Around Cincinnati

Self-proclaimed Renaissance man, Rick Sowash, is a classical music composer, author, public speaker, and guard at the Cincinnati Art Museum. While his previous books have been for a pre-teen audience, his newest, The Boy Who Would be Famous, is an autobiography of his early life. He joins Jane Durrell to discuss his varied interests and why he has penned this book at this time in his life.

The Benjamin Carlson-Berne Memorial Scholarship was established to provide instrumental music lessons for underserved youth in the Cincinnati community. To raise funds, they will host a benefit concert on February 1 with acclaimed pianist Terrence Wilson. Susan Carlson joins Brian O’Donnell to talk about how this scholarship program came to be and details on this concert at the School for Creative and Performing Arts.

Local poet Kate Faddick reads her poem The Misunderstanding.

Playhouse is the Park will soon open the world premiere of a provocative new drama, Abigail/1702, which speculates on the life of Abigail Williams (from The Crucible) if she escaped Salem through the forest and started a new life elsewhere. The play is set 10 years after the infamous witch trials, while Abigail still tries to atone for the sins we know of, and others we don’t. Rick Pender is joined in studio by Stephanie Fieger, the actor who is portraying Abigail, who talks about the play and her debut at the Playhouse.

Tracy Chevalier, author of the bestseller Girl with a Pearl Earring, has just published her latest novel, this one set in Ohio during the days of the Underground Railroad called The Last Runaway. The author and Oberlin College alum joins Barbara Gray on the phone to discuss this new, dramatic tale.