Since its founding in 1960, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park has produced 75 world premieres, including at least one every season since 1987-88. This season, the world premieres of Be Here Now, by Deborah Zoe Laufer, and Sooner/Later, by Allyson Currin, will bring the total to 77. This commitment to creating and nurturing new works is one of the reasons why the Playhouse received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, and it continues to boost the national reputation that attracts the country's best theatre artists to Cincinnati for our audiences. 

The plays brought to life for the first time on Playhouse stages are given new life in regional theatres across the country — including theatres on and off Broadway — and internationally. What we develop here enriches the American theatre as well as hundreds of other communities. 

Take a look at where in the world some of the Playhouse's premieres have enjoyed continued success.

Most Produced Plays

Daddy Long Legs  (2010)
By John Caird | Music & Lyrics by Paul Gordon | Based on the novel by Jean Webster
Number of productions since its premiere: 28, including The Davenport Theatre (off-Broadway) which won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical in 2016



Leveling Up  (2013)
By Deborah Zoe Laufer
Number of productions since its premiere: 13, including Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago



Native Gardens (2016)
By Karen Zacarías
Number of productions since its premiere: 13, including The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and Arena Stage in Washington D.C. which were directed by Blake Robison



The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer (2003)
By Carson Kreitzer
Number of productions since its premiere: 12



The Revolutionists (2016)
By Lauren Gunderson
Number of productions since its premiere: 9

Broadway Productions

High (2010)
By Matthew Lombardo
Produced at Booth Theatre starring Kathleen Turner in 2011

Dead Accounts (2012) By Theresa Rebeck
Produced at Music Box Theatre starring Katie Holmes in 2012

Off-Broadway Productions

Eh? (1966)
By Henry Livings
Produced by Square Theatre in 1966

Sing, Hallelujah! (1986)
By Worth Gardner and Donald Lawrence
Produced by the Village Gate in 1987

Tapestry: The Music of Carole King (1988)
Created by Worth Gardner, John Kroner and Scot Woolley
Produced by Union Square Theatre in 1993

The Dead Eye Boy (2000)
By Angus MacLachlan
Produced by MCC Theater in 2001

Hiding Behind Comets (2004)
By Brian Dykstra
Produced by 29th Street Theatre in 2005

Daddy Long Legs (2010)
By John Caird | Music & Lyrics by Paul Gordon | Based on the novel by Jean Webster
Produced by The Davenport Theatre in 2015

Seven Spots on the Sun (2013)
By Martín Zimmerman
Produced by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in 2017 

A Delicate Ship (2014)
By Anna Ziegler
Produced by The Playwrights Realm in 2015

Thank you for the part you play by supporting the new work here at the Playhouse. Learn more about this season's world premieres of Be Here Now and Sooner/Later.

Robert Adelman Hancock and Megan McGinnis in Daddy Long Legs; photo by Sandy Underwood. Ali Rose Dachis, Ben Morrow and Bobby Moreno in Leveling Up; photo by Sandy Underwood. John Lescault, Sabina Zuniga Varela, Gabriel Ruiz and Karen Ziemba in Native Gardens; photo by Mikki Schaffner. Judith Hawking and Curzon Dobell in The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer; photo by Sandy Underwood. Lise Bruneau and Jessica Lynn Carroll in The Revolutionists; photo by Mikki Schaffner.