Summer is officially here, and for The Carnegie, that means the start of their theater season for the year.
The Covington-based theater, situated in the largest and only multidisciplinary arts venue in Northern Kentucky, is presenting three shows as part of its summer programming.
This is the fourth year The Carnegie has run shows in the summer, and Theatre Director Tyler Gabbard told LINK that they have been a big success. He said that there have been five best-selling shows in Carnegie’s history in the past two years.
“So there’s been a real clear like trajectory there,” said Gabbard. “This past season was our best-selling yet. So people are clearly coming out.”
One of the significant benefits of their recent success, Gabbard said, has been the ability to bring live music to the shows. For cost, they had been previously running shows with a prerecorded music track, but starting last summer, they were able to introduce live bands and orchestras.
“It just adds an energy that you can’t get from a pre-recorded track, and it allows the actors more room to play and to keep it fresh, and the music responds to them,” said Gabbard.
This year’s summer programming starts with “The Color Purple,” running June 27 through July 6, then it moves on to “Always…Patsy Cline,” running July 25 through Aug. 3 and finally the summer finishes out with “Grease,” running Aug. 15-24.
Eric Byrd, who is directing The Carnegie’s production of “Grease”, has been working with the theater since the summer programming started in 2022. He told LINK that one of the initial reasons he started having discussions with The Carnegie was due to what he observed as a professor in the theater department of the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music.
“I was seeing a bunch of students come through who had a drought of experience because of the pandemic,” said Byrd. “They weren’t able to do their high school musicals. They weren’t able to audition for shows outside of their town. And the things they had done were just small recordings or Zoom meetups.”
He said he wanted to give local students the opportunity to get experience without having to leave the region during the summertime.
“It’s been really fun to see The Carnegie kind of grow and provide opportunity for so many people in and outside of the community,” said Byrd.
Production for the summer shows is quick. The cast and crew have three weeks of rehearsal, a week of technical rehearsals on stage, dress rehearsals and then they open.
“So it’s fast and furious, which is kind of the name of the game for summer stock musical theater, but they’re all total pros, and come in well prepared,” said Gabbard.
They’re able to get these productions together so quickly, Byrd said, because they have very well-trained students from all over the region performing in these shows. They have students from UC to NKU to Xavier, Wright State and even from Otterbein.
“These kids that are coming to do these shows are super hungry, and they want to be there, and they want to be on stage, and the industry demands they pick things up quickly,” said Byrd. “So this is a great, great stepping stone in their career as they pursue all their professional acting dreams.”
Friday marks opening night for “The Color Purple.”
20-year-old rising junior at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, Jordyn Jones, is playing the show’s lead, Celie.
Jones told LINK that when she originally auditioned for the show, she didn’t expect to get the part of Celie at all. But after the first audition, she was called back for the part.
Unfortunately, Jones said she got sick right before the callback audition, “so I couldn’t sing the titular song ‘I’m Here.’” She said she offered the director a video of her singing the song from a few days before, when she had her voice, and she got the part.
Jones is excited for her debut on Friday. She told LINK that she loves the show and the people she has gotten the chance to work with.
“You don’t really get a chance to work with an all black cast very frequently, it’s an all back team as well,” said Jones. “And it’s really, really comforting to be around other people, like yourself. Especially in a predominantly white field, a lot of shows like this don’t even exist.”
Gabbard said “The Color Purple” was on his list of shows since he started his role at The Carnegie in 2022. The show will run for two weekends with seven performances overall.
“It’s a really intimate piece, even though it’s a big cast and has low technical needs,” said Gabbard. “So it really focuses on the humans at the center of the story, which is always important to me.”
Jones told LINK that she has loved working with Gabbard and the rest of the team at The Carnegie.
“It’s very collaborative,” said Jones. “And everyone is super kind and super considerate about everyone else’s feelings. Because the show has so many moving parts, so it’s really nice to have a really strong team behind us.”
After the summer, The Carnegie is showing “The Rocky Horror Show” Oct. 24 through Nov. 2, then “A Cozy Christmas” Dec. 6 and 7, “It’s A Wonderful Life” Dec. 9 and 10 and finally the season rounds out with “Anything Goes” running Feb. 27 though March 8, 2026.
Find more information about the shows and tickets at thecarnegie.com.