Cleveland Public Theatre is leaking a few hints about what’s
on the company’s 2009-2010 schedule in advance of its announcement
party Saturday (see “Get Out” this week), but no specific titles. A
little bird told us, for example, that the football season will bring
the world premiere of a cabaret-style performance “about a beloved
Cleveland sports team and its die-hard fans.”
Also in the category of world premieres, executive artistic director
Raymond Bobgan will present his own re-imagining of “works by a highly
lauded and rarely produced classical playwright.”
That’s as much as we could gather from the bird’s song, though the
company will again present three performance series that give the stage
to other local companies, as well as individuals trying out new work.
The Big [BOX] series, the experimental Little Box, and the spring
Danceworks series — which has an important part of the local
dance schedule — will all be back this year. So will the
company’s holiday staple, David Sedaris’ The Santaland
Diaries.
The best news isn’t about a production, but the fact that the
company isn’t reducing the number of shows it will put on stage. Bobgan
promises nine full productions in addition to the three annual
series.
“Though we have been struck with the same challenges facing
nonprofits across the country, CPT’s programming is vital,” says
Bobgan. “We are finding the way to increase services to the community
and enact our mission to nurture great artists and produce
fulfilling and compelling theatre.”
Don’t hold back on our account. For information, go to cptonline.org.
Speaking of the coming season, SPACES has announced that four
Northeast Ohio artists have been selected for this year’s
SPACELab program. SPACELab has evolved into a mini residency
designed to give the artists a forum — complete with a sounding
board in SPACELab program director Susan Vincent — to try
techniques and ideas outside their standard practice. The artists are
ceramic-based, mixed-media sculptor Elizabeth Emery of Cleveland
Heights, installation artist Elaine Hullihen of Kent, painter Robin
Latkovich of Cleveland Heights and sculptor/designer Mark
Moskovitz.
The artists will present their work during the first half of the
exhibition season, beginning September 11. Artists over age 21 living
in Northeast Ohio are encouraged to apply for next year’s SPACELab
program before the September 18 deadine. For details, go to spacesgallery.org.
This article appears in Jul 15-21, 2009.