Proposed Incline Theater to be anchor of Price Hill redevelopment

Last summer, Cincinnati Landmark Productions, the group that operates the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts, the Showboat Majestic and Cincinnati Young People’s Theatre, launched a campaign to raise $5.1 million for a new performing arts center and parking garage in Price Hill. Fundraising is 92 percent complete, with just over $300,000 still to raise for the project.
 
The proposed 235-seat Incline Theater is part of the 2010 master plan to beautify the Price Avenue streetscape. And with the Showboat closing at the end of the season, the Incline will bring some of the charm of the showboat to the neighborhood.
 
“The Incline Theater will have a nostalgic connection to Price Hill, as it will sit where the original Price Hill Incline came up,” says Tim Perrino, executive director of Cincinnati Landmark Productions. “The theater will have a great view of downtown from the lobby, and it will be a real driver to revitalization and vitality in the area.”
 
May through September, the theater will host an eclectic season with smaller, more intimate shows than currently produced at the Covedale or Showboat. During the summer, musicals and comedy will be part of Summer Faire. On the weekends, the Incline will host small touring groups and semi-famous bands.
 
“I grew up across the street from the proposed site, and my grandparents lived there until 1992,” Perrino says. “I want to see a new Incline District, a new East Price Hill, rise from what it is. We’re not bringing back anything, but creating something new and exciting.
 
“As we wrap up at the Showboat every night, I ask the audience ‘Did you have fun tonight?’ What I really mean is did they have fun for 23 years, and I want people to feel the same way about the Incline 23 years from now.”
 
Construction on the Incline Theater, which will be located at the corner of Matson Place and W. Eighth Street, is to begin in early 2014.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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