director, recorded the minutes at board meetings. But Murph, who played two small roles in the production, was new to her.

“No one mentioned that Murph was one of the founders of the theater,” says Meyers. “Not to mention that her maiden name was ‘Taft.’ Murph never would have thought of mentioning such things.”

Ruth and Murph weren’t there to build a monument to themselves. They were there because they loved theater. And they loved what White and Seibert and, in time, Meyers wanted to create for Cincinnati.

Ken and Murph Mahler with Gary Sandy, circa. 1992

Complementing each other

“They were a team,” says Meyers “Like the best of teams, they complemented each other. They were very different, but it was so wonderful to see how they found ways to work together. Ruth was effervescent, Murph was very calming. Ruth was perky, while Murph was quiet.”

While Murph was the mediator when things got complicated, Ruth’s tendency was to power on, no matter what stood in the way. “My mother did not give up on things,” says Ruth’s daughter, Elizabeth Selnick. “She was a force. When she set her mind to something, she never gave up. And if she couldn’t be busy with one thing, she’d find something else. She was never idle.”

For all those differences, though, they turned to one another, even in the most difficult of times. These were longtime friends who had worked on the semiannual musicals staged at Indian Hill Church. They’d worked together in the Mariemont Players, as well. And in decorating dozens of charity events throughout the area.

“When Murph got cancer, she would come over to our house,” recalls Selnick. “They would sit in the bird room and look out the windows for hours on end. Sometimes they would talk. But sometimes they would just enjoy each other’s company. They had a wonderful friendship.”

Murph died in 2009, Ruth in 2013. John would die in 2015, Ken in 2016.

“It’s hard to believe all four of them are gone,” says Meyers. “But as long as this building is here, they will never really be gone.”

Each of the four massive columns at the front of the building is anchored by a plaque honoring one of the four founders. Inside the lobby, on the wall between the box office and the theater entrance, are two candles. One is for Murph. The other for Ruth.

“They’ll be together as long as we’re here,” says Meyers.

Ruth and Murph at ETC, 1992

Fans peek behind curtain at Backstage @ ETC

Friday, April 3, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Over-the-Rhine

Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati will bring back its Backstage @ ETC fundraising event, which had its successful debut last year.

The behind-the-scenes event offers guests the chance to see how ETC creates its productions, and a sneak peek at the coming regional premiere of “Photograph 51,” a drama about one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century.

Backstage @ ETC includes the opportunity to explore usually nonpublic areas and see how theatrical magic is made – from scenery construction and painting to costumes and education programs. Tickets: $100, includes one drink voucher and dinner-by-the-bite.

www.ensemblecincinnati.org or 513-421-3555

Costume designer Stormie Mac (left) speaks with guests at last year’s Backstage.