The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, one of the country’s largest and oldest kid-focused live theater organizations, is reopened the Emery Theater after a multi-year renovation. The season’s first show is The Wizard of Oz: Youth Edition, whose heartwarming lesson is, “There’s no place like home.” It runs through October 26.
The Children’s Theatre, founded in 1919, performed at the Emery from 1949 to 1969 and then moved to the Taft Theatre for public shows. Owning its own theater now gives TCT the opportunity for longer runs for each show and for booking touring children’s events.
The Emery’s original capacity was around 2,200, but TCT’s renovation resulted in a reduction to 1,534 to accommodate larger seats and new amenities such as a larger lobby, an accessible full-service elevator, and a crying/sound sensory room.
The renovation allowed TCT to create the most technologically advanced theater space in the U.S. A new rotating lift allows sets to be raised from under the stage, while projection mapping turns the stage’s back wall and entire proscenium into LED screens.
Philanthropist Mary Emery funded the theater’s construction in 1911 as home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. After the CSO moved back to Music Hall 25 years later, the Emery hosted concerts, speakers, and TCT. But it’s sat empty and unused for two decades … until now.
[Photograph by Andrew Doench]