Brian Isaac Phillips, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s Producing Artistic Director, briefly stepped away from directing rehearsals to fill us in on what we can expect this fall during the company's 23rd season. You can look forward to love, intrigue, drama, family ties, comedy, angst and deception—and that’s just what’s happening before December! 

Which production(s) are you most excited for this fall, and why? 

I am very excited about our current production of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” and our upcoming of production of “Death of a Salesman.” These are two fantastic plays that showcase what we do above and beyond Shakespeare and couldn’t be more different in and of themselves. 
“Cyrano de Bergerac” highlights all the members of our resident ensemble, as well as giving one of our longtime company members, Jeremy Dubin, a star turn in one of his dream roles!  It also allowed our Costume Department to shine, with one of the finest costume designs to ever step on stage at CSC.  
“Death of a Salesman” is an American classic and opens on Oct. 16- this is actually one day before Arthur Miller’s centennial birthday on Oct. 17, 2015! The featured actor, Bruce Cromer is a treasure of the regional theater scene and to see his Willy Lohman is going to be an event not-to-be missed!

Which production do you think will be the most popular among the general public and why? 

I think that our production of Jane Austen’s “Emma,” adapted by Jon Jory, is going to be one of the hardest tickets to find this season.  We have had such great success with “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility” in the past, with many sold-out nights, and we know our audience is looking forward to this one.  As an added bonus, we are thrilled to welcome Brian C. Mehring, the Resident Scenic and Lighting Designer at ETC, to work with CSC, and to have our longtime company member Kelly Mengelkoch as the director.
 

Can you offer any interesting insight about the upcoming fall season?  

I think that the variety and scale of the programming that we are starting our season off with is pushing CSC in new and exciting ways, and I’ve very excited to see how we meet the challenge.
 

Is your organization trying anything new this fall? 

We have a new addition to the staff at CSC this season, our production manager Maddie Regan.  She has just joined us this fall, and you can already see the positive effects her contribution is having on our main-stage production values.