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New Home For Playhouse In The Park

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park will be getting a new home. Artistic Director Blake Robison says it will still be in Eden Park though. The existing theater will be torn down and replaced.

"We will be replacing our Robert S. Marx Theater with a state of the art main stage commensurate with our national reputation," Robison says. "We looked at the renovation option but the truth is the building is so old, it costs nearly the same to take it down and start from scratch."

The Marx Theater was built in 1968, and hasn't had a major renovation. Robison says it's the oldest unrenovated theater main stage in the country.

Concept - CPIP MainStage by WVXU News on Scribd

Robison says the new theater will feature the best technology for performances.

"It's time for a serious upgrade to give our audience better sight lines, better acoustics, better ingress-egress all of the things that modern audiences have come to expect," Robison says. "And for our artists, of course, we want to give them the very best tools and technologies so they can continue to practice their art form at the highest level," he says.

Robison says the Playhouse is looking for a temporary home for performances during construction.

"We don't just want to turn the arts off for a whole year," Robison says. "That would be a tragedy. We will keep it going. There's no doubt."

The new theater should be open by Fall of 2020. A capital campaign to raise money for the project will get underway later this year. The goal hasn't been announced.

Bill Rinehart started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.