There’s more to Cleveland Public Theatre than what you see on stage. We delight in showing you the people and ideas behind the scenes, so we’ve created Opening Acts! In this newsletter, you’ll get glimpses of CPT’s everyday work, lesser-known special projects, and so much more we want to share that transcends business as usual.
In this first edition of Opening Acts, we’re covering:
- Future of American Theatre Cohort projects, collaborations, and recent visit
- The new Joan Yellen Horvitz Directing Fellowship
- A photography exhibit featuring the work of CPT artists
Let’s dive in!
CPT Carries on the Future of American Theatre
Last year we announced Cleveland Public Theatre’s participation in an exciting new venture called The Future of American Theatre Cohort. The cohort is an alliance of five regional theatres across the nation showcasing daring new projects, with a focus on work done by artists from underrepresented communities. In addition to CPT, the cohort includes Company One Theatre (MA), Crowded Fire Theater (CA), Mosaic Theater Company (DC), and Perseverance Theatre (AK). To support this ambitious project, each theatre received $500,000 spread over two years from the Mellon Foundation. You can read about the formation of the cohort in American Theatre magazine.
We eagerly and immediately began to utilize the gift, starting with the Pilot Project last fall, which was a small gathering of local artists guided and facilitated by Cleveland Public Theatre’s Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan. Together, they explored new forms and innovations in theatrical performance. Many of the participating artists created work for our inaugural unprecedented arts festival, SoftLaunch, which exceeded expectations and sold to numbers we haven’t seen since pre-pandemic. The three-day event featured 20+ visual and performing arts installations throughout our main campus. CPT is presenting a couple pieces from SoftLaunch in extended forms in our 2025–2026 season, including Robin VanLear’s Hallowed Owls and Chris Webb’s The End of Black Excellence. We’re excited to present the sophomore year of the festival in January 2026.
Also coming up next season is our highly anticipated National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Haunted by Tara Moses, which will be directed by Nailah Unole didanas’ea Harper-Malveaux, Leader of Artistic Curation and Producing at Crowded Fire Theater. This historic Rolling World Premiere is the first by an Indigenous artist. We are sharing this premiere with our cohort friends from Company One Theatre, who produced the play earlier this year. There will be more about the NNPN in an upcoming issue.
A Visit From the Future
Members of The Future of American Theatre Cohort at CPT’s annual Artist Meeting (top row, L to R): Leslie Ishii (Perseverance), Leigh Rondon-Davis and Mark Abby VanDerZee (Company One), Chelsea Radigan (Mosaic), Bella Stenvall (Mellon Foundation), Marguerite Hannah (CPT), Summer L. Williams (Company One), Riley Alyson (Crowded Fire), Reginald L. Douglas (Mosaic); (bottom row, L to R): Caro Asercion, Nailah Harper-Malveaux, and Julie McCormick (Crowded Fire), Stephanie Ybarra (Mellon Foundation), Raymond Bobgan (CPT), Isabel Quinzaños Alonso (Doris Duke Foundation), Shawn LaCount and Karthik Subramanian (Company One), Lisa Mount (Artistic Logistics). Photo by Steve Wagner.
The Future of American Theatre Cohort had their first meeting last September in Boston hosted by Company One Theatre, and we were thrilled to be the second theatre to host a convening last month.
During their time in the LAND, members of the cohort got a tour of our lovely Gordon Square neighborhood from our fearless leader Raymond Bobgan. Tour stops included the LGBT Center, Near West Theatre, dining at XYZ Tavern, and landmarks that have had a profound effect on CPT and Cleveland’s history, such as the Cozad Bates House and St. John’s Episcopal Church, both of which were part of the inspiration for our Station Hope celebration. CPT staff gave presentations on all facets of the theatre, including education, marketing, fundraising, and, of course, artistic production. They also had a chance to engage with members of the Mellon Foundation and CPT artists—including a few members from CPT’s Community Ensembles Teatro Público de Cleveland, Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi, and Cleveland CORE Ensemble—as well as staff and board members through the theatre’s annual Artist Meeting, where we exchanged ideas with our cohort counterparts, paving the way for future collaborations.
“The profound experience of feeling deeply seen, affirmed, and understood by some of the leaders I most admire in American theatre could only be called a once-in-a-lifetime career highlight! And we learned so much. We were reminded of many things we take for granted—tangible and intangible things that we have grown and built through hard, enduring, and inspired work. We reflected on how to weather our current times with light and connection to each other. And we dove deep into dreams of how our field might shift through transactional and relational culture change. As I looked out into a room of one hundred CPT artists interacting with the cohort leaders, including guests from the Mellon Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation, I was overwhelmed with a sense of joy and gratification. Ever grateful to these leaders and to Stephanie Ybarra of the Mellon Foundation, whose leadership made this possible. And I can’t wait to be at Mosaic Theater in Washington, DC, for our next gathering.”
—Raymond Bobgan, CPT Executive Artistic Director
Art from the cohort gathering by Lisa Mount. Photo by Crowded Fire Theater’s Leigh Rondon-Davis.
CPT Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan and Crowded Fire Theater’s Nailah Harper-Malveaux talk while watching a Lake Erie sunset. Photo by Company One Theatre’s Shawn LaCount.
Cohort members gather on the beach to watch the sunset. Photo by Company One Theatre’s Shawn LaCount.
Raymond Bobgan leads a tour near the Cleveland script sign at Edgewater Park. Photo by Company One Theatre’s Shawn LaCount.
Cohort members tour the old church on CPT’s campus. Photo by Crowded Fire Theater’s Leigh Rondon-Davis.
Company One Theatre’s Karthik Subramanian speaks at CPT’s annual Artist Meeting. Photo by Steve Wagner.
Announcing the 2025–2026 Joan Yellen Horvitz Directing Fellows
2025–2026 Joan Yellen Horvitz Directing Fellows, L to R: Jimmie Woody, Anastasía Urozhaeva, Juliana Frey-Méndez, Nailah Unole didanas’ea Harper-Malveaux, Paige Conway, Ray Caspio.
We’re gearing up for our 44th season, entitled Luminous, as announced a couple weeks ago. Among many exciting projects this season is the launch of the Joan Yellen Horvitz Directing Fellowship, funded by a $6M gift from the Joan Yellen Horvitz Trust. This gift will allow six directors to direct mainstage shows in the current season or devise new works.
The inaugural fellows and their projects include Jimmie Woody (The End of Black Excellence), Ray Caspio (I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes), Nailah Unole didanas’ea Harper-Malveaux (Haunted), Juliana Frey-Méndez (Jardin Salvaje), Paige Conway developing a workshop production of a new devised work, and Anastasía Urozhaeva as an “emerging director” who will be Associate Director of the Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi performance and creating a new work for SoftLaunch 2026.
Nailah Unole didanas’ea Harper-Malveaux (Haunted) is Leader of Artistic Curation & Producing at Crowded Fire Theater, one of the Mellon Foundation’s The Future of American Theatre Cohort member theatres. This production of Haunted is part of a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere and the first play by an Indigenous playwright to receive the esteemed award.
Jimmie Woody is coming off the heels of a successful sold-out run of Showin’ Up Black by Jeanne Madison. Paige Conway has had successful runs of The Body Play and Funny, Like An Abortion. Ray Caspio, one of last season’s Premiere Fellowship awardees, will be back in town from Chicago to direct I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes by Amy Schwabauer. Anastasía Urozhaeva has a long history performing, co-directing, and line producing at CPT, including its CORE Ensemble. And Juliana Frey-Méndez is a Cuban-American director, choreographer, and deviser from Iowa who will be bringing her talents to Cleveland to direct Teatro Público de Cleveland’s Jardin Salvaje (Native Gardens).
Click here to learn more about our 2025–2026 season, Luminous.
“This first cohort of the new Joan Yellen Horvitz Director Fellowship is a wonderful celebration of Joan’s values of innovation, equity, and ambition. The range of perspectives, experience, and styles of their work reflects our core values and the beauty of our communities. I am grateful for this incredible opportunity to advance the work of CPT artists and the organic growth of the American theatre field.”
—Raymond Bobgan, CPT Executive Artistic Director
About Joan Yellen Horvitz
Joan Yellen Horvitz (September 7, 1932–October 28, 2021) was an admired civic leader and integral part of the fabric of Cleveland Public Theatre who designed couture fashion as well as intricate costumes and sets for dance and theatre. Her couture designs can be viewed in the permanent collections of the Kent State University Museum, the Western Reserve Historical Society Chisolm Halle Costume Wing, and the Ursuline College Historic Costume Study Collection. Joan’s stunning work for CPT included Fefu and Her Friends, Between Life and Death, and Insomnia: The Waking of Herselves.
At CPT, she funded the Joan Yellen Horvitz Director Fellowship, giving emerging directors (originally exclusive to women) the opportunity to participate in a season-long residency to provide mentoring, training, and production of new material. The program has been expanded to include directors from all walks of life.
The Artists of CPT
Steve Wagner (L) and Ryan Harris (R)
As you probably know, CPT is not just a theatre. We’re a community—a community of core staff who are artists and, inversely, artists who are staff, whether full-time, part-time, or sometime. One of our favorite artists is CPT photographer Steve Wagner, who takes most of the incredible photos you see of our productions and many of the staff headshots. He is also a revered photographer who works with several organizations throughout the Greater Cleveland area, including Dobama Theatre and BorderLight Festival. One of his CPT photos was selected to be part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park exhibit “Nature Includes You.” And there is no need for either West or East Siders to be jealous of each other, as the exhibit will travel to locations all over Greater Cleveland.
The free exhibit also features CPT collaborator Ryan Harris, who allowed us to exhibit a portion of his critically acclaimed exhibit Hairitage: Don’t Touch My Hair in 2023 around our production of francisca da silveira’s can I touch it?
Click here for a list of locations where you can check out the exhibit.
Thank you for reading Opening Acts!
We look forward to sharing more with you soon.