[NEohioPAL]Cleveland Public Theatre Announces Its 20th Anniversary Season: BRING IT ON!

[Dan Kilbane]

For Immediate Release
Contact: Dan Kilbane, Publicist
216.631.2727 ext. 203
dkilbane at clevelandfilm.org <mailto:dkilbane at clevelandfilm.org>

July 21, 2003


CLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE
ANNOUNCES ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Cleveland, OH - Executive Director James A. Levin and Artistic Director
Randy Rollison are proud to announce the Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT)
2003-04 Season.


Productions and Events are listed chronologically:
PANDEMONIUM!
20TH Anniversary Gala
Saturday, September 13, 2003
CPT is celebrating twenty years of presenting innovative performed work that
addresses the issues of our time.  In keeping with this tradition, CPT is
hosting an adventurous evening of dynamic theatre and dance, provocative
performance, film and visual art featuring a diverse array of artists. The
action takes place throughout the CPT complex in unexpected places and there
will be great food from Cleveland’s top restaurants. You decide how you want
to experience PANDEMONIUM!


UP THE MOUNTAIN
Written by James A. Levin and Deborah Burke
Co-Directed by Jerrell Anderson and Jeffery Allen
Special Benefit Performance, Thursday, September 18, 2003
September 19 - 21, 2003
The Upstairs Theatre
Following the success of CPT’s four-year collaboration with Y-Haven, YMCA’s
Transitional Housing Program, this unprecedented outreach program partners
men in transition together with CPT artists.  Together they create an
original theatrical piece based on the themes of homelessness, addiction and
recovery as experienced by these remarkable survivors.  We believe art can
change lives. This program proves it.


WAIT!
Written by Julie Jensen
Directed by Gregory Vovos
Co-produced with TITLEWave theatre
September 26 - October 11, 2003
The Upstairs Theatre
“What are those moments called?  The time between the question and the
answer? That wait?”  These and other questions are humorously explored as
Gregory Vovos (director of Charenton Theatre’s The Zoo Story and I’m Not
Rappaport) directs Julie Jensen’s poignant new comedy WAIT!  Four actors
take on eight roles to tell the tale of Wendy Burger, as she tries to get
through that elusive moment in life when an all too recognizable past butts
up against an unknown future.  Wendy deals with change, love, loss, and life
in the theatre in this new play that stretches the boundaries of the stage.


A World Premiere
DISCORDIA
A new musical satire written by James A. Levin and Linda Eisenstein
Music by Linda Eisenstein
Directed by Raymond Bobgan
October 17 - November 8, 2003
Gordon Square Theatre
Recipients of a 2002 Ohio Arts Council Individual Fellowship Award, James A.
Levin and Linda Eisenstein are taking a gimlet-eyed look at our contemporary
landscape.  Discordia tells the story of the innocent, young Percival
(Perren Hedderson), as he searches for the Holy Grail, trying to do good in
dangerous, confusing times.  The shape-shifting Morgan Le Fay (Alison
Hernan) offers an acerbic outsider perspective, as she watches our hero roam
an Arthurian England that is strangely familiar - a nation beating war
drums, with greedy barons in control of the money and power, knights
enforcing homeland security, and mesmerized peasants buying Grails for Sale
at the Castle Mall. Resident Director Raymond Bobgan (Blue Sky Transmission:
A Tibetan Book of the Dead; Summer and Smoke; The Skin of Our Teeth) guides
this long overdue, astutely observed political satire.


Jeffery Roberson is Varla Jean Merman in
VARLA JEAN MERMAN'S UNDER A BIG TOP
Written by Jeffery Roberson and Michael Schiralli with additional material
by Matt Callaway
Music by David Brunetti. Directed by Michael Schiralli.
October 23 - November 2, 2003
The Upstairs Theatre
"I've heard people complaining for years", squealed Varla Jean Merman, "that
there wasn't a Big Top in Cleveland!  So, I had to take action!"  Her most
colorful revue to date, Varla Jean Merman's Under A Big Top encompasses
circus, carnival, magic, and freak shows, and boasts four new videos in
addition to six new songs.  Highlights include: “The Ballad of the Bearded
Lady,” “Madame Know-It-All,” “Peck of the Chicken Woman,” and “Have I Had My
Fill of the Big Top?”


Independent Pictures presents
The 10th Anniversary of
THE OHIO INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
November 3 - 9, 2003
The Upstairs Theatre
It’s a little bit of Sundance right here in Cleveland. Each year OIFF
assembles the brightest emerging talent and most original independent films
from around the world during a weeklong celebration of the art of film. For
more information call 216-651-7315 or visit them on the web at
www.ohiofilms.com.


MRS. BOB CRATCHIT’S WILD CHRISTMAS BINGE
Written by Christopher Durang
Directed by Randy Rollison
November 28 - December 20, 2003
Gordon Square Theatre
Obie Award winner Christopher Durang takes on some of the holiday season’s
sacred cows.  Mrs. Bob Cratchit has reached the breaking point, between the
burden of whiney Tiny Tim, the twenty-nine foundlings in the basement, and
disembodied voices discussing the Christmas spirit in her own kitchen, she
becomes unhinged, goes on a drinking binge, and tries to jump off a bridge.
Although this semi-musical is based on A Christmas Carol, it quickly spins
out of control, colliding with It’s a Wonderful Life, The Gift of the Magi,
Kenneth Lay, Leona Helmsley, Little Nell, and good old George Bailey.


CPT’s Award Winning
BIG [BOX]
January 2 - February 1, 2004
The Upstairs Theatre
Every week for five weeks, CPT gives the keys to The Upstairs Theatre to a
different artist and leaves them alone for five days to create.  Sound like
the next reality series?  Nope, it’s Big [BOX], CPT’s festival of up and
coming performance and performers.  This is about the independent creative
artist and what exciting things can happen when one is given the space and
the time.

					January 2 - 4	Trad A Burns
					January 9 - 11	Carl D. Skorepa
					January 16 -18	Eclectic Circus
					January 23 - 25	Alex P. Michaels/Prelude2Cinema
					January 30 - February 1	Nina Domingue


The American Classics Series
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN or LIFE AMONG THE LOWLY
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Devised by Floraine Kay and Randolph Curtis Rand at Drama Dept.
Directed by Randolph Curtis Rand
February 6 - February 28, 2004
Gordon Square Theatre
It has been one hundred and fifty years since Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle
Tom’s Cabin was published and time has not been kind. Uncle Tom’s is viewed
as overly sentimental propaganda. Its images (Eliza on the ice) and
characters (Uncle Tom and Topsy) were part of the popular culture, but over
time became misunderstood and misapplied.  What happened to the esteem and
popularity that kept it alive for a century?  Floraine Kay and Randolph
Curtis Rand have adapted and reinterpreted this novel for 21st century
America. They examine the many layers of the story with the keen eyes of
dramatists, sociologists and archeologists. Their adaptation adds and
combines writers as diverse as Woodrow Wilson, e. e. cummings and George
Sand and sources as varied as the 1852 stage play, Stowe’s diaries, the
writings of Louis Gates Jr., and Thomas Edison. By combining all of these
uniquely American voices, they manage to reveal the original urgency and
political relevancy of the book’s themes.


CHARGE
Written by Eric Kaiser
 Directed by Gregory Vovos
A TITLEWAVE Production
February 13 - February 28, 2004
The Upstairs Theatre
A big hit with last season’s Big [BOX] crowd, Charge is an absurd comedy
about a future where the environment is so poisoned people live life
“virtually” from their beds.  Charge introduces us to George and Martha -
your average husband and wife of the future. As he bets his body parts in
online contests, she becomes obsessed with Boyz in the Hood and directs the
household robots to reenact scenes from the film while she tries to reawaken
her compassion.


CPT’s Award Winning
DANCEWORKS 2004
March 11 - April 4, 2004
This season will feature seven area companies performing over a four-week
period from March 11 - April 4, 2004 in both of CPT’s theatres.  The dynamic
density of performances in this year’s festival increases the sense of
vibrancy and diversity among Northern Ohio’s dance ensembles.

				Gordon Square Theatre
				Cleveland Repertory Project			March 11 - 14
				InLet Dance Theatre				March 19 - 21
				SAFMOD					March 26 - 28
				Groundworks Dancetheater			April 2 - 4

				The Upstairs Theatre
				Antaeus Dance Theatre				March 12 - 14
				Morrisondance					March 19 - 21
				Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre		March 26 - 28


DON’T START ME TO TALKING
OR I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW:
Sayings from the Life and Writings of Junebug Jabbo Jones
Written and performed by John O’Neal.
April 2 - 4, 2004
The Upstairs Theatre
A collection of six tales as told by the folkloric character Junebug Jabbo
Jones about his experiences growing up in Pike County, Mississippi and his
journey into the big world beyond.


STUDENT THEATRE ENRICHMENT PROGRAM
April 9 - 11, 2004
The Upstairs Theatre
Those who have attended past STEP productions Bliss and Change for a Dollar
can attest to the creativity and energy of these student-generated projects.


World Premiere
THE CULT
A New Work by Director Raymond Bobgan
April 23 - May 8, 2004
The Upstairs Theatre
The newest creation of director Raymond Bobgan, The Cult is an
anthropological exposé of a mysterious and confounding group of game
players. Witness strange rituals.  Experience haunting evocations. Watch as
the members of this esoteric party, battle for divine inspiration. A
performance exclusively for the curious and inquisitive, The Cult weaves
song, action, and poetry into a symphony of the mind.


NICKEL AND DIMED
By Joan Holden
Based on the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by
Barbara Ehrenreich
Director TBA
A Co-Production with Great Lakes Theater Festival
April 28 - May 29, 2004
Gordon Square Theatre
In 1998, columnist Barbara Ehrenreich went "undercover" as a newly divorced
unskilled woman seeking to make a living in modern America. Her minimum wage
journey made for one of America's most engrossing and popular social
commentaries.  Adapted for the stage by Joan Holden, this fast-paced and
darkly humorous look at survival at the bottom of the labor pool, is one of
our nation's most critically acclaimed new plays.  Cleveland Public Theatre
is proud to partner with Great Lakes Theater Festival for this production.
Just as Barbara Ehrenreich took a chance to understand the lives of others,
we invite you to take a chance and visit CPT, to see this important play and
support this pioneering partnership.


World Premiere
DOJOJI
A Collaboration between Director Jyana S. Gregory and Composer Rina Iino
based on the 11th Century Japanese Legend
May 20 - June 5, 2004
The Upstairs Theatre
Dojoji tells the story of a spurned woman whose unrequited love transforms
her into a fire-breathing serpent. Director Jyana S. Gregory and her
longtime collaborator, composer Rika Iino, continue their practice of
creating multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary work that combines the
performance traditions of East Asia and the West. In Dojoji, they choose
material that has inspired generations of artists, from painters and
calligraphers to Noh and Kabuki performers. With live piano, percussion,
contemporary dance, and precise, expressive acting, Dojoji explores the
power of uncontrollable passion to provoke the supernatural.

Please note that all programming, times and locations can change.

***
For up-to-date information contact:
Cleveland Public Theatre
6415 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44102
216.631.2727 ext. 203
216.631.2575 fax
www.cptonline.org
dkilbane at cptonline.org

The mission of Cleveland Public Theatre is to inspire, nurture, challenge,
amaze, educate and empower artists and audiences, in order to make the
Cleveland Public a more conscious and compassionate community.

Cleveland Public Theatre and its artistic and education programs are funded
in part by public funding from The National Endowment for the Arts and the
Ohio Arts Council as well as by The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund
Foundation, The John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation and many
others.