CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park will move to a new home by Fall 2020, but it won't leave its current neighborhood of Mount Adams.
The Playhouse has started a capital campaign "after more than a year of insightful research and analysis," the Board of Trustees announced Thursday. The building and move is "still in the earliest stages of planning and development," but a new stage, audience seating, dressing rooms, rehearsal room, green room, costume shop are all in the works.
A concept rendering of the proposed main stage at Playhouse in the Park.
“The new state-of-the-art main stage positions the Playhouse for the future,” Artistic Director Blake Robison said in a statement. “It will enhance our patrons’ experience and give our artists the modern technologies to achieve 21st century production values that are on par or exceed those in New York and London."
The Marx Theatre, the Playhouse's current theater, was last renovated in 1968, Robinson said. "It is the oldest un-renovated mainstage facility at any regional theatre in the country," according to a news release from the Playhouse.
Woody Taft, vice president of the board and chairman of the campaign, said the campaign is in the "quiet phase" and will focus on lead gifts for the next six to nine months. The Playhouse hired Rachel Kirley to work solely on the capital campaign as director with help from Arts Consulting Group, a national firm.
ArtsWave, the Ohio Arts Council, the Schubert Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts all financially support the Playhouse currently.
