Ensemble Theatre Presents Virtual Reading Of SIDE MAN

The Tony Award-winning play Side Man, by acclaimed playwright and television producer Warren Leight (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), returns to Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati (ETC), this time on the digital stage with a dramatic reading.

In 1999, ETC was the first regional theatre to produce Side Man while it was still running to sold-out houses on Broadway. The show, which reunites familiar Cincinnati actors on ETC's (virtual) stage, will be streaming online through ETC On Demand March 22-April 4, 2021 and is directed by D. Lynn Meyers.

Set from 1953 and traveling to 1985, this 1999 Tony Award for Best Play winner, chronicles the life of trumpet player's broken family as it navigates the decline of jazz as popular entertainment. Although the musicians are talented players, the nation is changing the channel to rock. "In its depiction of a young man struggling to remain the glue in the troubled marriage of his vacant, trumpet-playing father and unbalanced, alcoholic mother, this lovely play has an abiding power," says The New York Times.

"Before Side Man became a hit on Broadway, I had fallen in love with the script and knew it was a show that had the potential to bring audiences to ETC," says Producing Artistic Director D. Lynn Meyers. "Including the reigning Tony winner and Pulitzer finalist in that 1999 season undoubtedly was a catalyst for the theatre, drawing new patrons into the area, many of whom then became subscribers. Warren Leight graciously trusted a theatre and a director he didn't know to do the regional premiere and came to see it opening night. This led to two other premieres of his work, Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine and James and Annie."

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