CCM Acting Presents New Play ‘Association of Controlled Dreamers’

Admission to the play is free, but reservations are required. Tickets become available at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, April 22, 2019.

CCM concludes its 2018-19 Studio Series with MJ Kaufman’s Association of Controlled Dreamers on April 25-27, 2019, in Cohen Family Studio Theater.

In the play, a young, charismatic senator pursues policies that could have long-lasting repercussions for public education. A group of college students tries every technique available to them to change his mind, from occupying his lawn to collective lucid dreaming.

“The play is about students fighting for affordable education,” says Brant Russell, the show’s director. “The play also resonates with our current political and educational circumstances in that many college students feel as though they have little power over the institutions that rule their worlds. If students wish to be heard, they sometimes have to resort to less traditional means of communication.”

CCM commissioned Kaufman, who is a staff writer on Netflix’s The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, to write Association of Controlled Dreamers for the college’s summer Playwrights Workshop in 2017. Students presented a reading of the play as part of the workshop, but now audiences can see the fully-staged version.

While the subject matter addresses serious and modern societal concerns, Russell notes that the production doesn’t lose its humor. “The play is funny (really funny), moving, and relies on what’s best about CCM: students collaborating to create something greater than the sum of its parts.”

Performances of Association of Controlled Dreamers take place April 25-27, 2019, in CCM’s Cohen Family Studio Theater.

Admission is free, but reservations are required. Tickets become available at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, April 22. Visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Limit two tickets per order.
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Creative Team

• Brant Russell, director
• Andrew Wright, lighting designer
• Hannah Gruneisen, master electrician
• Maya Hughes, assistant master electrician/board operator
• Will Graham, stage manager
• Cole Nevins, assistant stage manager
• Leah Berry, production assistant
• Emma Heath, production assistant
• Ryan Hurt, sound designer
• Dan DeGroh, composer/musician

Cast List

• Rin Wallace as Brittany
• Annie Jacques as Tara
• Paige Jordan as Vera
• Zoe Cotzias as Amber
• Michelle Jardine as Amaryllis
• Madison Pullman as Mary
• Amanda Nelson as Mother
• Briley Oakley as Social Media
• Sierra Coachman as Secret Girlfriend
• Cameron Nalley as Sammy
• Jason Pavlovich as Tom
• Reid Robison as Edward
• Matt Fox as Senator/Twin
• Frankie Chuter as Job Man
• Sydney Miles as Rhonda/Hope

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Thursday, April 25
• 8 p.m. Friday, April 26
• 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, April 27

Location
Cohen Family Studio Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Admission
Admission is free, but reservations are required. Tickets become available at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, April 22. Visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Limit two tickets per order.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.
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Acting Studio Series Sponsor: Neil Artman and Margaret Straub

Story by CCM Graduate Student Jonathan Dellinger

CCM Studio Musical Theatre Series Presents ‘Yeast Nation’

CCM’s 2018-19 Studio Series continues with Yeast Nation, a musical comedy by Tony Award-winning Urinetown creators Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis. Directed and choreographed by Vince DeGeorge with musical direction by Henry Lewers, the musical runs Thursday, April 4, through Saturday, April 6, 2019, at CCM’s Cohen Family Studio Theater.

Yeast Nation is an epic tale of evolution and revolution set in 3,000,458,000 B.C. at the bottom of the primordial sea. The musical centers on a society of salt-eating Yeast, the world’s very first life form. “As we are thrown into the deep end of this most epic of underwater tales, we discover a kingdom in turmoil, whose inhabitants long for the comfort of stasis all the while grappling with a new, hitherto-unknown, force of nature that will change their lives forever: love,” DeGeorge says.

The music is a hybrid of pop, rock and musical theatre with a definite groovy ’70s vibe, DeGeorge adds. He has been in contact with Hollmann and Kotis for the past year as CCM prepared for its production of Yeast Nation. During CCM’s rehearsal process there were changes to the script and score — both Hollmann and Kotis are dedicated theater artists who are very interested in the continued development of the musical, DeGeorge says. Hollmann and Kotis are coming to CCM on April 5 to see the show and to talk with musical theatre students about the production.

“This entire process has been a wonderful labor of love,” DeGeorge says. “Greg Kotis and Mark Hollman have been incredibly generous with their time and talents. The student designers, technicians, stage managers and performers have all risen to the challenges presented by this unique piece of ‘bio-historical musical theatre.’ ”

“The cast, stage management team and I have had a blast in the rehearsal room as we dive into the ridiculousness of the musical and discover its depth,” he adds. “This piece is a weird and wonderful combination of absurdity and pathos — like nothing I have ever worked on before.”

Admission to CCM’s production of Yeast Nation is free, but reservations are required. Tickets become available at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, April 1. Visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Limit two tickets per order.
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Yeast Nation
Music by Mark Hollmann
Lyrics by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis
Book by Greg Kotis

Cast List

• Anya Axel as Jan-the-Unnamed
• Eli Goykhman as Jan-the-Elder
• Erich Schleck as Jan-the-Wise
• John Collins as Jan-the-Second-Oldest
• Bailee Endebrock as Jan-the-Sweet
• Delaney Guyer as Jan-the-Sly
• Jamie Goodson as Jan-the-Famished
• Kurtis Brown as Jan-the-Wretched
• Elijah King as Jan-the-Youngest
• Veronica Stern as The New One
  
• The Yeast: Olivia Buss, Nick Berninger, Carlee Coulehan, David Littlefield, Haley Holcomb, Quinn Surdez, Victoria Popritkin, Jake Waford, Jordyn Walker

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Thursday, April 4
• 8 p.m. Friday, April 5
• 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, April 6

Location
Cohen Family Studio Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati 

Admission
Admission is free, but reservations are required. Tickets become available at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, April 1. Visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Limit two per order.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.