Saturday, May 23, 2009

Plain Dealer: Better Late Then Never

Thanks, Tony. We still love you.

Cut to Pieces at Cleveland Public Theatre

Our friends Chris Seibert and Raymond Bobgan are presenting the long-coming Cut to Pieces at Cleveland Public Theatre and it's fantastic.



Observations:
  • This play is dense and multi-layered, but the levity and craft of the framing story (that is expertly integrated later into the primary action) eases the viewer into the more esoteric and eclectic storytelling elements.
  • The multi-media design is astounding. Created by Spencer Padilla and CSU alum Carly Garinger, the video segments (which include CSUers Adam Seeholzer and Chari Estevez) seemlessly interact with Seibert, and the use of live video feeds from the stage are novel, exciting, and extremely effective.
  • Chris Seibert is really funny. Her timing is impeccable.
  • The imagery runs the gamut from horror films to the story of Persephone and Hades to game shows to Agatha Christie-esque murder mysteries. It all resolves itself, however, into a very singular, mythological story of the hero's journey: the call, the descent, and the return with a boon to benefit humankind.


Friday, May 22, 2009

Tony Brown & Steven Litt on the CSU/CPH/PSC Move

Tony Brown and Steven Litt on the CSU Dramatic Arts/Play House/Playhouse Square move.




Here's a brief timeline of potential new homes for CSU Dramatic Arts:
  • April 3, 2007: "A new plan, described publicly by university officials for the first time Monday, calls for moving the studio art and theater programs from a dark, dingy complex at the edge of campus to a dramatic new building on a high-visibility site on Euclid Avenue. Facilities for music and dance would also be part of the package." (This is, of course, pre-recession. A brand new $50 million complex may have been aiming a tad high.)
  • July 2, 2008: "CSU would move its drama program, now in an old cotton factory on the campus, into the Allen. The university would manage the Allen as a downtown venue for a consortium of college theaters across the region to show off their work." (Notice in the article that Playhouse Square CEO Art Falco is a question-talker.)
  • April 7, 2009: "In a blockbuster arts and real-estate deal, the Cleveland Play House will sell its longtime home in Midtown and move downtown to PlayhouseSquare's Allen Theatre in a joint venture with Cleveland State University's drama program." (CSU's in the leading paragraph of the article. Six weeks later, the follow-up article mentions CSU about half-way through. Tony Brown gives us a brief shout out 6:30 into the 7:30 video. I'm sensing a pattern...)

Thursday, May 21, 2009

CSU SummerStages Are GO!

Cleveland State University Summer Stages, downtown Cleveland's only professional summer theatre company, is proud to announce its third season, returning with another three shows this summer, operating in rotating repertory with a five week run.


Our flagship musical is Return to the Forbidden Planet, written by Bob Carlton, directed by Program Chair Dr. Michael L. Mauldin, a 50’s/60’s jukebox musical which combines the science fiction movie Forbidden Planet with Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Dr. Mauldin was previously seen as Captain Hook in the Beck Center's production of Peter Pan and in CSU Summer Stages' Rough Crossing.



We will also be presenting the farcical Chekhov in Yalta, by Jeffrey Haddow and John Driver, directed by Cleveland Playhouse Education Director Cathy Hartenstein, full of low comedy and high tragedy, this historically-informed comedy features famed playwright Anton Chekhov and Stanislavsky’s Moscow Art Theatre.


Rounding out the season is the 1977 Pulitzer and Tony Award winning drama The Shadow Box, by Michael Cristofer, directed by Everett Quinton. The Shadow Box, full of hope and heartbreak, tells the story of three very different families each facing an impending death in their own unique way. New York legend Everett Quinton is a founding member of CSU Summer Stages and has been seen in every CSU Summer Stages production except for last year's hit Dark of the Moon, which he directed.


Being the resident theatre company of CSU, much of the cast and crew is composed of CSU Dramatic Arts students and alumni. After bringing in actors, directors and choreographers from New York and California for two seasons, we have refocused our efforts on local growth, and we are proud to announce that we are the biggest summer employer of union actors in the region. A significant presence in the downtown arts scene, CSU Summer Stages presence will only expand when CSU’s Dramatic Arts’ proposed move to Playhouse Square Center’s Allen Theatre.


The shows run in rotating repertory from July 9th through August 9th, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $15 each, and discounts are available for season tickets and groups of ten or more. Free street parking is available, and parking in CSU lot S1 (East 24th Street between Chester & Payne) is only $4, with a coupon available at www.csuohio.edu/theater.


Box office: 216.687.2109


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