[NEohioPAL]Berko: Spotlight on Michael Bloom (CPH)

[Roy Berko]

THE SPOTLIGHT FALLS ON MICHAEL BLOOM, CPH’S ARTISTIC
DIRECTOR

Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--
LORAIN COUNTY TIMES--WESTLAKER TIMES--LAKEWOOD NEWS
TIMES--OLMSTED-FAIRVIEW TIMES

“I love Cleveland, it’s a lovable city.” “Clevelanders
take the city for granted and don’t trumpet it.”  “The
culture in this city is as good as any city in the
country.”  “Theatre is going through a difficult
period due to the loss of corporate support.”  “The
arts in the area need to be more collaborative.”   
These were only a few of the comments made by Michael
Bloom, the Artistic Director of the Cleveland Play
House, during a recent luncheon interview.  

Bloom, who is in his second year in the position, is
actually just into his first year of being the “real”
Artistic Director.  When he assumed the position, the
2004-2005 season of shows had already been picked, so
his major responsibility was to shepard the season. 
This year, is his!  And, so far, it has been a
success.  After a somewhat less than critically
acclaimed production of ‘ROOM SERVICE,’ CPH came into
its own with a stirring production of ‘I AM MY OWN
WIFE’ and a charming ‘A CHRISTMAS STORY.’  Both shows
exceeded income expectations, with ‘A CHRISTMAS STORY’
breaking all box office records for the country’s
longest operating professional theatre.  ‘I AM MY OWN
WIFE’ did so well here that the production is“on tour”
to a venue in Florida.  

Bloom took over an organization that was in trouble. 
Many subscribers had abandoned the venue due to
questionable play choices, poor quality productions
and a general negative feeling toward his predecessor.
 Bloom seems to have overcome much of that.  He
circulates with audiences.  He has reached out to the
community, for example, by giving speeches at the City
Club.  He has made family nights and special ticket
pricing deals to attract younger audience members. 
The theatre lobbies were redesigned to warm up the
interior and take away the austere look.  He has
allowed the facility to be used by Dobama and Ensemble
Theatres.  It is costing CPH a lot of money to house
these organizations which have limited funding and
can’t make major contributions to cover the facility’s
expensive upkeep.  This has not been helped by the
fact that some funders, including the Cleveland
Foundation, don’t perceive the facility to be a
community arts center.  MOCA (the Museum of
Contemporary Art) which has also been housed in what
was the old Sears building connected to CPH has
recently announced that they will be relocating to
University Circle, which will allow for their space to
be reconfigured.

Bloom is extremely excited about the forthcoming
‘FUSIONFEST!,’ which is billed as Cleveland’s first
Performing Arts Festival and will take place May 2 nd
through the 21st at The Cleveland Play House complex. 
It will include presentations by the Cleveland Play
House, The Cleveland Opera, Dobama Theatre,
Groundworks, Verb Ballets and Karamu as well as
participation by the Cleveland School of the Arts,
Shaker Heights High School, MOCA, and the Cleveland
Museum of Art.  ‘FUSIONFEST!’ will highlight the best
new performing arts work in the area and foster
collaboration among Cleveland’s large, mid-size and
small theatre companies.  It will bring together
theatre, dance and music under one roof over a
concentrated time period and bring national attention
to Cleveland performing arts.  Bloom is hoping that it
will have an economic impact much as similar festivals
have done in Louisville which yearly has the Humana
Festival of New American Plays.  The estimated cost of
the festival is $250,000 which will hopefully be
underwritten by major corporation sponsors.

Another innovation being pushed by Bloom is the
addition of professional acting classes, much in the
style of those offered in New York, for local
performers who want to hone their craft.  The classes
will be taught by Seth Gordon and Mark Allan Gordon.

Bloom is in the process of planning for next year’s
season which will also add some innovations including
one off-subscription family play which will center on
a teenage subject.  

Bloom, in contrast to his predecessor, has become
popular with the local theatre community as he holds
auditions which has resulted in a number of local
actors finding work.  

Bloom, who directed ‘PRIVATE LIVES’ at CPH in 1995,
made his directorial premiere  at the facility since
being appointed as the organization’s eighth Artistic
Director when earlier this year he staged ‘A STREETCAR
NAMED DESIRE.’   The production met with mixed
critical reviews.  His next directing assignment is
‘WELL,’ Lisa Kron’s one-act absurdist comedy which
opens March 3 and runs through March 26.

It will be interesting to watch as Bloom places his
own fingerprint on the Cleveland Play House.  If his
short past history with the organization is any
indication, this could turn out to be a joyous ride
for Michael Bloom, for local theatre and the entire
arts community.


Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.

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