Archives by Month: December 2023
Cleveland Public Theatre Announces Melissa Waddell as Director of Development
“Over the past months Melissa has demonstrated leadership in advancing CPT aims. Her powerful belief in our mission and how we implement it, along with her keen understanding of development and fundraising will support CPT’s advancement in the coming years. “― Raymond Bobgan, executive artistic director
Melissa Waddell joined Cleveland Public Theatre as the Associate Development Director in January 2023 and was promoted to Interim Director of Development this summer. She is a Pittsburgh native (but don’t hold it against her!) who has called Cleveland home for the last four years. Melissa earned a bachelor’s degree in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship from Baldwin Wallace University, where she spent her senior year working alongside the Director of Academic Grants to craft compelling proposals in support of academic programming. Upon graduation, Melissa joined the staff of the Cleveland Foundation, where she provided administrative support to the Philanthropic Services team and oversaw several projects related to their online donor portal. She earned her Master of Nonprofit Management from Regis University in the summer of 2022 and is thrilled to put her experience and education to work at an organization that has amazed and inspired her since her freshman year of college. Melissa lives in Cleveland with her husband, her dog, and a few dozen freshwater fish.
Cleveland Public Theatre Announces new Kulas Foundation Recipient
Cleveland Public Theatre is proud to announce the new Kulas Foundation music fellow Ryan Charles Ramer. This is the theatre’s first new fellow since the pandemic.
Ryan was selected for his keen musical talent in classical compositions. The central focus of this fellowship is composing original music for the National Premiere of Requiem by Hanoch Levin directed by Raymond Bobgan. Ryan is also working on scoring music from ensemble generated music in Candlelight Hypothesis and as part of the fellowship participates in a variety of other CPT activities.
“Ryan’s sense of how music can amplify impact of performance in both conventional and unconventional is profound.” ― Raymond Bobgan, CPT executive artistic director
Ryan is a composer who has lived in Cleveland for over 20 years. He began writing classical music in 5th grade, and by 9th grade was studying under the associate dean of music at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music.
He has been an active member of the Cleveland Composers Guild since 2012 and was the composer for the Gordon Square Classical Concert series for five years. He has been an active contributor to Cleveland Public Theatre’s The Dark Room for over a decade and has had plays performed for CPT’s Catapult series and Test Flight.
His work has been produced by Oddyfest Theatre Labs, Cleveland Opera Theatre, Greater Cleveland Flute Society, Cleveland Classical Guitar Society, and several times for Ingenuity Festival. His work can be heard regularly on the radio for WVIZ Ideastream as well as YouTube and Spotify.
His output includes opera, chamber, choral, orchestral, and keyboard music.
The last Kulas Foundation grantee was Obediya Jones-Darrell who has gone on to do music for a number of CPT projects as well as projects in Cleveland and his native Canada.
About the Kulas Foundation
The Kulas Foundation was established in 1937 with the primary purpose of supporting the musical arts in the Greater Cleveland area. Today, the Foundation continues to focus on music and also makes grants in the areas of arts and culture, community, education, and music therapy research.