ARTISTS

Alex Canty

Cast

Alex Canty

Alex is so ecstatic to be making his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut! This cast, crew and creative team are dynamite, and he cannot wait to share this incredible show with all of you! Credits include Million Dollar Quartet (national tour), Stand By Your Man (national tour) and Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda (directed by Patti LuPone). Alex earned a BA from James Madison University. Love and thanks to Sam, Snow, Mom, Dad and Ben. Special thanks to Barry Katz at Dulcina Eisen Associates. You can follow Alex on social media @cantylones and visit alexcanty.com. And as a son of a cancer survivor, please consider making a donation to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Let's fight to end it! Visit www.bcrf.org.

Read Bio

Matt Cusack

Cast

Matt Cusack

Matt is excited to be making his Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. He is an actor, musician, composer, arranger, music director/supervisor and music/audio producer. His Broadway credits include One Man, Two Guvnors (Associate Music Director) and Bandstand. Off-Broadway, he was a part of Roundabout Theatre’s revival of The Robber Bridegroom. Matt has also been a part of numerous national tours and regional theatre productions. His favorite credits include John Doyle’s Sweeney Todd, Million Dollar Quartet, The Buddy Holly Story (Music Director), and Ring of Fire (Music Director). On television, he can be seen on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and heard in The Reading League’s Reading Buddies where he serves as composer and sound designer. Visit mattcusackmusic.com.

Read Bio

Allison Ann Kelly

Cast

Allison Ann Kelly

Allison is thrilled to be making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut! Her off-Broadway credits include Monstress. Regional credits include The Other Josh Cohen, American Idiot, Ring of Fire, Airness, Almost Heaven: John Denver’s America and Little Orphan Danny (New York Stage and Film); and The Hello Girls. Television credits include The Helpsters (Apple TV+) and The 75th Annual Tony Awards (en- semble vocalist). Allison tours nationally as June Carter with Darlin’ Companion: Johnny and June Carter Cash and with the show she created -- Americana Women: Celebrating the Icons of Country and Folk. Her original music can be found through her band, Southpaw Green, on all streaming services. Allison is a Wright State grad! You can follow her on social media @akplaysmusic and @southpawgreenmusic.

Read Bio

Leenya Rideout

Cast/Music Director

Leenya Rideout

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park credits include Merrily We Roll Along, Company and Avenue X. Her Broadway credits include War Horse, Cyrano de Bergerac, Company and Cabaret. Other New York credits include writing and performing Wild Abandon (Irish Repertory Theatre), as well as appearances in Before We’re Gone (13th Street Repertory); Fire and Air and As You Like It (Classic Stage Company); Taming of the Shrew (The Public Theatre) and Cowgirls (Minetta Lane Theatre). Regionally, Leenya has appeared in such productions as Into the Woods (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), August Rush (Paramount Theatre), That Face (Baltimore Center Stage), Camelot and Secret Garden (Capital Repertory Theatre), Fairfield (Cleveland Play House), Man of La Mancha (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), On Golden Pond (Casa Mañana Theatre), cowriter of Holidays with the Chalks (Alliance Theatre), Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Hangar Theater), and Ring of Fire (Deutsches Theatre). On television, she has appeared in Law & Order: SVU, Bull and Nashville Star. Her film credits include Love, Repeat; Loser; and Mona Lisa Smile. Leenya is a proud recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Colorado. The soundtrack to Wild Abandon is available online. Love to Ted. Visit www.leenya.com.

Read Bio

David Rowen

Cast

David Rowen

David is a Helen Hayes Award-nominated actor and musician based in New York City. He is excited to be debuting at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. David’s New York credits include Carnegie Hall, Prospect Theatre Company, and the off Broadway production of Bob Marley's Three Little Birds. His regional credits include Ford's Theatre, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Theatre SilCo, Patchogue Theatre, et. al. On television, David was seen on FX's Fosse/Verdon. His YouTube channel showcases music videos featuring his arrangements and covers of pop and Broadway songs. With over 15K subscribers and over 4M views, his work has been praised by Playbill, Broadway.com, BroadwayWorld, and composer/lyricist, Stephen Schwartz. David freelances as a musician, producer and interior designer. He performs with Bachelors of Broadway, The Boy Band Project and the award-winning a cappella trio, Iris, and he has been a soloist for symphonies nationwide. David holds a Bachelor of Music from James Madison University. Follow David on social media @davidrowen_ and visit www.davidrowen.net.

Read Bio

Marcia Milgrom Dodge

Director/Choreographer

Marcia Milgrom Dodge

Marcia is a Tony, Drama Desk and Astaire Award-nominated director and choreographer for her “stirring and lovingly staged” Broadway-Kennedy Center revival of Ragtime (winner of the Helen Hayes Award for “Outstanding Director”). For the Playhouse, Marcia directed Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Secret Garden and Cabaret. Most recently, Marcia was the American Show Director for Tokyo Disneyland’s 40th Anniversary Parade Harmony in Color! For television, she appears as herself in Disney+ Encore! (Episode 1: “Annie” and Episode 12 “Ragtime”), choreographed The Muppets in an Emmy-winning episode of Sesame Street (“The Tango Festival”) and choreographed Elmo and The Noodle Family in Elmo’s Wild West video, delighting children of all ages. Marcia’s bold new approaches to classic plays and musicals, plus a few world premiere musicals, have been seen worldwide from major regional theatres throughout the US and Canada; to Fredericia, Denmark; Seoul, South Korea; to Blackpool, England; and even Muskat, Oman. She is also a wife to Tony, mother to Natasha and a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC.) You can follow her on Instagram @marciamilgromdodge.

Read Bio

Chen-Wei Liao

Set Designer

Chen-Wei Liao

Chen-Wei is making her Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park debut. She is a New York City based scenic designer originating from Taipei, Taiwan. She has diverse experiences in theatre, film and exhibition both in Taiwan and the US. Growing up in a bilingual and multicultural environment, she is interested in observing and creating the dynamics between people, stories and space. Chen-Wei likes to read anything about psychology, neuron science, social studies and animal behavior studies. One of her daily meditation topics is the relativity between Freedom, Rights and Responsibility. She is a proud alumnus of National Taiwan University and Carnegie Mellon University. Select New York City credits include The New York Times Critic’s Picks’ A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing (Irish Repertory Theatre); the world premiere of Islands of Contentment (produced by The Tank and Hypokrit Theatre Company); The Skin of Our Teeth and The Importance of Being Earnest (Phoenix Festival, in the beautiful town of Nyack in upstate New York). Regional credits include Jersey Boys (Maltz Jupiter Theatre); Murder on the Orient Express (Cape Playhouse) and more.

Read Bio

Lauren T. Roark

Costume Designer

Lauren T. Roark

Lauren is thrilled to be returning to the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park after previously designing Million Dollar Quartet (2018) and Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing (2016). Select regional credits include the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Great Lakes Theatre, Bucks County Playhouse, Illinois Shakespeare Festival and Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Lauren holds an MFA in Costume Design and Technology from the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She is the head of graduate costume design in the Department of Theatre at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and the resident costume designer for the Clarence Brown Theatre. Lauren is a proud member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829. Visit www.laurentroark.com.

Read Bio

Matthew Richards

Lighting Designer

Matthew Richards

Matthew is pleased to return to Cincinnati Playhouse in The Park after previously lighting Abigail 1702, 4000 Miles, The Secret Garden and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. New York credits include the Broadway production of Ann (starring Holland Taylor); Rock and Roll Man (New World Stages); Is God Is (Soho Rep) The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey and The Curvy Widow (Westside Arts Theatre); The Killer, Tamburlaine and Measure for Measure (Theatre For a New Audience); The Atlantic Theater; Brooklyn Academy of Music; MCC Theater; Playwrights Horizons; Play Company; Primary Stages; and Second Stage Theater. Regional credits include Actors Theater of Louisville, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Cleveland Play House, Dallas Theater Center, Ford’s Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, Hartford Stage, The Huntington, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre; Old Globe, Shakespeare Theatre, Westport Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Yale Repertory Theatre.

Read Bio

David Bullard

Sound Designer

David Bullard

David is thrilled to be making his return to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, with his most recent credit being A Chorus Line. Sound design credits include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Cincinnati Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), The Secret Garden (Cincinnati Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage), Harvey Milk (Opera Theatre St. Louis), War of the Worlds (Los Angeles Philharmonic/The Industry), Savage Winter (Brooklyn Academy of Music), Noon to Midnight (Los Angeles Philharmonic), One Night Only: A Night with Al Pacino (international tour), Ainadamar (Frost School of Music), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Cleveland Play House), Three Tales (Los Angeles Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall), NETworks presents: Anything Goes (national tour), Men’s Lives (Bay Street Theatre), Amadeus (Old Globe, Critics Circle Nomination), On Golden Pond (national tour) and The Unexpected Man (New York and Los Angeles, Drama Desk and Lortel nominations). Resident Designer (New York Philharmonic), concert work for Steve Reich and The Metropolitan Opera.

Read Bio

Stephanie Klapper, CSA

Casting Director

Stephanie Klapper, CSA

Stephanie is overjoyed to continue her 12th season of collaboration with Blake Robison and the fantastic team that comprises Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. Recent shows she has cast for the Playhouse include Shane; Origin Story; A Chorus Line; Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help; Rooted; Steel Magnolias; School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play; Need Your Love; The West End; Destiny of Desire; Once on This Island; Alias Grace and many others. Her award winning work is frequently seen on Broadway, off-Broadway, regionally, on concert stages, film, television and streaming media. She is dedicated to continuing to expand and champion diversity, equity and inclusion in the business. Connecting creative, caring people to each other to make extraordinary things happen is amongst Stephanie’s greatest joys. She is a member of the Board of Casting Society Cares and a mentor with Fordham High School for the Arts and NYU Tisch School of the Arts Women’s Mentorship.

Read Bio

Andrea L. Shell

Stage Manager

Andrea L. Shell

Andrea is excited to be celebrating her 23rd season with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, having worked on more than 100 productions, including 23 world premieres. Favorite Playhouse credits include A Christmas Carol (2006-2021); A Chorus Line; Murder on the Orient Express; School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play; Rooted; Alias Grace; The Last Wide Open; Treasure Island; Mr. Joy; Jane Eyre; Bad Dates; The Revolutionists; I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti; Merrily We Roll Along; As You Like It; The Understudy; Blackbird; Durango; Around the World in 80 Days; Altar Boyz; Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming; Reckless; Ace; The Clean House; A Picasso; One; Abracadabra (2002-2007); The Bible …(abridged); and Dark Paradise. She has also stage managed at Dallas Theater Center, The Old Globe, Cincinnati Ballet, Alliance Theatre, The Second City and Ingenuity Festival of Cleveland. Additionally, Andrea heads Playhouse’s stage management department as the Production Stage Manager, serves as a member of Xavier University’s Theatre Program’s adjunct faculty, and is a contributor for Dramatics.org, writing backstage articles for their online content. Andrea is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. She would like to thank her family, friends, Dylan and Scott for their unending support.

Read Bio

GALLERY

David Rowen, Alex Canty and Matt Cusack. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of (background) David Rowen, (foreground) Allison Ann Kelly and Leenya Rideout. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of Alex Canty, Leenya Rideout, Allison Ann Kelly, Matt Cusack and David Rowen. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of Allison Ann Kelly and Leenya Rideout. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of Alex Canty and Matt Cusack. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of (background) Alex Canty, Leenya Rideout, Allison Ann Kelly and (foreground) David Rowen. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of Leenya Rideout, Allison Ann Kelly and Matt Cusack. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of Alex Canty and Allison Ann Kelly. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of Leenya Rideout, Alex Canty, David Rowen, Matt Cusack and Allison Ann Kelly. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of Matt Cusack and Allison Ann Kelly. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of Leenya Rideout and Matt Cusack. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Photo of (background) Allison Ann Kelly, (foreground) Matt Cusack and Leenya Rideout. Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

Production Trailer

EVENTS

Just Announced: $10 Tuesday!

$10 Tuesday is back! A minimum of 150 $10 tickets will be available for purchase in-person at the Playhouse Box Office beginning at noon on Tuesday, Sept. 26 for that evening's 7:30 p.m. performance. Limit two per person. No advance reservations or choice of seating. Subject to availability.

Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m.

PREVIEW PERFORMANCES

Be among the first to see the show before opening night and save! Preview performance tickets are discounted.

Sat., Aug. 26 at 7:30 p.m.

Buy Tickets

Tue., Aug. 29 at 7:30 p.m.

Buy Tickets

Wed., Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m.

Buy Tickets

OPENING NIGHT

Share the excitement of Thursday opening nights with a lively post-show cast party.

Thu., Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m.

Buy Tickets

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Pay What You Can performances are an additional way we try to make live theatre accessible to those who otherwise might not be able to attend our shows. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 513-421-3888 or in person beginning at noon, day of the performance only. Tickets are subject to availability.

Wed., Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Wed., Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. (Tickets available for purchase at 11 a.m.)

ART TALKS

(Formerly Meet the Artists), stay after select performances for a behind-the-scenes discussion with members of the artistic team.

Sun., Sept. 3 at 2 p.m.

Buy Tickets

Thu., Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Buy Tickets

Wed. Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Buy Tickets

Audio-Described Performances

Trained volunteers describe the visual elements of the production via a hearing enhancement system, allowing patrons to hear dialogue, music and other sound effects. The description is timed to avoid interfering with dialogue. Before the show and during intermission, show and actor information are shared.

Sat., Sept. 16 at 2 p.m.

Buy Tickets

Signed ASL Performances

Each Rouse Theatre production offers one signed ASL performance during the show's run.

Sun., Sept. 17 at 2 p.m.

Buy Tickets

ENGAGE

Staging A Legend

Spanning multiple genres and decades, the music of Johnny Cash embodies and reflects an American spirit that will be celebrated on stage. Director/Choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge sat down with us for an interview about our new production of Ring of Fire.

Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash

ABOUT THE SHOW

ADVISORY

VIEW PROGRAM

RUNNING TIME

ARTISTS

Alex Canty

Cast

Alex Canty

Matt Cusack

Cast

Matt Cusack

Allison Ann Kelly

Cast

Allison Ann Kelly

Leenya Rideout

Cast/Music Director

Leenya Rideout

David Rowen

Cast

David Rowen

Marcia Milgrom Dodge

Director/Choreographer

Marcia Milgrom Dodge

Chen-Wei Liao

Set Designer

Chen-Wei Liao

Lauren T. Roark

Costume Designer

Lauren T. Roark

Matthew Richards

Lighting Designer

Matthew Richards

David Bullard

Sound Designer

David Bullard

Stephanie Klapper, CSA

Casting Director

Stephanie Klapper, CSA

Andrea L. Shell

Stage Manager

Andrea L. Shell

GALLERY

EVENTS

Just Announced: $10 Tuesday!

PREVIEW PERFORMANCES

OPENING NIGHT

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

ART TALKS

Audio-Described Performances

Signed ASL Performances

ENGAGE

Staging A Legend

SPONSORS

Ring of Fire:

The Music of Johnny Cash