[NEohioPAL]PRESS RELEASE: Cleveland Public Theatre's Big Box Series

Dan Kilbane dkilbane at cptonline.org
Mon Dec 13 14:17:44 PST 2004


For Immediate Release
Contact:  Dan Kilbane, Director of Marketing & Public Relations
216/631-2727 ext. 203
dkilbane at cptonline.org <mailto:dkilbane at cptonline.org>
promotional photos available by request
December 13, 2004

Cleveland Public Theatre Has Many Surprises in Its Big [BOX]

Big [BOX]
January 7 - February 13, 2005
The James Levin Theatre

CLEVELAND, OH - Cleveland Public Theatre Executive/Artistic Director Randy
Rollison is proud to present Big [BOX], now in its third year. A six-week
series, Big [BOX] focuses on the independent creative artist and the
exciting things that can happen when one is given the space and time to
create. Throughout January and February 2005, CPT turns The James Levin
Theatre over to a different individual or set of artists each week.
Writers, directors, actors, dancers, musicians, video artists and designers
will dedicate themselves to creating new and original work, or stretching
their artistic powers by working in new disciplines.

The 2005 series includes two solo works:  Mo Pas Connin - or Torment
(pronounced Moe Pock Uh-NEEN), written and performed by Nina Domingue; and
Apply Within:  Office of the President Available, written and performed by
Perren Hedderson; the staged reading of a new work by local playwright Mike
Geither, Citizenship in the Nation; a new version of David Hansen’s one-act
play The Vampyres; a performance duet, gemINi by Aaron Rapljenovic and Zoe
Schultz; and CONNECT, a multimedia performance/party by Ryan Lott.

“Big [BOX] has been a great incubator for both the artists and CPT,” states
Rollison.  “It empowers artists to take their own initiative and not wait
around for theatres to come calling.  It provides us an opportunity to see
work that might not have been on our radar for future development.”

One of last year’s Big [BOX] productions is part of CPT’s current season:  4
Minutes to Happy, written and performed by Sarah Morton, will have a full
production in March 2005.  In addition, 4 Minutes to Happy and another Big
[BOX] participant from 2003, I Hate This, went on to productions this past
summer at the New York International Fringe Festival.  I Hate This won the
Overall Excellence Award at the festival.  2003 Big [BOX] participant
Loserville played at the festival in the summer of 2003.  Additionally, two
dance companies, Inlet Dance Theatre and Antaeus Dance, started in Big [BOX]
in 2003 and went on to slots in our Danceworks series.  Wild Plum Theatre
Company, which premiered as part of Big [BOX] in 2003, recently produced
work at CPT as well.



Following is the 2005 Big [BOX] schedule, along with biographies of the
artists.  All performances take place in The James Levin Theatre, 6415
Detroit Ave., Cleveland, OH, 44102.  Performances are Fridays and Saturdays
at 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.  All tickets are $10.  Ticket
purchases can be made by calling 216/631-2727.

Mo Pas Connin - or Torment
A solo piece
Written and Performed by Nina Domingue
Directed by Hassan Rogers
January 7 - 9, 2005

Mo Pas Connin - or Torment, set in the balmy summer heat of New Orleans,
tells the story of Miriam Waters, a 65 year-old inactive priestess of the
goddess Mami Wata.  Miriam receives orders from her higher power to
reconcile with her family or they will be lost.  Will the torment end?

Nina Domingue (Playwright and Performer) is a native New Orleanian.  She was
last seen on the CPT stage in Nickel and Dimed, Uncle Tom's Cabin and Mrs
Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge.  She recently performed in Karamu House
’s For Colored Girls….  Domingue earned her B.A. in Theatre Arts from
Dillard University.  She was the first African-American woman to graduate
from the Master’s Program for Acting at West Virginia University in August
2002, where she began to develop Mo Pas Connin - or Torment.  She is
currently part of CPT’s education staff, and formerly worked at Great Lakes
Theater Festival as a part of their actor-teacher program.  "It is important
to me to be a part of work that establishes a more normative standard of
representation for women; especially women of color.  To deny any of our
stories is to ultimately deny our own humanity."  In February, Domingue will
play the title role in CPT’s production of Venus, written by Suzan-Lori
Parks.

Hassan Rogers (Director) recently directed Stonewall Jackson’s House and No
Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs at Cleveland’s Karamu House Theatre. Other
directing credits Dutchman and Riff Raff.
He continues to practice the age-old art of storytelling to schoolchildren
throughout the region.  His autobiographical work Mrs. Rogers’ Back Porch
featured his work as actor, writer, and director.  Rogers’ creative
versatility was also featured in Great Lakes Theater Festival's touring
production of Lorraine Hansberry's To Be Young, Gifted, and Black.

Citizenship in the Nation
A staged reading
Written by Mike Geither
Directed by Gregory Vovos
January 14 - 16, 2005

In a Boy Scout troop where drinking and drug use are common, two scouts
begin a sexual relationship.  When they are discovered and removed from the
troop during the course of a summer camp, each of them attempts to
understand the friendships they have formed and their urge toward violence.
Citizenship in the Nation is a staged reading of a new play by local
playwright Mike Geither.

Mike Geither (Playwright) most recently worked as collaborating playwright
on Blue Sky Transmission:  A Tibetan Book of the Dead, which premiered at
CPT in 2002 and moved to LaMama in NYC.  His work as a solo performer
includes The Green House (2000), A Field Guide to Midwestern Charms and
Curses (1998), The Fall Liturgy (1995) and Arthur 33 (1993).  He has served
as CPT’s Playwright-in-Residence, where his plays and collaborations have
been regularly staged since 1994.  Currently an Assistant Professor of
English at Cleveland State University, he has been recognized with awards
from the Ohio Arts Council and Theatre Communications Group.

Gregory Vovos (Director) is the Artistic Director of TITLEWave theatre, for
whom he was awarded a 2004 Cleveland Theatre Collective achievement award
for his direction of Wait!  He has directed at theatres throughout
Cleveland.  Some local directing credits include, Charge, The Zoo Story, I’m
Not Rappaport and Murder in Mind.  He has directed dozens of original plays,
and is a playwright himself.  Upcoming in June, he will direct Stone Cold
Dead Serious at CPT.  He holds an MFA in Playwriting from the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas, and a BA in English from The Ohio State University.

GemINi
A performance duet
Created by Aaron Rapljenovic and Zoe Schultz
January 21 - 23, 2005

gemINi is a performance duet loosely based on the mythological story of the
astrological sign. This unique visual installation is realized by
integrating butoh, performance art, and non-traditional  partnering.

Aaron Rapljenovic (Co-creator) studied photography and sculpture at Savannah
College of Art and Design, as well as Pacific North West College of Art in
Portland, Oregon.  Since moving to Cleveland in 2000, he has worked as a
dancer, musician, and set designer with SAFMOD, created works for the
Cleveland Performance Art Festival, and CPT.  Rapljenovic’s
multi-disciplinary show White River Crossing, which he wrote, directed and
produced, was performed in CPT’s 2003 Big [BOX].  He has also participated
in Parade the Circle each year since 2000.

Zoe Schultz (Co-creator) has studied and performed in Cleveland for 18
years.  Dance credits include SAFMOD performance ensemble since 1998
(currently co-director of the company); YARD (with Bill Wade), MorrisonDance
and Art Acts. Additional performance experience includes CPT’s Danceworks,
All Go Signs, Parade the Circle, Rite of Spring, Ffida Dance Festival
(Toronto), Urban Nut Cracker, Leaping into the Net, The Lantern Festival and
Cain Park.  Schultz has studied many different disciplines, including modern
dance, ballet, non-traditional partnering, capoiera, butoh, contact improv,
hip hop and aerial (rope, trapeze).




CONNECT:
A multi-media party in 3 acts
Created by Ryan Lott
January 28 - 30, 2005

Connection is the central theme for this exciting evening of live music,
dance, visual and new media art and interactive performance. Cleveland
composer Ryan Lott explores the potential of artistic partnership across
several musical genres, from hip-hop and experimental electronica to rock
and chamber music, and across a variety of visual media, including dance and
video. The evening is arranged in three parts, two of which feature live
performances, and a third which allows patrons time to view the art in the
space, visit the video installation area, and relax as a DJ spins.  CONNECT:
the fusion of performance, process, and party.

Ryan Lott (Creator) has studied music since he was six years old, beginning
with piano. Growing up, he received formal training in composition,
performance, notation, theory, jazz, and arranging. Lott earned his Bachelor
of Music Degree in Composition at the prestigious Indiana University School
of Music in 2001.  He lives in Cleveland with his wife, Jennifer, where he
actively composes, performs, and produces music from hip-hop to chamber
music. Ryan is company composer for Cleveland-area dance ensemble Inlet
Dance Theatre. His stylistic versatility and zeal for collaboration has also
yielded partnerships with choreographers around the country, from New York
to Philadelphia to Houston.

The Vampyres
A play
Written by David Hansen
Directed by Alison Hernan
February 4 - 6, 2005

The Vampyres is the story of sex, blood and rock n' roll.  Witness as a
young doctor enters a mysterious coffee house, encountering an old flame,
two musicians with a taste for blood, and the seeds of his own destruction.
The Vampyres features original music by Cleveland¹s legendary gothic
industrial band Queue Up.

David Hansen (Playwright) has been an active participant in Cleveland's
theater renaissance for over ten years, pushing the boundaries of
independent theater by founding the underground Guerrilla Theater Company,
the late-night theater project Dobama's Night Kitchen, as well as the
popular and critically-acclaimed Bad Epitaph Theater Company.  His solo
performance I Hate This received an Overall Excellence Award at the 2004 New
York International Fringe Festival, and was featured in CPT’s 2003 Big [BOX]
In a longer form, The Vampyres received its world premiere at DNK, where he
was also a contributing writer for The Gulf, Cole Cuts and This Vicious
Cabaret. David is a contributor to Cleveland Magazine and angle, and is
proud to be a member of Great Lakes Theater Festival's education department.

Alison Hernan (Director) most recently directed the gender-bent Othello for
Bad Epitaph Theater Company, a production that opened the new Orthodox space
at CPT.  Other directing credits include House of Blue Leaves, Rosencrantz
and Gildenstern are Dead, and Godspell.  She also directed in the Cleveland
Play House Youtheatre's One Acts Festival, and has been musical director for
such shows as Oliver, Pied Piper of Hamlin, The Wayward Angel and The
Vampyres (original production).

Apply Within: Office of the President Available
A solo piece
Written and Performed by Perren Hedderson
February 11 - 13, 2005

Apply Within: Office of the President Available is the sweet tale of a man
dedicated to his career at the prosthetic limb manufacturing plant.  Solo
performer Perren Hedderson teaches the how to on making it up the corporate
ladder, all the way to CEO.  However, there is something devilishly wrong
with the higher ups in Apply Within.  What will happen when our narrator
learns of the company’s demise?

Perren Hedderson (Playwright and Performer) was most recently seen onstage
at CPT in Charge, a co-production with TITLEWave theatre, and Discordia.  He
also appeared at Dobama in the Night Kitchen production Shopping and
Fucking.  This past summer he was the production designer and technical
director for Charenton Theater' Company’s Absurdity in the Streets park
tour.  Hedderson is the assistant technical director for his long time home
at Near West Theatre, having recently worked on Joesph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat.  He is finishing his first movie venture with Ted
Sikora and Patrick Milo, SwingingCane Productions’s Hero Tomorrow, to be
released in 2005.

Cleveland Public Theatre and its artistic and education programs are
supported in part by The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation,
Ohio Arts Council, Greater Cleveland Community Shares, Jakprints, The Free
Times, D.H. Ellison Architects, Forest City Enterprises, Theatre
Communications Group, CoolCleveland.com, National Endowment for the Arts,
The Nord Family Foundation, John P. Murphy Foundation, Kulas Foundation,
Bruening Foundation, Codrington Foundation, Giant Eagle Foundation, Thomas
White Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Lorain, Family Foundations
of Jewish Community Federation, The Dolphin Trust, Saint Ann Foundation,
William J. and Dorothy K. O’Neill Foundation, Stocker Foundation, Key
Foundation, The Nordson Family Foundation, Martha Holden Jennings
Foundation, The Heartland Arts Fund, Wolf Family Foundation, The Gerson
Foundation, The Meisel Family Foundation, The Doll Family Foundation,
Raymond John Wean Foundation, The Ellie Fund, The Cyrus Eaton Foundation,
Greater Cleveland Community Shares, Alcoa Foundation, Capezio/Ballet Makers
Foundation, Nathan and Regina Herman Foundation, Hankins Foundation, Wolpert
Fund of the Cleveland Foundation, The Cleveland Browns Foundation, The
Stocker Foundation, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, City Architecture, Benesch,
Friedlander, Coplan, & Aronoff LPA, Ron and Deborah Ratner, Joan Horvitz,
Roe Green Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, Huntington National Bank, National
City Bank, Marous Brothers Construction, Stewart and Donna Kohl, and other
corporate and individual contributors.

The mission of Cleveland Public Theatre is to foster a more conscious and
compassionate community through the arts.

Please note that all programming, times and locations are subject to change.






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