Brian Isaac Phillip directs the opening production of CSC’s Seventeenth Season beginning on July 16^th

Cincinnati, June 23, 2010 – Cincinnati Shakespeare Company kicks off its seventeenth season with its sixth annual Summer Fling production – Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit, a romantic comedy of the supernatural. Featuring Jeremy Dubin, Annie Fitzpatrick, Kelly Mengelkoch, and Corinne Mohlenhoff, and directed by Brian Isaac Phillips, Blithe Spirit opens July 16^th, 2010, and runs through August 8^th, 2010.

When author Charles Condomine (Jeremy Dubin) invites the wildly eccentric medium, Madame Arcati (Annie Fitzpatrick), into his home to hold a séance, he finds himself suddenly haunted by the ghost of his first wife, Elvira (Kelly Mengelkoch), who only he can see and hear. Jealous of Charles’ new wife, Ruth (Corinne Mohlenhoff), Elvira decides to break up the marriage at all costs, even if it means arranging for Charles to join her in the afterlife. Full of ghostly surprises and Coward’s sly wit, Blithe Spirit is a classic comedy with a supernatural twist.

Blithe Spirit features Resident Company members Jeremy Dubin, Kelly Mengelkoch, Corinne Mohlenhoff, and Guest Artist Annie Fitzpatrick in her first Cincinnati Shakespeare Company performance. Mr. Dubin, a CSC resident company member since 1999, returns to the stage after his most recent performances as Bluntschli in Arms and the Man and Iago in Othello. Ms. Fitzpatrick was recently seen at Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati in Dead Man’s Cell Phone. This is her first appearance with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Brian Isaac Phillips returns to the directing chair at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company after helming last season’s productions of The Lion in Winter, All’s Well That Ends Well, and Krapp’s Last Tape, as well as Know Theater of Cincinnati’s award-winning Angels in America: Millennium Approaches.

Written in only five days in 1941 at the height of the Blitz in London, Blithe Spirit soon set box office records as the longest running non-musical play of its time. Coward wrote the play as an escapist comedy for Londoners facing extraordinary times of fear and uncertainty. As so many people suffered the loss of loved ones, spiritualism and séances became increasingly popular, and so Coward envisioned a play in which the dead returned to love, charm and annoy those left behind.

Costume designs by CSC Resident Costume Designer Heidi Jo Schiemer reflect the late 1930s setting of the play. New CSC Resident Lighting Designer Heather Mork and CSC Resident Sound Designer Christopher Guthrie design a series of ghostly surprises sure to delight audiences.

Performances of Blithe Spirit are scheduled Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 7:30pm and Sunday afternoons at 2:00pm beginning July 16th and continuing through August 8^th. Preview performances are scheduled Wednesday, July 14^th and Thursday, July 15^th at 7:30pm. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is located at 719 Race Street, downtown Cincinnati, two blocks west of the Aronoff Center. Ticket prices range from $22-$28. Preview tickets are $14. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express are accepted. Discounts are available for students, and group discounts are available for any group with six people or more. To purchase tickets or for more information, call the CSC Box Office at 513.381.BARD (2273), or visit us online at www.cincyshakes.com. Ticketing fees apply to all single ticket purchases.

For additional information on Blithe Spirit, or for interviews with Mr. Phillips, Mr. Dubin, Ms. Mengelkoch, or Ms. Mohlenhoff, please contact Rebecca Bromels, Managing Director, or visit www.cincyshakes.com.

Season Seventeen: What Lies Beneath is sponsored by The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company receives operating support from the Ohio Arts Council. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is supported, in part, by the generosity of individuals and businesses that give annually to the Fine Arts Fund.

About Cincinnati Shakespeare Company:

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is a professional theatre company dedicated to bringing Shakespeare and the classics to life for audiences of all ages. Located in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, CSC produces eight main stage productions each season at its home on Race Street. CSC employs a resident company of actors and artists who live and work in Cincinnati year-round and performs on a Small Professional Theatre contract with Actors’ Equity Association.