Side Man at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati

Set from 1953 and traveling to 1985, this 1999 Tony Award for Best Play winner, chronicles the life of trumpet players 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.

Authors

• Warren Leight