There are a ton of shows out there this weekend, so you can hardly go wrong when you buy a theater ticket. If you want a thoughtful, creative comedy, you should head to the Cincinnati Playhouse for The Understudy. On the surface, it's about some actors in a rehearsal — and there's a lot of shenanigans that theater lovers will connect with. But even if you're not so versed in behind-the-scenes machinations of the theater (and movie) world, you'll be entertained by this script.

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Theresa Rebeck's comedy The Understudy (at the Playhouse through Oct. 17) has earned the first two nominations of the Acclaim Awards 2010-2011 season. CityBeat's Cincinnati Entertainment Awards recently joined forces with The Acclaims, and I'm working closely with the process. The Acclaims handed down during the season serve as nominations for awards that will be presented next spring: The sixth annual Acclaim Awards are scheduled for May 23, 2011, at the Aronoff Center for the Arts.

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If you're a CityBeat reader, you're probably consumed with the Midpoint Music Festival this weekend. But if you need a breather from the tsunami of tunes all over town, you have lots of good theater choices, several of which are just opening.

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You want something frothy this weekend? Check out Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Showboat Majestic or Much Ado About Nothing at Cincinnati Shakespeare (read Julie York Coppens' review here). The latter is especially fun if you're a Baby Boomer — it's set in 1968 and has a soundtrack from the era.

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No matter which way thou goest this weekend one canst run into a play by Shakespeare.

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CityBeat hosted the 14th annual and final Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for Theater Sunday night at Know Theatre in Over-the-Rhine, and as always the local theater community enjoyed the opportunity to catch up after summer breaks and celebrate before the new season gets underway. Awards were handed out in 27 categories, some voted on by the public and some determined by a "critical achievement" panel of local critics. Find a list of all the nominees and winners here.

In case you missed the event (or were there and "forget" exactly what happened), we've published a photo gallery here and a multimedia piece with interviews here.

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Since 1997, CityBeat has sponsored local theater recognition through the annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. The 14th annual event is Sunday evening at Know Theatre (1120 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine); doors open at 6 p.m., program is at 7 p.m. It also happens to be the last CEAs for theater.

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Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Producing Artistic Director Ed Stern today announced that he will leave the esteemed regional theater after two more seasons, following the 2011-12 season, his 20th. Ed’s tenure at the Playhouse predates CityBeat’s coming into existence: He began in 1992, two years before CityBeat began publishing. I had the pleasure of writing about the recovery of the theater under Stern for EveryBody’s News and then for CityBeat; the Playhouse was in desperate financial straits when Stern and Executive Director Buzz Ward took over — a $1.25 million accumulated deficit.

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If you remember Roger Miller, your recollection is probably of mindless but jaunty Country tunes like "King of the Road," "Dang Me" or "Chug-a-Lug." But he had a moment — actually more like a year or two, I suppose — when he turned his attention to musical theater and wrote songs for a show called Big River, based on Mark Twain's novel Huckleberry Finn. It was a Tony Award winner in 1985 and has some deeply heartfelt and melodic tunes, including "River in the Rain" and "Worlds Apart." You can see for yourself how entertaining his music and this show can be starting this weekend when Covington's Carnegie Center produces the show, pretty much kicking off the 2010-2011 theater season.

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Just as the 2010-11 theater season is about to kick off, Know Theatre of Cincinnati has shared plans for its 13th season. They'll offer four mainstage productions (there were five in 2009-10), the eighth annual Cincy Fringe Festival and a new family of programs dubbed the "Jackson Street Market." The season begins in earnest after Know hosts MidPoint Music Festival showcases Sept. 23-25.

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