Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative: 2024-2025 New Voices Series

Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative's 2024-2025 New Voices Season includes staged readings of plays written by local CPI artists. Each performance includes a talkback session to gain audience feedback that will help the playwrights improve their work. 

All readings are performed in the Aronoff Center's Fifth Third Bank Theater.

September 17, 2024 – 7:30 PM 

HeARTLAND by Paul Shortt

Rural Kansas 1970, Phillip and Bobby Hart, art and music teachers with a sideline antique business, have a developing conflict: Bobby disapproves of Phillip’s rising ambition, grandiosity and, most particularly, his art forgery ­– forgeries Bobby once considered mischievous and exciting. Suddenly, malicious accusations from the outside are made against Phillip.

October 15, 2024 – 7:30 PM 

Thump by Michael DeFrancesco

A director and two couples meet to discuss and agree on a scenario for a community theater contest. For one of the couples, an event lays bare their fight of conscience.

November 12, 2024 – 7:30 PM

Please Hold for the Pandemic . . . . by Liz Coley

A gathering of six 10-minute plays offers recollection and speculation as we travel through the early, middle, and late phases of the Covid-19 pandemic and consider the next one. This mixture of comedies and love stories (sometimes both) brings a sense of lightness to the dark times we shared separately.

The Beginning of Forever by Bertha Lynn Davis

Jackie seems to have it all – an enviable singing voice, loving husband, good friends, and career. Yet beneath her poised exterior lies a deeply buried, turbulent childhood marked by neglect and abuse.  Jackie struggles to maintain control over her life. When her marriage ends abruptly, Jackie reaches a breaking point, questioning whether she can ever truly be loved.

The Beginning of Forever is a poignant story of resilience, healing, and the transformative power of love. It explores the complexities of overcoming trauma, finding self-acceptance, and ultimately discovering that true love begins with loving oneself.

February 11, 2025 – 7:30 PM

Lovefest 3

A selection of Eight 10-Minute plays celebrating love and romance in support of CPI’s annual fundraiser for the Greater Cincinnati American Heart Association.

Playwright names and titles to be announced in Fall 2024.

March 11, 2025 – 7:30 PM

Finding Mickey Mantle by Wendy Vogel

A foster kid who’s aged out of the system, Marie thinks she’s finally found stability, moving in with her boyfriend, Logan, and his grandmother, Nan. When Logan is killed in an accident, Marie is left pregnant and alone, except for Nan. And when she finds a million-dollar baseball card among Nan’s hoarder-house boxes, she must decide whom she can trust, whom she must protect, and what family truly means. 

April 15, 2025 – 7:30 PM

The Natchez Trace by Jeremy Simmons

An old man tells his tale to a typist recording early American stories for the Library of Congress. He tells a shocking, thrilling tale of escape from slavery. His name is Ned Forrest. The year is 1856. Two men, Ned and Moses, escape their bondage on a Mississippi plantation during a fire as it destroys the river town of Natchez. Following an old trail along the river, under downpours and lightning storms, the men struggle through the wilderness while being hunted. Capture meant torture, possibly death. Evading disaster time and time again, often by the slimmest of margins, the two men find ways to work together and form a friendship as they fight to reach Mexico and their freedom. With waning strength, Ned and Moses live face to face with fear, disillusionment, and, finally, redemption.

Burnt Toast of Broadway by Greg Hatfield

In a sparkling homage to Noel Coward, divorced theater duo Amanda and Edward bicker and banter their way through 1953 New York, sabotaging each other's plans while searching for their next Broadway hit. Amidst witty repartee and undeniable chemistry, will they realize their potential for success lies in reuniting and reigniting their creative spark?

Guardian Angel Blues by Dave Doster

A troubled guardian angel pays a visit to a therapist. Saving lives can be a very stressful job. Sometimes we all need a little help.

This Ain't Like You, Adrienne by Roger Brookfield

The office manager of an engineering firm surprises its owner with what she is able to do.

An Old Person at the Bank by Roger Brookfield

An old person withdraws money from a bank in spite of its requirements.