Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative

New Plays, New Voices, New Talents

CPI was formed in November 1996 and exists to serve the local Cincinnati community of playwrights, directors and actors who wish to pursue the art and craft of playwriting. CPI’s goal is to enhance the cultural awareness of the community by offering new, original work by local playwrights in both an entertaining and educational setting. We present low cost staged readings to the general public for playwrights to receive valuable feedback on their work and for audiences to be part of the creative process with the playwright. 

Aronoff Resident Company

CPI has been a resident company of the Aronoff Center for the Performing Arts since its inception as a 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code in July, 2001. All staged reading performances take place in the Fifth Third Theater unless capacity attendance requires us to move our performances to the larger Jarson-Kaplan Theater.

UPCOMING STAGED READINGS

Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased online (service charges will apply) by clicking the box at the bottom of each play synopsis, by phone at 513-621-2787 or at the box office (650 Walnut Street downtown Cincinnati). We strongly urge advance ticket purchases due to limited seating in the Fifth Third Theater.

Mary Beringer

March 14, 2023

Synapse

When Mrs. Brown’s husband disappears, she gets an offer from his employer- a technology company that can put Mr. Brown’s brain into the body of a willing participant, essentially bringing him back to life. Mrs. Brown agrees, but she may come to regret that decision.

About the Author: Mary Beringer was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. After working as a high school English teacher, she now writes grants for a non-profit. You may know her plays from performances at the Know Theatre, Cincinnati Lab Theatre, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, or University of Dayton’s Studio Theatre.

Roger Collins

April 4, 2023

Symone with a Y

Symone Edwards, an African American woman diagnosed with “unexplained infertility,” hopes to publish a children’s book with her friend and book illustrator who has recently become pregnant.  That the women met at an infertility clinic makes their contrary circumstances all the more challenging for Symone.  As disappointments mount and childhood wounds resurface, Symone is driven to the brink of her ability to cope.

About the Author: Roger Collins is professor emeritus at the University of Cincinnati where he received the Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching.  His fiction has been published in literary journals and his plays produced in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, Fort Thomas, Kentucky, Brooklyn, NY, and San Francisco, CA.  His debut novel, ‘Cities of Glass,’ was published June 2022 by All Things That Matter Press.

DEADLINE for submission: June 30, 2023

New Playwright Submissions For 2023-2024

We accept submissions of One Act, Full Length and short plays (10 minutes in length) that together make a performance of 90 minutes of work to present as a cold or staged reading. In order to be accepted for submission for our season of “new works” plays must be unpublished and not produced elsewhere. Membership in CPI is required prior to submission and can be done electronically on the “member” button. Playwrights are encouraged to attend our free monthly playwriting workshops to prepare their work for submission. Submissions that receive a cold reading receive valuable feedback from other playwrights and audiences at a local venue where attendance is free. Plays that are selected for a staged reading are performed at the Aronoff during our designated season and receive live audience feedback after the performance.

November 2022 staged reading Not Just Cousins
Photo Credit: Karen Adams

November 2022 staged reading Not Just Cousins
Photo Credit: Karen Adams

Contact Us

Address:
CPI
P.O. Box 40
Terrace Park, OH 45174-0040

Email:
cincyplaywrights@gmail.com