<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Helvetica;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Garamond;
panose-1:2 2 4 4 3 3 1 1 8 3;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Arial Narrow";
panose-1:2 11 6 6 2 2 2 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\30D2\30E9\30AE\30CE\89D2\30B4 Pro W3";}
@font-face
{font-family:TradeGothicLTStd-Cn18;
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
p.Default, li.Default, div.Default
{mso-style-name:Default;
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-autospace:none;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Garamond","serif";
color:black;}
p.Body, li.Body, div.Body
{mso-style-name:Body;
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";
color:black;}
span.apple-converted-space
{mso-style-name:apple-converted-space;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>For Immediate Release <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Contact: Cathleen O’Malley<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>216.631.2727 ext. 212<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:comalley@cptonline.org"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>comalley@cptonline.org</span></a><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=Default><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=Default><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>May 5, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=Default><b><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=Default align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Cleveland Public Theatre presents provocative new comedy <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=Default align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>THIS IS NOT THE PLAY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=Default align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Onstage May 15-May 31</span></b><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=Default><b><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Cleveland, OH </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>—Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) Executive Artistic Director, Raymond Bobgan announces the regional premiere of <i>This is Not the Play, </i>written </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;background:white'>by NYC-based playwright Chisa Hutchinson and directed by CPT’s New Play Associate, Emily Ritger. The production will be staged in CPT’s James Levin Theatre.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;background:white'>In her own words, multiple award-winning playwright Chisa (pronounced ChEE-zah) Hutchinson “write[s] plays about people who don’t ordinarily get plays written about them.” Cleveland Public Theatre’s production will the 2<sup>nd</sup> US production of the “courageous and thought-provoking” work, which was originally commissioned by Mad Dog Theatre Company (NYC) and received the 2012 New York Innovative Theatre Award for “Outstanding Original Short Script.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;background:white'>On the origins of <i>This is Not the Play</i>, Chisa says, <i>“</i></span><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>I started writing this play about the process of writing a play about white people, as a black person. I didn’t think anything was going to come of it really, it’s kinda dark. And I tried to write it so that you never see the playwright, but by the time I got to the end of it, I was like, no, the playwright has to make an appearance. For the [Mad Dog Theatre Company] production I got to play the playwright, I got to play ‘myself.’ Even when you’re trying to create something different, when you’re trying to write something that isn’t you, it’s still completely you. In a weird way, you’re the reference point. We try to invent things outside of ourselves but even those are us.”</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> <span style='background:white'><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>About the Show<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;background:white'>A gritty, in-your-face comedy that digs into what we naturally turn away from, racism.<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><i>This Is Not the Play</i><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>imagines a black playwright trying to write a play about white people. The problem is that the characters seem to have minds of their own. The playwright sends in her agent to interrogate the characters and then she tries to intervene as they expose their pathetically racist and patently disempowered viewpoints. Is this the playwright's reflection on racism, or on her own prejudice? With a pop-art sensibility and larger-than-life characters, the play is as funny as it is profound.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>About the Playwright, Chisa Hutchinson:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Chisa Hutchinson earned a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.F.A from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Her plays, which include <i>Dirt Rich</i>, <i>She Like Girls</i>, <i>This Is Not the Play, Sex on Sunday, Tunde’s Trumpet</i> (a musical with puppets), <i>The Subject</i>, <i>Mama’s Gonna Buy You</i>, <i>Somebody’s Daughter</i>, <i>Alondra Was Here</i> and <i>Dead & Breathing</i> have been presented by such venues as the Lark Play Development Center, SummerStage, Atlantic Theater Co, Working Man’s Clothes Productions, the BE Company, Partial Comfort Productions, Mad Dog Theater Co. and the Wild Project. In addition to having been a member playwright of New Dramatists (2013), Chisa is a Lark Fellow (2012), Dramatists Guild Fellow (2011), a resident at the William Inge Center for the Arts (2010), a New York NeoFuturist and a finalist for the highly coveted PONY Fellowship, she’s won a GLAAD Award, the John Golden Award for Excellence in Playwriting, a Lilly Award, a New York Innovative Theatre Award, the Paul Green Award and a Helen Merrill Award. Her foray into screenwriting won her Best Narrative Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival, and is looking forward to the adaptation of her play, <i>The Subject</i>, into a feature film. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=Default><b><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Cast and Crew of <i>This is Not the Play<o:p></o:p></i></span></b></p><p class=Default><i><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>This is Not the Play </span></i><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>was written by</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext;background:white'> Chisa Hutchinson. The CPT production is directed by Emily Ritger, CPT New Play Associate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=Default><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=Default><i><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>This is Not the Play </span></i><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>stars Katrice Headd (as Playwright), with Rebecca Frick (White Girl 1), Jessica Annunziata (White Girl 2), Bobby Coyne (The Man) and Laura Starnik (White Woman).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=Default><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Complete creative and production team includes Emily Ritger (Director), Inda Blatch-Geib (Set Designer), Greg Falcione (Lighting Designer), Carolyn Dickey (Costume Designer), Mike Tutaj (Sound Designer), Becky Cummings (Stage Manager) and Anne Bakan (Wardrobe Assistant). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=Body><b><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Ticket & Show Information<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=Body><i><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>This is Not the Play </span></i><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>previews Thursday, May 15 and<b> runs Friday, May 16 through May 31</b>. Performances are <b>Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday at 7:00pm </b>in CPT’s James Levin Theatre, 6415 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44102. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=Body><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=Body><b><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>Tickets are $12 – $28.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=Body><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>All Thursday and Monday shows are just $12! Student and Senior discounts ($3 off) are available for Friday and Saturday performances.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=Body><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=Body><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'>**<b>Every Friday</b> is FREE BEER FRIDAY at CPT. Audience members are invited to mingle with the artists after the show and enjoy a drink or two on CPT.**<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=Body><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:double windowtext 6.75pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Tickets are available </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>for purchase<b> </b></span><a href="http://www.cptonline.org"><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>www.cptonline.org</span></b></a><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>or by phone at<b> (216) 631-2727 x 501.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>For more information about <b><i>This is Not the Play</i></b> or other upcoming CPT productions, please visit </span><a href="http://www.cptonline.org"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>cptonline.org</span></a><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> or contact Cathleen O’Malley, Director of Audience Engagement & Media Relations at (216) 631-2727 x 212 or </span><a href="mailto:comalley@cptonline.org"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>comalley@cptonline.org</span></a><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>. </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Cathleen O’Malley<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'>Director of Audience Engagement & Media Relations<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'>Cleveland Public Theatre<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'>(216) 631-2727 x 212<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>See what's playing tonight, go to </span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.cptonline.org/"><i><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>www.cptonline.org</span></i></a></span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>