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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><FONT size=3><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>‘The Drowning Girls’</SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
delivers enthralling</SPAN></B></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>, <B>ethereal theater </B><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><B><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></B></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">“He
took her breath away” takes on new meaning in </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Cleveland
Public Theatre’s regional premiere of “<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">The Drowning Girls<I>,</I>” </SPAN>written
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND: white">by Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson & Daniela
Vlaskalic.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>The play is based on the real-life murders of three vulnerable, lonely
women by George Joseph Smith within a three year time span in the early
1900s.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He would briefly woo,
unceremoniously wed, and inauspiciously drown his brides in a bathtub.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>The haunting retelling of what transpired on and around the moment of
death is told by the wet women themselves – Alice (Natalie Green), Bessie (Sarah
Kunchik) and Margaret (Jaime Bouvier).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Each woman is dressed in period underclothing with lace and linen
remnants of their wedding attire.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Each woman jumps from first-person to third, as they offer both testimony
and trial that leads to the eventual conviction of the man they
love.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Each woman does this while soaking in the claw-foot bathtub that led to
their untimely demise, their drenched hair clinging to their enraged
faces.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>The staging of a grim play like this could easily gravitate toward the
macabre – and there are certainly moments in this production that employ horror
genre conventions, such as ghostly blue backlighting (courtesy of Ben Gantose),
ominous music (courtesy of Sam Fisher), and sudden movements erupting from stone
cold silence.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The wonderful
costumes are by Inda Blatch-Geib.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>However, director Melissa Therese Crum embraces and embellishes all that
is ethereal and slightly surreal in this story and places great faith in her
three actors to do the waiflike storytelling that is required.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They do so remarkably
well.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Individually, Green, Kunchik and Bouvier create interesting, even
intriguing characters for the cadavers they are handed.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But these three drowned girls are
at their best gracefully, fluidly moving and speaking as one during the most
poignant and truly disturbing moments in the play.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The power of their conviction
intensifies and the tragedy of their tale multiplies when they join forces.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Performed in one act and in 70 minutes, “The Drowning Girls” is a small
but splendid piece of theater.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">WHAT:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 2"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">“The
Drowning Girls</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">WHERE:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Cleveland
Public Theatre, </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">6415
Detroit Avenue, Gordon Square <SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>WHEN:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Through Saturday, May 3<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in 5.25in"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">TICKETS:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: CS" lang=CS>$12 –
$18.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Call 216-631-2727 x501, or
visit </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><A
href="http://www.cptonline.org/"><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.cptonline.org</FONT></A>.<SPAN style="COLOR: black">
<STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></STRONG></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
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