Written by Brian Powers, Community Content Coordinator, Downtown Main Library
Cincinnati has a long and proud theatre history dating back to 1801, when a production of the play The Poor Soldier took place at Fort Washington near the banks of the Ohio River. However, the most exciting era for local theatre might be right now, with the formation of Over-the-Rhine’s “Theater Row,” just a few blocks from the Downtown Main Library.
Located between Central Parkway and 12th Street, Know Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company each provide its own unique programming and are all within walking distance of each other.
In October, the entertainment district will have a new addition: The Children Theatre of Cincinnati is slated to reopen in the newly-renovated Emery Theatre.
With the arrival of Downtown Main Library’s newest neighbor this fall, our Catherine C. and Thomas E. Huenefeld Story Center team set out to document the history of these theaters and explore how each serves the public. The team also included two historic theater buildings being repurposed as event spaces for community art programming in other neighborhoods: The Imperial Theatre in Mohawk near Finley Market and the Liberty Exhibition Hall in Northside.
Story Center staff visited with various behind-the-scenes leaders at the theatres to learn how each venue operates and what challenges they face in providing programming.
This series of interviews will be available to watch on the Library’s website in time for the fall season. Each profile is synced with a theater’s fall production and will begin rolling out in September, all leading to Friday, Oct. 10, the date of the Emery’s reopening.
The release schedule for the oral histories of the six theaters is listed below. Each video will post at noon on the Library’s Local History YouTube channel:
- Wednesday, Sept. 3: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company
- Tuesday, Sept. 9: Know Theatre of Cincinnati
- Thursday, Sept. 11: Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati
- Wednesday, Sept. 17: Liberty Exhibition Hall
- Wednesday, Sept. 24: Imperial Theatre
- Wednesday, Oct. 8: Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati at the Emery
Serving as preview events that celebrate the upcoming fall season, the Downtown Main Library will host two presentations in August that explore Cincinnati theater history.
The Cincinnati Federal Theatre Project of 1930s
On Saturday, Aug. 16 at 2 p.m. professor Nancy C. Jones from the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Kentucky will speak on the Cincinnati unit of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), a WPA program started during the Great Depression to create locally relevant theatre. Using the Emery Theater for its productions, FTP often used current news events to dramatize social issues of the time.
James Murdoch: Actor, Scholar and Patriot
On Saturday, Aug. 23 at 2 p.m., Cincinnati historian Chris Smith will give a talk on James E. Murdoch, one of the foremost American actors of the 19th century. Murdoch made Cincinnati his home starting in the 1850s and performed in local historic venues such as Pike’s Opera House, The Grand Opera House and Music Hall. The Downtown Main Library commissioned a bust of Murdoch when he died in 1893. This statue is now on view in The Cincinnati Room at Downtown Main Library, where Smith will be speaking.
Add a comment to: Main Library Celebrates Local Theater with an Oral History Project