Playhouse in the Park reopens with A Chorus Line March 16 after undergoing months of upgrades and renovations. Cast members are hard at work putting the finishing touches on a "singular sensation" of a grand opening.
"How is it different? Oh, let me count the ways... in so many ways," laughs Producing Artistic Director Blake Robison.
He says the new theater, called Moe and Jack's Place — The Rouse Theatre, after philanthropists Moe and Jack Rouse, has all the bells and whistles the old Marx Theatre didn't.
"We now have a fly gallery so we can bring scenery up and down from above. We have ample wing space on the sides. We have an enormous trap area underneath the stage to put trapdoors and staircases and whatnot. The level of stage technology alone far surpasses what Playhouse audiences have become accustomed to over the last 62 years. It's literally a game changer for us," he explains.
It's the same story backstage. There are new rehearsal rooms with giant windows looking out on Eden Park. A revamped costume shop, a crew lounge, a new green room, and perhaps most importantly to cast members — real dressing rooms.
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"The biggest change for the actors is really the dressing rooms," says Abby Marcus, the Playhouse's managing director. "(In) the former Marx, all of the dressing rooms were kind of in — no, they were definitely in — the basement of the building. There was no light, there (were) no windows, there (were) no doors on the dressing rooms — there was a lot of pipe and drape that kind of defined spaces.
"The new facility, backstage, has windows. It really makes use of the fact that the Playhouse structure is built on a hill ... there's still light, there's still the park, there's rooms with doors, there's new shower facilities and bathrooms. Everything is just going to feel very welcoming."
All of the behind-the-scenes areas are ADA-accessible, as is the whole facility — a major change from before. The building has been reoriented so the driveway wraps around with a circular drop off area in front of an entrance that leads directly into the Playhouse.
"You can just walk straight in, there are no stairs. The lower lobby and the orchestra level of Moe and Jack's Place — The Rouse Theater are all one level, the same level that the parking garage is at," Marcus says. "So for our accessibility purposes, that was a really big game changer."
The new theater features a proscenium-style stage rather than the previous thrust style, which Robison says will allow for more show choices and staging options. The seating is a traditional theater with a balcony rather than the old stadium-like set-up.
There's also better access in and out, plus more options to grab a drink or use the restroom.
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Robison says this facility, physically in a park, finally feels like it's actually part of its surroundings.
"In the old Playhouse, you could stand in the plaza, the lobby plaza, and rotate 360 degrees and not even know you were in a park because there were no windows anywhere," he recalls. "Now we have this beautiful new lobby with these towering two-story glass windows. The architects like to say that it was 'park in the Playhouse' instead of Playhouse in the Park, and I love that little twist on our name. That's the sort of design driver that they brought to the project and I think makes this a very unique arts facility even within the city of Cincinnati."
Perhaps most visually stunning of all though, are the views — not just looking out, but looking in.
"The original Playhouse, the Shelterhouse, is sort of hovering over everything and you can see it through these two-story glass windows that make up the lobby. We're honoring our past, we're celebrating that building which used to be buried inside the facility, and at night especially you'll see it all lit up when you come in," he says.
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Robinson says the $50 million renovation escaped many of the pitfalls associated with COVID-19, like rising material prices and scarcity issues by purchasing them before the pandemic.
A Chorus Line runs through April 15. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for March 13.
Playhouse in the Park is a financial supporter of WVXU.
