The Mission

Know Theatre of Cincinnati exists to build belonging through bold theatre.

Vision

A Cincinnati where theatre is not an exclusive club but a gathering place for artists and audiences of every background. A Fringe Festival that continues to be a safe space for experimentation and artistic risk. A MainStage season that invites Cincinnati to think deeply and feel together. A MainStage that reflects the city’s complexity, offering work that is both artistically rigorous and emotionally accessible. An organization whose health is measured in trust, reciprocity, and belonging. This vision is intentionally adaptive. Just as Fringe thrives on unpredictability, Know Theatre’s future remains flexible. What remains constant is our north star: belonging built through bold theatre.

Core Values

• Collaboration – We believe in reciprocity over transaction. Collaboration shows up in how our team supports artists, how Fringe facilitates rather than prescribes, and how staff rely on one another across roles.
• Community – We are not the sole creators of community; rather, we provide a home where communities can gather as themselves. Fringe artists find a cohort, patrons connect in the Underground, and local groups discover space where they feel welcome.
• Approachability – Patrons describe the Know as “come as you are.” Tickets are affordable, Welcome Thursdays lower barriers, and staff engage anyone who walks through the door. Approachability replaces vague ideals with concrete practices of openness.
• Care – Care is our humanist underpinning. It is why staff hand out popsicles to unhoused neighbors on hot days, why artists feel supported in risk-taking, and why our space operates like a village where people share resources and look out for each other.
• Integrity – We lead with transparency and truthfulness. From staff transitions to donor communications, integrity ensures we tell the truth even when it is difficult.
• Stewardship – We are entrusted with resources—financial, artistic, and relational—and we manage them with care for the future. Stewardship is accountability in practice.

Our History

The Founding of Know Theatre

The Know Theatre of Cincinnati was formed in the summer of 1997. Ann Pennick, Julie Vehorn, Dwaun Watson and Jay Kalagayan developed a mission to make theatre more accessible to the community. They planned a bookstore tour featuring sketches and short plays by local writers. The Know Theatre Tribe was expanded to include other performers and the tour began in September of that year. 

In 1999, the Know Theatre Tribe took up its first residence in Gabriel’s Corner, a community performance space in an Over-the-Rhine church basement, Salem United Church of Christ, and produced a full season of plays. 

In 2004, Jason Bruffy became Artistic Director of Know Theatre Tribe. 

The David C. Herriman Center for Performing Arts

In the fall of 2005, David C. Herriman, a friend and patron of Know Theatre, offered to purchase the building at 1120 Jackson Street for the company. 

The purchase closed in March, 2006. After 43 days in which seven staffers worked around the clock to renovate the space and install equipment, the space opened with In the Blood by Suzan Lori Parks on April 27. 

A year later, Know Theatre expanded by merging with the four-year-old Cincinnati Fringe Festival. This merger created what was, at the time, the only regional theatre that also produced a Fringe Festival. 

In the fall of 2008, Know Theatre partnered with Matheatre to launch a national tour of Calculus: The Musical! Over the next 7 years, Calculus served over 50,000 students and teachers across the country. 

In 2009, both Jason Bruffy and founder Jay Kalagayan left Know Theatre. Managing Director Eric Vosmeier became Artistic Director. 

In 2010, Know Theatre launched the Jackson Street Market, a resource sharing program to foster our local community of individual artists and independent arts organizations. Graduates include OTRimprov and TrueTheatre, which are now independent artistic entities. 

In 2013, Know Theatre became an associate member of the National New Play Network, giving us access to a wide network of resources and raising the profile of both Know and the greater Cincinnati Theatre community. 

In 2014, the Artistic Leadership team of Andrew Hungerford and Tamara Winters took the helm of the organization. In that season, the Know renewed its commitment to economic accessibility by introducing The Welcome Experiment, a program which provides low cost advance tickets to Wednesday MainStage performances, and reserves half of capacity for those performances as walk-up tickets available free of charge. 

In addition to audience accessibility, the Know strives to pay all artists employed in MainStage productions a fair wage for their work. 

In 2014, Know launched Serials!, a Monday Night Episodic Theatre Party where local playwrights bring work to audiences before the ink is dry. 

Know Theatre is now among the region’s most dynamic small arts organizations, producing an award winning MainStage Season, the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, a Cabaret Stage season of works focused on local artists. In 2024 the Leadership structure shifted to include a Producing Artistic Director, Bridget Leak, and Managing Director, Ri Moodie.

The Community

With over 20 years as part of the neighborhood, Know Theatre seeks to be a full citizen of Over-the-Rhine.

Through partnerships with other not-for-profits such as ArtsWave and the Art Academy, Know Theatre aims to be a good neighbor and advocate for our community in Over-the-Rhine.

The community of Know Theatre is not limited to its neighborhood, however. We consider the artistic community of the Know to be made up of the staff, artists, volunteers, donors, board, and patrons – and all of our work is created with the intent to nurture this community.

The Space

Know Theatre is a 99 seat contemporary black box theatre located in the David C. Herriman Center for the Performing Arts at 1120 Jackson Street in historic Over-the-Rhine.

Our lobby, the Underground, has a full bar and cabaret stage for second stage programming and special events.

Our second floor MainStage is an intimate space with general admission seating. No audience seat is more than 20′ from the playing space.

Accessibility

We do have elevator access to our upstairs MainStage. Because the configuration of our space frequently changes, patrons using the elevator are accompanied by ushers.

If you or a member of your party have mobility concerns, it’s helpful if you give us a call ahead of time at 513.300.5669.