The End of Black Excellence
Written and performed by Chris Webb
Directed by Jimmie Woody
October 23, 2025 - November 08, 2025
James Levin Theatre
ADMISSION: Choose What You Pay from $20 to $80 with no handling fees. There are also a limited number of tickets for $10 and $1 available on a first-come-first-served basis per performance; however, please note that to cut down on high no-show rates, digital or hard copy tickets not scanned at least 30 minutes prior to a performance will be released for resale. Purchase tickets at cptonline.org or 216.631.2727 ext. 501.
EVERY TICKET is "Choose What You Pay" and will be offered online, over the phone, and at the Box Office.
The End of Black Excellence follows a man who just may be the first Black person born without “Black excellence.” In his attempt to prove this theory wrong, he puts on an (ever-failing) solo show to prove his worth, value, and connection with the elusive excellence that he craves.
Photos by Steve Wagner
Click here for COVID-19 Safety Protocols. (Sunday COVID-Conscious performances)
The James Levin Theatre is ADA-compliant featuring a patron elevator and an all-gender, wheelchair accessible restroom.
The Creative Production Team Includes:
Producer: Raymond Bobgan
Line Producer: Kadijah Wingo
Stage Manager: Tyree-Juanell Franklin
Lighting Designer: Sierra Smith
Graphic Designer: Sarah Beth Morgan
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Chris Webb is a globally recognized spoken word artist, an Emmy-winning journalist, and a filmmaker from Cleveland, Ohio. From 2015-2020, he toured with the world’s largest spoken word tour, Poets in Autumn, where he performed original pieces annually for 50 U.S. cities and international dates, including London, Kenya, and the Caribbean. From 2020-2025, he joined WKYC 3 to document powerful perspectives from Cleveland’s marginalized and emerging communities, ultimately earning a 2021 Emmy. As a filmmaker, Chris has been featured on MTV, BET, and the Tribeca Film Institute among others. Chris is a Cleveland School of the Arts graduate and trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland before earning his degree from the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. As an ad director, Chris has produced ad work for the White House, the Essence Festival, the National Civil Rights Museum, and other local and national vendors. His ad work has earned Telly, Webby, and Promax recognition. As a storyteller, Chris is a 2025 finalist of the International Storytelling Centre’s “Story Slam,” set to compete in Jonesborough, Tennessee this year. In The End of Black Excellence, Chris merges all of his practices into a piece that reflects on survival, self-acceptance, and the power of mentorship in life’s most critical moments. This play is dedicated to the memory of Bill Cobbs, Dr. Scott Miller, Gwen Norfleet-Rodgers, Jacquie Gillon, and many other mentors who have helped guide the way.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Jimmie Woody (director and producer) is a dynamic director, arts educator & visual artist from Cleveland, Ohio. Some of his most recent directorial credits include: Jitney by August Wilson (Beck Center); Election Day by Lee Chilcote (BorderLight Festival); Brownsville Song/B-Side for Tray (Dobama Theatre); Art of Longing by Lisa Langford (Cleveland Public Theatre); To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, and Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (Weathervane Playhouse); Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky and The America Play by Suzan-Lori Parks (University of Akron); The Split Show, How Blood Go, and The Bomb by Lisa Langford (Tri-C, Convergence Continuum & Cleveland Public Theatre); Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, For Colored Girls… by Ntozake Shange, Jitney, Two Trains Running, Gem of the Ocean & Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson (Cuyahoga Community College [Tri-C Metro]); 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks (Cleveland Public Theatre); MLK Day by Jimmie Woody; The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe & When the Chickens Came Home to Roost by Laurence Holder (Karamu House); Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman (Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, Cleveland Public Library, and the Cleveland Botanical Garden); Underground Griots by Natalie Parker & Keith Josef Adkins (Cleveland Public Theatre, The National Black Theatre Festival and Here Café NYC); Wilberforce & Hollis Mugley’s Only Wish by Keith Josef Adkins (Cleveland Public Theatre, The National Black Theatre Festival & New York Hip Hop Festival); The Bacchae of Euripides by Wole Soyinka (Cleveland Public Theatre and Columbia University); Song by Daniel Gray Kontar and InCogNegro by Lisa Langford (Cleveland Public Theatre).