Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati

ETC provides a full suite of education programming dedicated to reaching a range of youth in the Greater Cincinnati community.

Our signature Hunter Heartbeat Program is a series of sensory games created for people with autism and other developmental disabilities. By focusing on moments in Shakespeare, participants can express themselves and explore eye contact, language skills, spatial relationships, turn taking, emotional recognition, and imaginative play.

The Prelude Program is a 10-week residency in which students work with our teaching artists to write, design, rehearse, and perform their own play.

The Fairy Godmother Program brings 1,500+ economically disadvantaged children from Over-the-Rhine and other underserved Greater Cincinnati areas to see our holiday musicals at no charge. Sensory-friendly performances for guests with autism and other disabilities are a key component of the program, including both daytime offerings for school groups and weekend/evening options for families.

Teen Scene is specifically geared to students ages 13-19, with a special subscription rate and post-show dinner and discussion with cast members and/or theatre artists to talk about the show, its themes, and related topics with the goal of deepening students' appreciation and understanding of live performance in a peer environment.

Customized workshops and classes are designed to strengthen character-building skills that are intrinsic to theatre, but can also be applied across a broad spectrum of academic subjects and real-life situations. They can easily be tailored to fit each school/organization's needs.

Summer Stock offers junior and high school youth the opportunity to explore a variety of acting, audition, improv, and other techniques, as well as technical theatre skills during one- and two-week intensive experiences, which culminate in a performance on our main stage.

As a theatre also dedicated to cultivating the next generation of arts professionals and fortifying our region's creative class, the heart of our Ensemble is our Professional Acting Apprentice program. Apprentices are given rotating assignments for each show of the season working alongside professional members of ETC's team to experience the many layers of producing theatre professionally.

Technical and administrative apprenticeships are also offered when possible.