Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati

Skip to main content Skip to search

I Need That

by Theresa Rebeck

Get Tickets
A photo of piles of clutter, including an old TV set, a mountain of clothes, a guitar, and stacks of newspapers and boxes, against a muted floral orange wallpaper. A photo of piles of clutter, including an old TV set, a mountain of clothes, a guitar, and stacks of newspapers and boxes, against a muted floral orange wallpaper.

It’s a clutter-ful life!

Award-winning playwright Theresa Rebeck (Bad Dates, NBC’s Smash) directs her new hilarious, heartfelt, and human play about a curmudgeonly father, his exasperated daughter, his patient best friend, and life’s messes following its successful Broadway run. Sam doesn’t get out much. Actually, he doesn’t get out at all, opting instead for the safety of his house in the company of his things—his many, many things. But when a notice from the government arrives alerting Sam that he must clean up his property or face eviction, he’s forced to reckon with what’s trash, what’s treasure, and whether we can ever know the difference between the two.

Run time: ~1 hr, 40 min with no intermission

Content warning: After decades of knowing each other, Sam and his companions have no problem being candid with each other, using adult language and touching on some tough topics like PTSD and other mental illnesses, death and suicide, racism, and violence, all while humorously trying to clean up life’s messes.

You'll love this show if you love...

  • Scripts by acclaimed writers with Cincinnati roots (and directed by them too!)
  • Complex and relatable relationships between family and friends
  • Dynamic, funny shows that will make your heart full
  • Stories about learning to let go of the past
  • Lovable but crotchety characters who will leave you laughing so hard it hurts
  • Antiquing and sentimentality!

Similar ETC shows:

  • The Match Game by Steven Strafford
  • Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed and Nia Vardalos
  • Buyer and Cellar by Jonathan Tolins

 

Similar titles:

  • Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (Netflix)
  • Shrinking (Apple TV+)
  • Sanford and Son (NBC)

Cast

A man with a gray beard and a shaved head smiling, wearing a gray patterned sweater.

Kenneth Early

Foster
Kenneth Early
A photo of a woman with a fair skin tone with dark blonde hair staring into the camera

Maggie Lou Rader

Amelia
Maggie Lou Rader
A man with a neutral expression, bald with short gray hair on the sides, wearing a dark shirt, looks directly at the camera against a blurred outdoor background.

David Wohl

Sam
David Wohl

Creative team

A woman wearing glasses and a bracelt on her wrist, looking confidently at the camera.

Theresa Rebeck

Playwright/Director
Theresa Rebeck
A gray placeholder silhouette on a white background representing a person without headshot

Brian c. Mehring

Scenic & Lighting Designer
Brian c. Mehring
A photo of a woman in her 20s-30s with a fair skin tone, brown hair pulled up, and glasses smirking into camera

Hannah Dringenburg

Costume Designer
Hannah Dringenburg

Fitz Patton

Sound Designer
Fitz Patton
A gray placeholder silhouette on a white background representing a person without headshot

Shannon Rae Lutz

Properties Curator/Design Associate
Shannon Rae Lutz
A photo of a young man with a fair skin tone and brown curly hair and a beard smiling at the camera

Jacob Dowell

Technical Director
Jacob Dowell

Lexi Muller

Production Stage Manager
Lexi Muller
A photo of a young woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and a fair skin tone smiling at the camera

Abby Sauer

Assistant Stage Manager
Abby Sauer

Events & accessibility

Meet the Artists

Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 pm | Sunday, Feb. 23 at 2:00 pm

Stay after the show for a FREE post-show behind-the-scenes discussion with artists from the production.

American Sign Language

ASL-Interpreted Performance

Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 pm

Interpreters perform a translation of the play into ASL alongside the performance in a position with great sightlines to see both the action of the play and the interpreters.

Ask for an assistive listening device at any performance from our box office.

Audio Described Performance

Audio Described Performance

Saturday, Mar. 1 at 2:00 pm

Patrons can use a headset for one ear to hear descriptions of key visual elements inserted into natural pauses in the show, allowing patrons to still hear dialogue, sound effects, and music.

Ask for large print or Braille playbills at any performance from our box office.

Photo credits | First Timer’s Guide, Brooke Steele in The Frog Princess; Ticket Info, Bryant Bentley, Burgess Byrd, and Leslie Goddard-Baum in Detroit ’67 (Mikki Schaffner); Subscriptions, Cast of Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Ticket Discounts, Torie Wiggins in Your Negro Tour Guide. All images by Ryan Kurtz unless otherwise noted.