By Liz Eichler
Every city has its hometown heroes—the players who show up season after season, make the team better, and elevate everyone around them. In Cincinnati theatre, Justin McCombs is one of those players.
This summer, McCombs celebrates 20 years as a working actor in Cincinnati, a career defined not just by longevity, but by versatility. Audiences know him as a gifted comic performer, capable of big laughs and precise physical humor—but he also surprises audiences with deeply grounded dramatic work. In over 80 productions, across stage, film, commercial, and voiceover projects, McCombs has built a career on range and reliability.
McCombs and Cincinnati: A Love Story
McCombs arrived in Cincinnati in 2006 after being hired by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC) for its touring company. What began as a job quickly became a life. He met his wife—actor and playwright Maggie Lou Rader—and together they discovered something many artists are told is impossible: a sustainable artistic life.
“We fell in love with the city,” McCombs says. “I never dreamed that as actors we could buy a home here.” At a time when many performers are warned to expect poverty and instability, Cincinnati offered something different—an affordable city with a robust arts ecosystem. “For actors who arrived when I did,” he notes, “this proved to be a place where you could build something.”
“I’m not the best actor in town,” McCombs says with characteristic humility, “but I want to be the most versatile.” His résumé reflects that goal, spanning comedy and drama, Shakespeare and contemporary work, regional theatre and beyond. Check out his website and credits.
Insight into His Comedic Approach
When pressed to name a favorite role, he cites Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company in 2014, directed by Jeremy Dubin. “It was one of the hardest things I’ve done,” he recalls. “Playing one of two characters that seem to be sharing a brain.” The absurdist classic demanded precision, vulnerability, and impeccable timing—hallmarks of McCombs’ work.
Comedy, he explains, often places him in the “clown” archetype. “I’ve been lucky to play the dumbest person in the room. That disarms people. It’s the Stan Laurel approach—the audience knows I’m in over my head.” He distinguishes the clown from the fool: the fool, he notes, is wise—able to speak truth to power. It’s a quality he admires in collaborators like Jeremy Dubin and longtime creative partner Billy Chace. “Billy and I are like chocolate and peanut butter,” he laughs. “I love working with him–and I love working with Jeremy, too.”
Favorite Career Moments
As McCombs has grown older, his dream roles have shifted as well. He’s now drawn to complex, middle-aged characters—particularly Pastor Paul in Lucas Hnath’s The Christians. “It’s a bold role,” he says. “A man who has a life-altering experience during a conference for religious leaders and returns to his congregation with a truth they may not be ready to hear.”
He speaks with pride about working at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, which he calls “the big time—our premiere league theatre.” Cincinnati, he notes, is unusually rich in talent across performance, directing, design, and playwriting. “We have strong league and farm teams, plus academic programs. There are plenty of opportunities for young people. That depth is what makes this city special.” He also names Houston’s Alley Theatre as a dream organization after visiting there as part of the cast of Playhouse’s co-production of Dial M for Murder in 2024.
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Beyond performance, McCombs is deeply committed to the healing power of the arts. Alongside Dubin, he teaches improv to adult cancer survivors through a UC Cancer Center program, helping participants focus on presence and adaptability. “It is very rewarding. There was a study which focused on cancer survivors’ success rates connected with their ability to roll with the unknown. Survivors are inclined to look at the future–will I be ok? Will it come back? Improv really makes any practitioner or cancer patient focus on the present. What is happening now.” He has also worked with veterans at the VA hospital in Ft. Thomas, KY, using Shakespeare to help process trauma and PTSD. “The arts are incredibly effective for empathy and healing according to data,” he says. “But it’s hard to monetize, and that’s a challenge.”
One of his most cherished theatre memories came during Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and Then Some) at CSC. While waiting for an entrance, he spotted an audience member laughing uncontrollably, whispering, “What is happening?” “That person was fully present,” McCombs recalls. “Laughing off their troubles. That’s what I love—sharing that moment–and I got to share it with Billy Chace and Miranda McGee.”
Looking Ahead
As Cincinnati theatre continues to grow, McCombs, like many working artists, sometimes travels for work. This spring, he heads to Staunton, Virginia, to perform with American Shakespeare Center in Twelfth Night, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and A Bold Stroke for a Husband.
Looking ahead, he hopes theatres resist the urge to apologize for asking audiences to stay awhile. “If we’re only doing 90-minute plays now,” he asks, “why not talk afterward? What did we just experience together?” More conversation, more engagement—that’s the future he’d like to see.
He also is looking at the kids, having read The Anxious Generation, a book by Jonathan Haidt. “Kids are missing out on free play, with too many structured activities. That shapes the generation! “I miss old school Halloween. Dressing up was a radical act of vulnerability–what happened to it? Pretending you are someone else for a short time, builds character, not destroys it. That book really laid out how generational lack of connection has been starting–in childhood.”
More Great Things to Come
At heart, McCombs’ career has been about understanding the human condition. As Shakespeare reminds us, everyone is flawed, trying their best, loving who they love, and hoping to leave the world better than they found it. For 20 years in Cincinnati, Justin McCombs has done exactly that.
Catch Justin McCombs on January 18 in a staged reading of Angels Guide Your Steps by Maggie Lou Rader at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and this spring at American Shakespeare Center.
LCT’s Cincinnati Theatre: Favorite Team Players Series will feature favorite actors, designers, directors and more over the coming months. Do you have a favorite who has contributed to the area’s preofessional, semi-professional or academic theatre for over a decade? Please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/zkZRXZxFksaPn19f7
Photo credits: Headshot: Tony Moux; Ripcord: Ryan Kurtz; Others: Mikki Schaffner
