Requiem
Written By Hanoch Levin, Directed by Raymond Bobgan, Featuring Peter Lawson Jones*
March 14, 2024 - April 06, 2024
7:30pm, Thu/Fri/Sat/Mon and 3:00pm Sun, Mar 17, 24 & 31, Gordon Square Theatre. Previews March 14 & 15. Opening Night is March 16.
EVERY TICKET is “Choose What You Pay” and will be offered online, over the phone, and at the Box Office.
Written by one of Israel’s most beloved playwrights after a terminal diagnosis, Requiem dares to tackle the big questions of “life and death” with poetry, frankness, and a lot of humor. One old man embarks on a series of journeys to ward off death failing to see the life all around him amidst the colorful characters he encounters along the way—an old medic, two drunks, three cherubs, and two prostitutes who dream of moving to Paris.
This ground-breaking United States premiere production resets the play in an American landscape and stars Cleveland’s renown actor and activist Peter Lawson Jones* in the central role.
Featuring: Hosea Billingsley, Katie Boissoneault, Julia Boudiab, Jordan Ficyk, Peter Lawson Jones*, Brooke Lynlee, Nnamdi Okpala, Corin B. Self, Kat Shy, Yuval Tal, Anastasía Urozhaeva, Venetia Whatley, Eric Wloszek.
*Actor appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
March 15th Performance is a Benefit for Charles and Margaret Jones Scholarship Fund for College Now Greater Cleveland
The Charles and Margaret Jones Scholarship Fund which Peter Lawson Jones established 25+ years ago to honor his parents has, so far, helped twenty deserving, low and moderate-income students realize their dreams of college. The performance of Requiem on Friday, March 15 at 7:30pm is a benefit for the fund that is being sold through College Now. Tickets are $50 and include a post-show talk with Peter Lawson Jones* moderated by WKYC-TV News Anchor Christi Paul, and dessert reception. It you are interested in purchasing tickets to this performance/benefit click on to the following link: cngc.org/requiem
The Gordon Square Theatre is ADA-compliant featuring a ramped entrance and an all-gender, wheelchair accessible restroom.
The Creative Production Team Includes:
Producer and Director: Raymond Bobgan
Line Producer: Anastasía Urozhaeva
Stage Manager: Colleen McCaughey
Assistant Stage Manager: Angela Warholic
Lighting and Projection Designer: Benjamin Gantose
Technical Director: Joshua Smith
Set Designer: Cameron Caley Michalak
Costume Designer: Suwatana (Pla) Rockland
Video Scenery Artist: Catherine Anne Pace
Composer and Music Director: Ryan Charles Ramer,
Puppet Designer: Ian Petroni
Translators: Lee Nishri-Howitt and Leland Gregory Frankel
Exclusive Interview: Requiem – Part 1
ENHANCE YOUR EXPERIENCE
Opening Night – Ticket includes free admission to the post-show opening party with appetizers and beverages! Mingle with cast members!
Free Bev Friday – Every Friday night at CPT is Free Bev Friday. Free beer, wine, ready to drink cocktails and soft drinks are served after the performance for about an hour. Join the staff and artists of CPT, talk about the show, and have a drink on us. And remember, hot beverages like coffee and tea are always complimentary at CPT performances. (Please note: While liquor used in mixed drinks will not be complimentary, the mixer will be discounted from your total.)
NEW! Market Monday (April 1st) –Ticket includes admission to pre-show pop-up market spotlighting local visual artists, retailers, entrepreneurs, and more! Beginning one hour prior to every Monday night performance.
Featuring:
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About the Playwright
Hanoch Levin, a renowned Israeli playwright, left an indelible mark on Hebrew culture with his prolific and diverse body of work spanning genres like comedies, tragedies, cabarets, short stories, poetry, and more. Born in 1943, he overcame early struggles in an impoverished family after his father’s death, pursuing education while contributing to the family’s support. Levin’s writing journey started with poetry and satirical pieces, gaining momentum after the Six-Day War in 1967, when he critiqued Israel’s response in the cabaret “You and Me and the Next War.”
Levin’s plays, often laced with biting societal critique, grew in popularity, and he began directing them himself. His unique theatrical language and distinctive style earned him acclaim, especially for plays like “Execution,” “The Torments of Job,” and “The Great Whore of Babylon,” which combined horror, humor, and pathos. These works explored universal themes beyond local contexts, solidifying his status as a prominent Israeli playwright and director.
Despite his battle with cancer, Levin continued creating, and an initiative to publish his complete works led to the discovery of unpublished plays. He passed away in 1999, but his legacy endures through productions on Israeli stages and translations of his works in over 20 languages. Hanoch Levin’s impact on global theater is steadily growing, positioning him among the world’s finest playwrights.
ABOUT The Director
Raymond Bobgan creates new performances that are bold, multilayered, and highly physical through an ever-evolving ensemble process. Raymond’s work has been seen in Romania, Brazil, Denmark, Serbia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and has been featured in American Theatre magazine, Canadian Theatre Review, Theatre Journal, and in Lisa Wolford’s book Grotowski’s Objective Drama Research. Raymond has created many works for CPT including Dream Rust Workshop (a hypothesis project) for CPT and Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America; Frankenstein’s Wake with Holly Holsinger; Feefer Rising with Faye Hargate; Rusted Heart Broadcast; Insomnia: The Waking of Herselves with Holly Holsinger and Chris Seibert; and Blue Sky Transmission: A Tibetan Book of the Dead, co-produced by CPT and La MaMa ETC (Off-Broadway).
Raymond initiated the formation of Teatro Público de Cleveland, CPT’s resident Latinx/a/o theatre company, Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi مسرح كليفلاند العربي, a group dedicated to creating and performing theatre from Arabic-speaking communities, and Station Hope, a community arts festival exploring contemporary issues of social justice. Raymond founded the Student Theatre Enrichment Program (STEP), a job-training theatre program for teens, and co-created the Y-Haven Theatre Project with James Levin, which engages formerly homeless men in writing and performing theatre.
Raymond’s research and creation group, Cleveland CORE Ensemble, created multiple Zoom shows, live movies, and hybrid performances during COVID-19 as part of the Hypothesis Exploration Project. They are currently working on a live performance art piece, Candlelight Hypothesis, which will premiere in April of 2022.
Raymond was the first recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize in the discipline of Theatre. He is a two-time winner of the Creative Workforce Fellowship and a recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Fellowship. He is an alumnus of the Theatre Communications Group (TCG)’s Early Career Development Program for Directors, and of the National Theatre Artist Residency Program (Pew Charitable Trust and TCG). Raymond also received the Cisgender Ally Award at Cleveland’s Transgender Day of Remembrance and Equality Ohio’s Ally Award. In 2018, he was honored with the Cleveland Foundation’s Homer C. Wadsworth Award and in 2017, his administrative leadership was recognized with The Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio. In 2020 he was awarded the Father Frascati Neighborhood Champion Award.
Raymond was the President of the Board of Directors for the National New Play Network from 2018-2020 and he currently serves on the boards of Theatre Communications Group, Gordon Square Arts District Cleveland Improvement Corporation (Chair), and North American Cultural Laboratory. Raymond also serves on the Racial Equity Advisory Committee for United Way of Greater Cleveland and on the Community Advisory Board of Ideastream.
This is Raymond Bobgan’s 17th season in the leadership position at Cleveland Public Theatre.
Sponsored with support from:
