Messing Around
I Need That
Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, 1127 Vine St.
Feb. 8 – March 2
Performances Tuesday–Saturday, 7:30 pm; Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm.
Tickets and info at www.ensemblecincinnati.org.
Tickets for adults start at $30; student tickets are $28; and children are $24.
Half-Price Rush Tickets: All remaining tickets for the current day’s performance(s) are available two hours prior to each show time for half-price (adult tickets only), by phone or in person.
$15 Student Rush Tickets: Students may purchase up to two $15 student rush tickets two hours prior to show time with valid student I.D. Available in person only.
Did the New Year inspire you to purge your wardrobe, clean out the basement, or generally get rid of your old junk? If trying to make those decisions was a little harder than you thought it would, I Need That, opening Saturday at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati (ETC) is the perfect show for you!
ETC kicks off their first show of 2025 with the regional premiere of the comedy by award-winning playwright Theresa Rebeck (Bad Dates, NBC’s Smash).
Rebeck, a Cincinnati native and Broadway’s most-produced female playwright, will also direct this new hilarious, heartfelt, and human play about a curmudgeonly father, his exasperated daughter, his patient best friend, and life’s messes. Following its successful Broadway run starring Danny and Lucy DeVito, the play is making its way to Cincinnati.
“I got a phone call one day from Theresa Rebeck . . .THE Theresa Rebeck and she said, ‘I’d like to direct this play at ETC’,” says Producing Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers. “It feels like this show was gifted to us at the right time and with the right people. Theresa pioneered very rough terrain in the film, television, and theatre industry and has changed the face of female writers forever. Her writing is so good that it cannot be ignored.”
Sam doesn’t get out much. Actually, he doesn’t get out at all, opting instead for the safety of his house in the company of his things—his many, many things. But when a notice from the government arrives alerting Sam that he must clean up his property or face eviction, he’s forced to reckon with what’s trash, what’s treasure, and whether we can ever know the difference between the two.
David Wohl makes his Ensemble Theatre debut as Sam. He has been an actor for more than fifty years, working on and off Broadway, in regional theaters, in movies, and on television. He recently played the filmmaker Eroll Morris in Rob Ackerman's play Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson, directed by Theresa Rebeck at the Working Theater in New York. Some of his film credits include Terms of Endearment and Revenge of the Nerds.
Kenneth Early, last seen at ETC in Who All Over There? plays Foster. He has been seen regionally at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA, and his film credits include White Noise, Miles Ahead, UFO, Chain of Command, Dark Waters, and Dusk.
Maggie Lou Rader plays Amelia. She was last seen at ETC as Lizzie in Maytag Virgin. She has performed regionally with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Human Race Theatre Company, Florida Studio Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Kitchen Theatre, Know Theatre of Cincinnati, and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Rader is also a national award-winning playwright and resident artist at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.