Cleveland Public Theatre’s Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan is proud to announce the selection of two local playwrights for the second annual Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellowship. The 2014-2015 Fellows are Andrew Kramer and Arwen Mitchell.

Now in its second year, the Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellows program is funded by a 3-year grant from the Nord Family Foundation. The fellowship program was initiated by CPT to support local early-career playwrights who have demonstrated ability and extraordinary potential. The inaugural Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellow was Juliette Regnier, who completed her fellowship in June of 2014 with a staged reading of her trilogy of new work, “S” Plays.

For the 2014-2015 season, CPT will support emerging playwrights Andrew Kramer and Arwen Mitchell through mentorship, logistical support and opportunities to produce and workshop new plays.

Andrew Kramer was born and raised in Cleveland and is a 2010 graduate of Ball State University’s Department of Theatre & Dance. He was a 2013 member of the Emerging Writer’s Group at The Public Theatre in New York. He is a former member of the Groundbreakers Playwrights’ Group with the terraNOVA Theatre Collective where he developed his play Whales & Souls. Andrew was a Core Apprentice Writer at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, as well as a two-time semi-finalist in the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Play Festival with his plays A Map of Our Country(2010) and We Happy Animals (2011). Andrew served as Playwright‐in‐Residence at the Cairns Arts Festival in Queensland, Australia and his play The Dog(run) Diarieswas shortlisted for the 2012 US/UK Old Vic New Voices. In 2012, Andrew was a member of the Ingram New Works Lab at Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville. Andrew has worked with Cleveland Public Theatre in developing his plays Bridge,Crying for Lions and ARMATURE.

Arwen Mitchell is a Cleveland-based writer whose creative and academic work focuses on American history, women’s studies, pop culture and humanism. Her produced plays include RPM (Revolutions Per Minute), Bitter Pills, The Maybe Pile, Snake Oil, Everybody Has One and I’ve Got Nothing to Do Today But Smile. Her short piece About Face recently premiered at CPT’s performance event, Station Hope. She is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild, holds an MS in Theatre History & Criticism from Illinois State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. She has taught an extensive roster of college courses in theatre, English, creative writing and the humanities, and continues to do so in the downtown and greater Cleveland area.

The Nord Family Foundation, a private family foundation located in Amherst, Ohio, endeavors to build community through support of projects that bring opportunity to the disadvantaged, strengthen the bond of families and improve the quality of people’s lives.

To learn more about the Cleveland Public Theatre, including fellowship programs and other opportunities for artists, visit cptonline.org or contact Cathleen O’Malley, Director of Audience Engagement & Media Relations at (216) 631-2727 x 212 or comalley@cptonline.org.   Read More ›

Check out the Season Announcement on Cleveland.com. Cleveland Public Theatre’s Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan is announcing the 2014-2015 Season, which delivers on CPT’s bold mission of raising consciousness and nurturing compassion through theatre that is inventive, intelligent and socially conscious. CPT invests in innovation and diversity, and is the leading producer of new work and local playwrights in our community, producing more original work than all the professional theatres in the area combined over the past eight years. The upcoming 14-15 Season includes four World Premieres and two Regional Premieres. Additionally, CPT’s New Work Development programs continue to launch emerging artists through numerous workshop and other production opportunities, as well as provide pathways for risk and innovation by more established theatre-makers. At CPT it’s not just a show, it’s an Experience. For us theatre is not just a passive, sit-back and listen format. The 14-15 season is about experiencing new viewpoints, challenging perceptions and journeying into new worlds. The 14-15 season will feature work that tackles issues of national significance, championing courage and personal triumph over tragedy; uplifting and off-the-wall new plays by emerging playwrights; and will revive celebrated favorites. CPT’s 2014-2015 season opens with a world premiere and second full-length production (title TBD) by Teatro Publico de Cleveland, CPT’s resident Latin American theatre ensemble. In the spring of 2015, Teatro Publico ensemble members will join guest writer/director Tlaloc Rivas in the world premiere of Johanna: Facing Forward, a powerful new play based on the true story of Johanna Orozco, a Cleveland Latina who survived a gunshot to the face by her boyfriend in 2007. Her story of rehabilitation and recovery as reported in The Plain Dealer’s award-winning series by journalist Rachel Dissell sparked national discourse on the issue of teen domestic violence.

Also in the season, CPT will bring back two celebrated productions, Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant, in from NYC on a farewell tour of their crowd-pleasing theatre-meets-dinner party and the still-timely Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. In the spring of 2015, CPT will present the Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (by Nathan Davis) as a rolling world premiere with multiple other regional theatre across the country through the National New Play Network (NNPN)

Included in CPT’s season of new work is the fourth and concluding play in CPT’s award-winning Elements Cycle initiative, which focuses on issues of sustainability through bold original works performed in unique settings. Fire on the Water is a series of short plays created by a diverse team of playwrights, directors and actors, inspired by the infamous burning of the Cuyahoga River. CPT will partner with area theatres to create the production: Theatre Ninjas, Talespinner Children’s Theatre, Blank Canvas and Ohio City Theatre.

CPT’s fully produced work is complemented by our annual New Work Development series: Big Box, seven weeks of new works in theatre, dance, opera and multimedia performance; SpringBoard: a staged-reading series; Leap/Conceive, a weekend of short excerpts from works-in-development; and CPT’s monthly playwriting open mic, The Dark Room. 

Not only does CPT present a variety of genres and styles, but we champion the ideal of equity onstage. In recognition of this commitment, in 2012 CPT was awarded the inaugural ICWP 50/50 Applause Award given to professional theatres in America that demonstrate gender equity in programming. The 14-15 Season can be seen as a continued affirmation of this commitment to diversity, especially in regards to promoting and celebrating the work of women in the field. Of twelve full productions produced on our stages in 2014-2015, seven feature women as playwrights or lead artists.

All performances take place at Cleveland Public Theatre, 6415 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44102.  Read More ›

“An eclectic group of artists has been awarded the 2014 Cleveland Arts Prize, the organization announced Friday. They include theater directors, designers, filmmakers, visual artists, arts administrators and a gallery owner.

The winners of the 54th annual awards will be honored at a ceremony at the Cleveland Museum of Art at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 26.”

Click Here for the Cleveland.com article for more information about the awards and awardees.