Cleveland Public Theatre’s

“Luminous”

2025–2026 Season

Cleveland Public Theatre’s (CPT) Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan is proud to announce the 2025–2026 Season, called “Luminous.”

Luminous lu·mi·nous /ˈlo͞omənəs/: emitting or reflecting light, something enlightened.

“This is a time for us to shine our light in a special way—luminous, not like the sun but like the moon, that shines in a time of darkness and reminds us that the sun still shines and will rise again. The moon is also associated with the unconscious, the place where our inner spirit struggles and plays. The place where the imagination can explore new ideas, new worlds, while finding ways in the present moment to heal and comfort.”

—Raymond Bobgan, Executive Artistic Director

Luminous is the theme for Cleveland Public Theatre’s 44th season, as the productions and events seek to bring the events of the day to light and center on new talent. This season features five world premieres, a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere, the second year of the new-art development series SoftLaunch, debuts of two pieces that were first developed in SoftLaunch, plays featuring a few of CPT’s partners in the second year of the Mellon Foundation’s Future of American Theatre Cohort, a Spanish translation of Karen Zacarias’ regional theatre favorite, Native Gardens, presented by Teatro Público de Cleveland, and a new work by Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi. The season also includes a major investment in workshops of new devised pieces, including one by CPT Associate Producer Paige Conway.

Themes explored this year include the meaning of Black excellence, healing through grief, reclaiming of Indigenous land, and more.

Cleveland Public Theatre 2025–2026 Season 

THE END OF BLACK EXCELLENCE

By Chris Webb

Directed by Jimmie Woody
October 23–November 8, 2025
James Levin Theatre

A hit with audiences when a portion of it was workshopped as part of CPT’s inaugural SoftLaunch earlier this year, 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.

MASRAH CLEVELAND AL-ARABI

Jointly created by Raymond Bobgan and Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi مسرح كليفلاند العربي 

October 9–November 12, 2025
World Premiere

Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi is back with a new show celebrating Arabic culture. A title will be announced at a later date.

About Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi مسرح كليفلاند العربي

Cleveland Public Theatre believes when communities come together to share their stories, we grow a stronger and more vibrant city. Through Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi مسرح كليفلاند العربي, Arabic-speaking communities of Cleveland share vital, life-affirming stories celebrating family, dignity, and freedom of expression. These stories affirm a rich heritage and seek to move Cleveland to shed preconceptions and stereotypes and grow empathy and understanding.

Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi مسرح كليفلاند العربي is open to all people who share a heritage from Arabic-speaking cultures with an interest in theatre, regardless of experience. The ensemble broadly includes third generation Americans as well as recent arrivals, Muslims, Christians, and those of other faiths who are curious and passionate.

I WEAR MY DEAD SISTER’S CLOTHES

By Amy Schwabauer

Directed by Ray Caspio
December 4–20, 2025
James Levin Theatre

“Schwabauer weaves a galaxy of emotions.” —Christine Howey, Cleveland Scene

I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes, written and performed by Amy Schwabauer, is an autobiographical dark comedy about what it means to love and grieve a difficult person. While cleaning out her deceased sister’s house, Amy sorts through the messy baggage of their relationship and asks herself the tough questions—like why did her sister need four identical dish drainers? Loss haunts Amy as she empties out every closet, but laughs come just as easily as tears when she wears her dead sister’s clothes.

INTO THE HEART OF A STAR

By Raymond Bobgan with contributions from Anastasía Urozhaeva

Directed by Raymond Bobgan
March 19–April 4, 2026
Gordon Square Theatre
World Premiere

Icarus is gone, but his father is left to wonder about the flight that went so wrong. Could he have prevented it all, and should he now choose death? Dagny, a “simple woman from Siberia,” begins in a U.S. secret intelligence interrogation room and rises to become to a leader in science, business, and space flight, all the while wishing for a home she is not sure existed. Both journeys reflect on each other in a duet of solo shows about yearning, loneliness, navigating this world, and seeking the light beyond. Performed by Raymond Bobgan and Anastasía Urozhaeva.

HAUNTED

By Tara Moses

Directed by Nailah Unole Didanas’ea Harper-Malveaux
March 5–21, 2026
James Levin Theatre
National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere

Ash and Aaron have been dead for twenty years, and the Indigenous siblings pass their time dancing to Britney Spears, haunting the families that try to move into their house, and wondering if they’ll ever be free from the shackles of racist stereotypes. As the cycle begins once more, the siblings ask: will they ever make it to the Spirit World? An Indigenous horror comedy with the coolest Y2K hits, Tara Moses’ Haunted forces us to confront the very land we walk on and our relationship (or lack thereof) with Native communities today.

This production is the second stop on the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Haunted, which previously had an original production at Boston’s Company One Theatre. Company One Theatre is also a member of the Mellon Foundation’s Future of American Theatre Cohort, and director Nailah Unole Didanas’ea Harper-Malveaux is the Artistic Director at Crowded Fire Theatre. This is the first NNPN RWP by an Indigenous playwright.

JARDIN SALVAJE
(Native Gardens)

By Karen Zacarías

Directed by Juliana Frey-Méndez
Spanish translation by Gustavo Ott
April 23–May 9, 2026
James Levin Theatre

Cleveland Public Theatre/Teatro Público de Cleveland present Jardin Salvaje, a Spanish translation of Karen Zacarías’ hit play, Native Gardens.

You can’t choose your neighbors. In this brilliant comedy, cultures and gardens clash, turning well-intentioned neighbors into feuding enemies. Pablo, a rising attorney, and doctoral candidate Tania, his very pregnant wife, have just purchased a home next to Frank and Virginia, a well-established D.C. couple with a prize-worthy English garden. But an impending barbeque for Pablo’s colleagues and a delicate disagreement over a long-standing fence line soon spirals into an all-out border dispute, exposing both couples’ notions of race, taste, class and privilege.

About Teatro Público de Cleveland

Since 2013, Teatro Público de Cleveland is a collective of Latino theatre artists that produces performances that preserve and promote the cultures of Cleveland’s Latine community and fulfill CPT’s core mission.

FOR THE HOLIDAYS…

Cleveland Public Theatre is known to present out-of-the box holiday programming, and this year will be no different. Programming this year is expected to include a holiday concert featuring some of Cleveland’s most innovative bands and performers; a comedy revue curated by Kadijah Wingo (Kwingo), whose inaugural CPT show, Kwingo’s Comedy Revue, sold out this summer; the return of Cleveland Burlesque; and Djapo Cultural Arts Institute’s Kwanza Celebration, in its second year. Specific dates and titles will be announced at a later date.

OTHER SPECIAL EVENTS 

HALLOWED OWLS

By Robin VanLear

October 2–11, 2025

Hallowed Owls is an interactive installation activated through an intermingling of storytelling, poetry, instrumentals, voice and dance.  Hallowed Owls will transport you to their world and the mythologies we create.

DÍA DE MUERTOS  

Presented by Cleveland Public Theatre/Teatro Público de Cleveland & Día de Muertos Ohio
Artistic Director: Héctor Castellanos Lara
Saturday, November 1, 2025
CPT campus, 11:00am–10:00pm

For over two decades, this celebration of the dead inspired by the Mexican holiday has become an iconic CPT event attended by thousands locally and nationally. A vibrant free cultural celebration for all ages and walks of life, the event includes music, dance, a pop-up market, and a chance to view the beautiful ofrendas (altars) and the highly anticipated Parade of Skulls that shuts down Detroit Ave each year.

SOFTLAUNCH

A new-performance development event!
January 15–17, 2026
CPT campus

SoftLaunch is back in its sophomore year to engage audiences in an open, conference-like setting of new theatrical experiences. In classic Cleveland Public Theatre fashion, SoftLaunch includes interactive performances, intimate shows for 1–3 people, performance installations, and other works that defy expectations of what theatre can be. Much of this work is in beta-testing, and audiences can choose to go deeper by providing feedback to artists and supporting the growth of the new projects and potentially new forms of performance.

TEST FLIGHT 2026

January 29–February 14, 2026

Test Flight is a multi-week series that showcases new work by new and seasoned playwrights on its way to full production. The series provides artists with the keys to the theatre and the opportunity to co-produce original works-in-progress. It also encourages risk-taking and an entrepreneurial spirit towards creating new work while offering artists a structured support system. Writers learn firsthand how to be a producer and receive a small stipend and percentage of the box office.

Stay tuned for more, including a workshop production devised by Paige Conway and a new Cleveland Core Ensemble project in workshop.

About Cleveland Public Theatre 

Cleveland Public Theatre has been at the forefront of new play development since 1981. Through developmental programs, CPT serves local artists at every step of the creative process, from early ideas all the way to full productions and the entrepreneurial step of launching a new work. CPT has garnered praise for its work and received acknowledgement and recognition from The New York Times, American Theatre magazine, Theatre Journal, The Dramatists Guild, and Canadian Theatre Review. Shows created at CPT have toured to New Orleans, New York, Toronto, Minneapolis, Belgrade, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. CPT engagement programs have served as a model for similar programs in Turkey and Uzbekistan.