Less than a year ago, Garin Pirnia and Ann Driscoll founded Leontine Cinema, a repertory series dedicated to screening monthly films directed by women, hosted at the Esquire, the Woodward Theater and the Contemporary Arts Center. Since August, it’s built up a reputation for high-quality screenings and well-researched, thoughtful discussions. They've even gotten participation from some of the directors of the featured films they've screened, including a full-length interview with Karyn Kusama (Yellowjackets, The Invitation), video shout-outs by Nancy Savoca (Dogfight) and Sofia Coppola (The Bling Ring), a live Q&A with Adult Best Friends filmmaker Delaney Buffett (Jimmy Buffet’s daughter), and a type-written statement from Desperately Seeking Susan director Susan Seidelman. They show no signs of stopping in their quest to spread the love for underseen and underappreciated gems by women directors, who remain woefully underrepresented in the film industry. instagram.com/leontine_cinema.
DANCEFIX, a repeat CityBeat Best of Cincinnati winner for Best Dance Classes, has had quite the year. Founder Heather Britt opened a long-awaited new headquarters space in Walnut Hills in October, setting up shop in the burgeoning arts corridor on East McMillan Street. The studio is over 3,000 square feet, with a variety of dance classes held seven days a week, and is also available for event rentals. But have you heard about the bathroom art gallery? Local artists including Pam Kravetz, Carla Lamb, Rosie Kovacs and Karen Sickmann-Saunders, with assists from Jodie Linver, Patti Foster and Ron Houck, were tasked with transforming each of the four bathrooms into their own works of art. Themes range from a vibrant jungle to a sumptuous bunny-themed room to a pollinator-friendly room with pottery pieces. Watch out, MoMA. dancefixcincinnati.com.
This year, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is celebrating its 150th anniversary by ensuring birds of a feather can indeed stick together. Yes, there’s a lot more to this globally known and respected attraction than its holiday lights. Behind the scenes, the zoo’s conservation efforts reign supreme. A medium-sized bird called the sihek — also known as the Guam kingfisher — was declared extinct in the wild after invasive brown tree snakes wiped out its population. But as part of a groundbreaking conservation effort, nine sihek chicks — including three from the Cincinnati Zoo — were relocated to a protected Pacific Ocean preserve to prepare for their historic release back into the wild. This marks the first time in nearly four decades that the species will live outside human care, thanks to a global partnership of zoos and conservationists working to restore the population. The birds will settle into their new home at The Nature Conservancy’s Palmyra Atoll, a predator-free refuge, with hopes that they will one day return to Guam — flying the coop with a fresh start. cincinnatizoo.org.
Fans of serious theater — be it dramas, comedies or solo performances — have found excellent productions of such shows by Falcon Theatre on Monmouth Street in Newport, Kentucky’s historic district. They offer a five-show season that’s typically stocked with regional premieres of plays that are being staged locally for the first time. Falcon is truly a “storefront” theater with seats for about 50 people, making performances intimate and impactful. falcontheater.net.
Dust off your “-saurus” flashcards because dinosaurs still roam Cincinnati — in fossil form, at least. Cincinnati Museum Center recently expanded its already massive fossil collection with a nine-week dig out west. Partnering with Elevation Science Institute, teams of paleontologists and volunteers unearthed prehistoric treasures, from a Hadrosaurus with skin impressions to a Triceratops frill and even a four-foot juvenile Diplodocus femur. The dig process is no small feat: fossils are carefully excavated, wrapped in toilet paper or tin foil and encased in protective plaster jackets before making their journey back to the Queen City. Once at the museum, they undergo painstaking prep work in the Paleo Lab, where visitors can watch the past come back to life — one brushstroke at a time. Dinosaur Hall does a phenomenal job putting it all into perspective with interactive elements, submerging you into the Jurassic possibly even better than Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum. cincymuseum.org.
Last fall’s special photography exhibition, Discovering Ansel Adams, was a big draw for the Cincinnati Art Museum. Eighty of his starkly, magnificently composed black-and-white images of the American Southwest from early in his career (1916-1940) dazzled art lovers from across the region, and crowds were still coming through mid-January. With classic images from Yosemite and other picturesque national parks, it was possible to see how he refined his craft at a young age. cincinnatiartmuseum.org.
A new leadership team at Know Theatre has resuscitated the Jackson Street avant-garde theater company. Local veteran director Bridget Leak is now artistic director, leading a team that includes Ri Moodie as managing director and Fringe artist and Cincy Fringe producer Katie Hartman, who’s now handling marketing. They’re reviving Know’s kick-ass ambiance, especially with a new holiday show, Die Hard Is a Christmas Movie, that could very well become a holiday tradition. knowtheatre.com.
In Covington, the Carnegie’s summer production of the cult classic was the surprise hit of the summer 2024 season. The 1973 musical The Rocky Horror Show inspired the 1975 cult classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show that still draws audiences for midnight showings at movie houses like Clifton’s Esquire Theatre. It proved so popular that the Carnegie is bringing it back in October 2025 — for its 50th anniversary. Talk about your time warps. thecarnegie.com.
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet four centuries ago. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company toured a production to regional parks in the summer of 2024. But that was just the beginning: It opened its season with Fat Ham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning translation of the show into a funny, backyard barbecue, and more recently staged A Room in the Castle, a world premiere by renowned playwright Lauren Gunderson, focused on Hamlet’s female characters who typically fade into the background. That production moved to Washington, D.C.’s Folger Theatre in April, guaranteeing that Cincy Shakes’ national profile is on the rise. cincyshakes.com.
For the better part of a decade, storyteller Paul Strickland has been entertaining audiences at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival (as well as fringe festivals across North America) with his whimsical tall tales from the Big Fib Trailer Park. He’s cultivated a captivating art form and developed a national following. He’s building on that as the producer of the annual Cincinnati Storytelling Festival, which had its fourth three-day iteration last November in Westwood. He performed along with a pair of renowned tellers, Lyn Ford from Columbus, Ohio, and Andy Offutt Irwin from Covington, Georgia. It returns this fall — it’s a don’t-miss opportunity. ainttrue.com.
“When pigs fly?” It’s about damn time. Alan P. Marrero’s installation in Piatt Park was perhaps one of the most heart-emoji-inducing masterpieces we saw at this year’s iteration of BLINK – just look at those potbellies! A more tranquil installation amid the technicolor festival, visitors strolled under dozens of illuminated resin sculptures of our city’s favorite [winged] mammal. The pigs hovered suspended from trees mid-flight and, judging by their little piggie smiles, were having a grand time doing so. Marrero himself is a born-and-raised Cincinnatian currently living in Seattle. His little masterpieces were for sale (or “adoption,” to be exact – even cuter) after the event, but no one would blame you for wanting to snip one of the strings and hoof it through the crowded streets of BLINK before anyone noticed. blinkcincinnati.com.
The Cincinnati Playhouse’s non-Christmas Carol holiday show by Chicago’s Second City marked the legendary improv comedy troupe’s 65th anniversary in November and December. They’ve performed at the Playhouse’s Shelterhouse Theatre before, and every time they sell out every outing with songs, sketches and characters developed by the likes of Tina Fey, Eugene Levy, Bill Murray and others. They took the time to plug in lots of local humor, so the show felt like it was made for Tri-State audiences. cincyplay.com.
It’s fun to head to New York City to see Broadway shows, but in the fall the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park offered local audiences the world premiere of Rutka: A New Musical that already has producers steering it toward the Great White Way. With an indie rock score, the diary of a young Jewish teen in war-torn Poland in 1943 was brought to life. Won’t it be fun to say you saw it here in Cincinnati first? cincyplay.com.
Ever watch the weather and think, “I should call him?” That was certainly the case for many Cincinnatians when AccuWeather shared images of a hot pink, phallic-shaped snowstorm moving through the area just after the new year. The storm dropped its load of white stuff on Greater Cincinnati, essentially shutting down the city for days. And yeah, we had way too much immature fun reporting on it. accuweather.com.
Last year, photographer Taylor Kubik installed a film vending machine inside Collective Espresso Newport. He calls the company Camera Vitamins. The state-of-the-art machine dispenses different types of film. Once the roll is used, drop it off because Kubik processes the film in a darkroom. You can get scans, and he’ll make 8x10 prints. Film photography has gained in popularity again, with a new generation discovering it. While dropping off or buying film, make sure to grab a cup of coffee and hang out with the staff. cameravitamins.com.
In American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era, award-winning author Nico Lang captures the resilience and realities of trans youth in today’s America. Through the personal stories of eight trans and nonbinary teenagers, the book explores the struggles, triumphs and challenges they face with increasing political attacks on their rights. Lang’s deeply researched and empathetic storytelling — which took the Cincinnati native all over the country — highlights the urgent need to protect and support trans youth, offering a counter-narrative to the fear-driven policies shaping their lives. American Teenager is a must-read for anyone looking to understand the human impact of these debates and to stand in solidarity with LGBTQIA+ youth. Nico Lang — who has also served as an LGBTQIA+ correspondent for VICE and a frequent contributor to NBC News and Xtra — is cementing themself as a more than formidable force in the LBGTQIA+ resistance. Nico will be one to watch (and read) in the coming years. goodreads.com.
August 24, 79 A.D. was not a great day to be home in Pompeii, Italy. That’s when the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted violently and unexpectedly, smothering the nearby towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and more than 20,000 people. The death toll is unknown, but the remains of more than 1,500 people have been unearthed. Pompeii: The Exhibition spent six months (February-July 2024) at the Cincinnati Museum Center displaying 150 preserved artifacts from the volcanic destruction— frescoes, gladiator armor, statues, jewelry and everyday items that recreated everyday life in Pompeii. It was fantastically popular. cincinnatiartmuseum.org.
Every Tuesday night at 7 p.m., a group of cinephiles hosts free films inside nonprofit art studio and gallery PAR-Projects in Northside. Originally named Movies at the Lounge and held at The Lounge in Northside, last summer founders and curators Zachary Severt and Lillian Currens renamed the organization Open Source Cinema and moved the operation into PAR-Projects. Every month has a theme and different curators. Recent themes include the very specific “the female necrophile,” debauched autocrats and autobiographical films. The movie night is a great way to not only make new friends but also to participate in PAR-Projects’ mission of diversity and creating and sharing community with the public. instagram.com/opensourcecinemacinci.
The theatrical and improv wizards who constitute the Improvised Shakespeare Company came to Cincinnati in October. Picking a whimsical title — Did He or Didn’t He? — from several shouted out by the audience, the team’s four actors put together a remarkable and hilarious 90-minute performance that included songs, choreography and other silliness in the style of the Bard. The first of two performances was inspiration enough to get some audience members to return to the Jarson-Kaplan the next day for another completely different performance. The success of this engagement bodes well for a return. cincyshakes.com.
Since its opening in October, the Harry and Linda Fath Elephant Trek at the Cincinnati Zoo has been a sanctuary for the herds of elephants who call it home. The space is the zoo’s largest habitat to date, offering large indoor and outdoor roaming areas, swimming pools, gardens and enrichment activities for the elephants to live their best lives. The atmosphere is set to mimic the environment of Southeast Asia, with specially-curated landscapes and artwork. The herd is home to elephants Mai Thai, Schottzie, Sabu, Jati, SheRa, Kabir, Anak and Sanjay who can all be seen enjoying their new space and splashing in the available waters. In addition to it being an enjoyable site for visitors, it is also an important location for its sustainability and conservation efforts, promoting the protection of the beautiful creatures. cincinnatizoo.org.