 |
Since an initial viewing in the
days after my mom's death, it has taken me awhile to be able to return
to this beautiful tribute. I read it now with the expected mixture of
smiles and tears. It goes without saying that theatre in all forms was
a one of the driving forces of my mother's life. This was proved again
in the days after her passing. Two things stood out to me. One - with
very very few exceptions, every cast member of TDW's production of Our
Town was present at either the visitation or the service. The
show was close to her heart and, almost a decade later, her cast and
crew still felt that special bond we formed. Secondly - before her death,
my mother picked the readers at her funeral service. All three were
friends from theatre. Two of these friendships were formed some forty
years ago at TDW and held fast until the last day of her life. |
Ginny cast me in my first community
theater show ten years ago. Everyone marveled at her dedication and
energy. She didn't just direct, she encouraged a performance out of
you. Her continued encouragement pushed me to be more involved with
TDW. This web site and the TDW logo are direct results of her support.
She introduced me to the life I didn't know I could have. Her legacy
is connected with everything that is The Drama Workshop, because all
any of us ever wanted to do was make Ginny proud. |
| Whenever I saw Ginny I told her I
wish I could have taken her to my Prom... I loved Ginny!!! I had done
years of theater before our paths crossed but the day she came into my
life I had to rethink what I was doing. As a Director she pushed me not
to be funny for funny sake but to be funny in that moment... She once
told me I had to get my coat ... Read Morestuck in the door, yank it hard
enough to rip off, trip back and then fall up and over the couch... She
let me play... As for working with her as a fellow actress onstage she
just gave and gave... to work along side of her... well you just were
in the presence of A MASTER!!!! -- Jeff Neiman |
| I remember her dedication to theatre.
I remember when she served with me on the OCTA Board and within the division
I chaired, how helpful she was in taking notes, using the computer in
whatever hotel or meeting place we were in, and typing the notes and delivering
them to me at the end of the meeting. I remember how proud she was when
she received the Hall of Fame Award from OCTA, but most of all, I remember
what a proud grandma she was....she will be sincerely missed. -- Ginny Morrison, OCTA President |
| I first met Ginny when I auditioned
for Our Town at
TDW about nine years ago. Working on Our Town was one of the
most memorable experiences I've had in theater. Ginny's warmth, friendship
and charm radiated through the entire production. Friendships formed during
that production have lasted and become a building block upon which other
friendships have been added. I think of Ginny every time I see or participate
in a TDW production. In my mind she is forever entwined with theater and
TDW. I miss her. -- Arny Stoller |
| I was cast in a TDW show the first
time I auditioned, much to my surprise. At the time, I didn't know Ginny,
nor hardly anyone else in the group, but from Day One she made me feel
at home. One of the first things I learned from her was just how much
she wanted every show to be a group effort; one of the next was how much
leeway she gave her actors to "find their character". Ginny was one of
the biggest parts of the heart and soul of not just TDW, but all of our
wonderful local community theater. We are all the richer for having had
her as long as we did, and all the poorer for her passing. -- Ray Lebowski |
| I have been around The Drama Workshop
since I can remember. But my first audition wasn't until 2003 for the
following season. Ginny was working at the table where all the audition
information was. She didn't recognize who I was until she saw that I was
with my dad. "Oh my! I remember when you were this small!" she said. When
I arrived for the auditions, I was nervous because it was my first community
theater audition. But after meeting with Ginny, I realized after being
gone for so long I was still part of The Drama Workshop family and I didn't
feel nervous anymore. I was only fortunate to work with Ginny in one show.
I was cast in Mrs. Bob
Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge as Little Nell. She helped out
with costumes, especially with mine. Gretchen also did costumes for the
show and all three of us would be backstage cracking jokes because the
fat suit I wore for the show was making me look more like a linebacker
for the Bengals instead of a heavy set girl. And she would be at the rehearsals,
watching and laughing. She loved going to shows. And she loved the people
who were doing the shows. To me there will always be one more seat out
in the audience for her. It may look like no one is there, but I know
she is and always will be. --Erin Durkin |
| The only show I ever worked with
Ginny was her self-described swan-song, Defying
Gravity. It was amazing how effortlessly she slipped into the
skin of the character, and great fun to watch her and Arnie Shayne play
off each other. How wonderful that she received an Orchid for that, her
last on-stage role! Although I didn't know her well personally, I know
from reputation and the outpouring of concern over her health during the
last couple of years and the sentiments expressed on her passing that
she was a terrific lady. She will be missed, not only by TDW and the Cincinnati
theater community, but at the state and national level as well. -- Ray Persing |
| Although I'd met Ginny before, the
first time I really worked closely with her was when I was directing Jake's
Women for TDW. This was one of the more ambitious things I'd directed
on my own at that point and I was trying some ideas that pushed my confidence
a little; but Ginny (who was producing the show with Lew) supported and
encouraged my direction, as well as my growth as a director. People often
said to me that Ginny wasn't "easy", which I guess was a nice way of saying
that she could be stubborn and opinionated (which she kind of was); but
to me, she was always easy, always one of those people that you'd choose
to work with, no questions asked. I remember her best dancing after the
Orchid Awards at several ACT Conventions, not caring that she was the
oldest person on the floor, just dancing because she loved to dance, with
complete joy; that was Ginny in a nutshell. -- Ed Cohen |
| I had seen Ginny in a number of productions
and seen her work as a director before I got to know her. It was my great
pleasure to direct Ginny in a Drama Workshop production of Doin'
Time at the Alamo. Though she was dealing with some of the health
problems that continued to plague her she was always the consummate professional.
She had great moments, she had her blocking and she had her character.
She was always there for me, both as a performer and as a friend. She
was and will always be a great lady. It was a pleasure and delight to
work with her onstage and off. Quite simply, I will miss her. -- Jim Burton |
| As Thespian Director at Oak Hills
H. S., Ginny's troupe for many years, I just got word about Ginny's death.
The kids were on stage rehearsing for next week's opening, our 50th season.
We had a brief moment of silence and I reminded them that Ginny had touched
many lives through her work here at Oak Hills. We had been planning on
a Thespian reunion for the second week of the show with a dinner and reception
for all of our theatre alum. Of course, I'll address our audiences about
her passing and dedicate the show in her memory. As part of the planning for this special anniversary, we're going to have old scrapbooks, photos and mementos from past seasons on display in the lobby. I invite you to send a special note for Ginny, something we can share with our guests and students during the run; and forward to her family after the performance. I think she might like that! -- Skip Badonsky |
| My sadness at the passing of Ginny
is deep and profound. When I arrived in Cincinnati many years ago, and
finally met this beautiful person, I was immediately captivated. I was
captivated because she extended her hands to me, welcomed me and encouraged
me in every way. We became very close friends, and I felt very much part
of Ginny and Lew's life and family. I cannot detail everything Ginny has
done for me in many ways, beyond her unflailing dedication to directing
me and many many actors, properly and with great sensitivity, and producing
when I directed and vv. We had great times; I am old and this loss has touched me in a way that is so difficult to put into words. Ginny made TDW a major theatre venue; more than that however, she was an educator, a leader in the theatre arts beyond anyone I ever met. We need to remember Ginny not so much as what she did for one theatre but for all theatre not only in this geographic area but across the country. We will miss you, Virginia. -- Arnie Shayne |
| I, like many others who have posted
to this memorial page, met Ginny when I auditioned for Our
Town. That show under Ginny's leadership, was all that community
theatre should be: a tremendously fun show to work on, a great production,
and an opportunity to make new friends. Not only was that show a wonderful
experience and the beginning of a long relationship with TDW for me, but
through that show and since, Ginny and I became close frineds. I will
miss our lunches and jaunts to the theater together and her easy and frequent
laugh. I will always remember her always wonderful preformances on stage,
and whenever I need a laugh I will think about her admonition that her
fellow actors "place the orange between yourr buttocks and Squeeeeze"!
Goodbye Gin. I love you. -- Tobie Braverman |
| I thought that Ginny did a wonderful
job in Defying Gravity
and a really nice turn in Doin
Time at the Alamo. But my favorite Ginny Chizer role of recent
years was as Dorothy Tree-Hapgood from Inspecting
Carol. She was an absolute riot. And while she had many great
one-liners in that play - the stand-out scene had to be when she was explaining
to the rest of the company about how to "squeeze the lemon."
Every night, Lizz Trusler and I , who were stuck under the stage, would
peer though the slats in the stair to watch the scene. Hilarious. Many Thanks -- Megan Schultheis |
| I met Ginny when she cast my brother
and I in our first show at The Drama Workshop: Our
Town. Even as a child, I was impressed with her dedication and
patience when dealing with our large cast. Through the years, I came to
know Ginny as a wonderfully caring and fun person, both onstage and off.
No matter how many things she had to do, she was never too busy to sit
down and chat with me about school, theatre, or whatever else was going
on. She had a way of making everybody feel special; she even let me interview
her for my ninth grade English project. Ginny was a great actress, director,
and friend and I will miss her very very much. -- Graylyn Roose |
| I met Ginny when she did costumes
for The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket in 1992, but I knew her
before then from stories told by her Oak Hills students (Nick Ciampone,
Dave Harris, and Lori Brinkman Zervic), who recalled her as a great English
teacher because she so loved her subject. I remember loads of laughs in
the old TDW lean-to dressing room, especially during Odd Couple (Female)
in 1999 when she procured matching denim cargo shorts for Jeff Nieman
and me to wear as the Costasuela brothers; the shorts stopped the show
every night. As a family friend, I accompanied the Chizer-Misleh clan
to Folly Beach, SC, and loved watching how Lew and Ginny got on together.
I liked it a lot when we critiqued the same show, too, so I could see
what I should have written. And you only had to see her dancing at the
ACT convention to understand sheer joy! -- Tim Rogers |
| Just learned of Ginny’s death,
and wanted to acknowledge how deeply I and so many of my colleagues and
countless medical students and residents appreciated Ginny’s tender
devotion to medical education at the University of Cincinnati Medical
School and residency training programs. We have been blessed with a wealth
of talented standardized patients at the UC Medical school, but Ginny
stands out surely as one of our “golden apples”. As a course
director for a geriatrics curriculum based at the UC Center for Competency
Development and Assessment, I was fortunate to get to work with Ginny
on a project that she joined since its launch in 2004. Ginny was one of
our original SPs on that project focused on training residents to care
for persons with Alzheimer’s disease and their families. Ginny was
a star standardized patient in that program, and brought her enthusiasm
, warmth, and a talent for injecting authenticity into a SP case, to our
curriculum. Many doctors in practice today were touched by Ginny’s
educational activities, and no doubt are better physicians for the experience.
Ginny’s many contributions to medical education projects at UC collectively
spanned over 3 decades. She was part of the medical interview course in
the 1970s and was one of the original standardized patients, playing the
role of “Mrs. Kennedy”, in a successful geriatrics curriculum
that helped the medical students learn about functional assessment among
older adults. Ginny will be terribly missed by the many people whose lives
she touched in our medical education community. Keep shining Ginny! -- Tim Lewis, Assistant Professor, UC Internal Medicine Division |
| I have worked with Ginny on more
than 15 shows in different capacities. My favorite moment with her, though,
is the one time we actually shared the stage in TDW's Over
the River and Through the Woods. I love that she played my grandmother,
I love that we had so many hilarious scenes together, and I love the final
moment of the play that we shared together. As an actor it made me cry
then; as someone honored to have known and worked with Ginny, the thought
of it makes me cry now. I love Ginny and will miss her terribly. She was,
quite simply, one of my very best friends. Ever. -- Dan Doerger |