In 2017, following three years of ideation, planning, and construction, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company opened the Otto M. Budig Theater at the corner of 12th and Elm streets to help form what The New York Times called Cincinnati’s “performance triangle.” The company designed its new Over-the-Rhine home from scratch and had hoped to follow the lead of theater industry heroes that host programming across two stages (including Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park). Yet a number of capital projects were taking place across the city at the time, especially renovations at neighboring Music Hall, so it was necessary to narrow the project scope to a single $17.5 million theater instead.
Cincy Shakes Artistic Director Brian Isaac Phillips, though, never forgot about the jettisoned second stage and how it could honor the growing organization’s appetite for programming and its robust education department. During a regular week in July, when I interview him, the company hosts play rehearsals on the Budig stage while summer camp takes place across three other rooms in the building. A regional premiere of Jane Austen rehearses in another space, and the Much Ado tour of area parks is loading up. The organization even rents space at the nearby First Lutheran Church to accommodate additional programming.
“There’s just so much activity here that we need the room to deliver what we’re doing today,” says Phillips, who adds that he was thrilled when conversations about expanding the building picked up again last year.
Image courtesy Cincy Shakes
Officially announced on August 21, Cincy Shakes will expand into a new 19,000-square-foot Community Arts and Education Center adjacent to the existing Budig Theater, featuring a studio theater with more than 150 seats and three multipurpose education and community spaces. The company’s mission statement is to be “a resident ensemble theatre company bringing Shakespeare and the Classics to life for all,” which, according to Phillips, means bringing the house playwright to life through more than just mainstage programming. The expansion allows Cincy Shakes to host a 15-show season across two venues; grow its existing education, camps, and classes; and increase its presence as a community partner by offering room for event rentals or incubator and studio spaces for other arts groups.
With the groundbreaking expected in March or April, Phillips anticipates that the approximately $25 million center will open in fall 2028, in time for the company’s 35th anniversary season. GBBN Architects and Messer Construction, partners on the 2017 project, return to lead the expansion.
It’s significant that this expansion can happen at all. A 2024 study by SMU DataArts found that nonprofit theaters average half as many performances and productions as they did in pre-pandemic years, and a 2023 survey found that more than half of theaters have budgeted for a deficit. Many describe their organizations as struggling.
Cincy Shakes, meanwhile, has garnered significant public support for its existing programming and upcoming expansion, increasing its number of productions and its patronage over the last five years. “It means the world,” says Phillips. “You’re hearing so much about contraction and crisis in theaters across the country. To not be in that position, to work from a place of confidence, to be able to take risks because of financial security—it makes us a better company and allows us to dream big.”
