Friday, August 09, 2013

Cleveland area theatre calendar--Fall, 2013

CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE
216-241-6000 or go to www.clevelandplayhouse.com
Sept 13-Oct 6
WOODY SEZ:  THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF WOODY GUTHRIE
A musical that uses over 25 legendary songs in an examination of Woody Guthrie’s life.

Nov 1-24
VENUS IN FUR
The award winning script, which is based on a novel by the man who named sado-masochism, is a  two-person comedy which acts out power games in a play within a play blurring reality and fantasy.

Nov 29-Dec 22
A CHRISTMAS STORY
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Cleveland based film, CPH reinvents one of its previous “must see” shows.

DOBAMA
216-932-3396 or dobama.org
Sept 6-Oct 6
TIME STANDS STILL
Focuses on a photojournalist and a foreign correspondent who return to Brooklyn and find themselves trying to find balance and happiness after being physically and emotionally scarred while covering conflicts in the Middle East.

Oct 25-Nov 23
COCK
A drama which takes a playful, candid look at hetero-, bi- and homo sexuality and the difficulties that arise when people realize they have a choice

Dec 6-Jan 5, 2014
THE BIG MEAL
Set at a single restaurant table and spanning over 80 years, it tells the story of five generations of a family through one unending metaphoric meal, starting from a young couple’s first meeting and ending with a visit from their great-grandchild.

PLAYHOUSESQUARE
216-241-6000 or go to www.playhousesquare.org.
Oct 1-13
SLEEPING BEAUTY, A GOTHIC ROMANCE
Michael Bourne’s record breaking West End London production of the classic ballet with a gothic twist.

Nov 12-24
ONCE
A tale of living your dreams rather than your fears, this winner of eight Tony Awards tells the tale of a Dublin street musician who’s about to give up on his dreams when a young woman takes an interest in his haunting love songs.

Dec 4-Jan 5, 2014
WICKED
Broadway’s blockbuster is back by popular demand!  Long before that girl from Kansas arrived in Munchkinland, two girls met in the land of OZ….the rest is theatrical and fantasy history!

Sept. 7; Oct. 5; Nov. 2      
FREE PLAYHOUSESQUARE TOURS
90-minute backstage and on the stage tours which relate not only the visual aspects of PlayhouseSquare’s 10 theatres, but facts and anecdotes. No reservations are needed for individual participants, but groups of 10-or-more are asked to call ahead at 216-771-4444.

BECK CENTER
216-521-2540 or http://www.beckcenter.org
Sept 7-8
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG IN CONCERT
A Sondheim provocative musical about the friendship of three young artists and what happens when the composer’s idealism is challenged by temptations.
Songs include;  “Not a Day Goes By,” “Good Thing Going” and “Our Time.”

Sept 20-Oct 20
SHE LOVES ME
Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock’s romantic musical about a pair of feuding clerks in a 1930s European parfumerie who secretly find romance in an unexpected way.

Oct 11-Nov 17
33 VARIATIONS
Written by the author of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, concurrently examines the creative process behind Beethoven’s DIABELLI VARIATIONS and the journey of musicologist Katherine Brandt to discover why Beethoven was compelled to write thirty-three distinct variations on a simple theme.  It features Stuart Raleigh on piano.

Dec 6-Jan 5, 2014
ANNIE
Leapin’ Lizards! The sun will come out tomorrow, and Miss Hannigan, the orphans, Sandy, Daddy Warbucks and the schemes of the comic book characters, are reprised once again!  It’s back on Broadway, why not at Beck?

ACTOR'S SUMMIT
330-374-7568 or go to www.actorssummit.org
Oct 10-Nov 3
A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING
A tribute to Rogers and Hammerstein with songs from CAROUSEL, OKLAHOMA!, THE KING AND I, SOUTH PACIFIC and SOUND OF MUSIC.

Nov 27-Dec 22
THE FARMDALE AVENUE HOUSING ESTATE TOWNSWOMEN’S GUILD DRAMATIC SOCIETY  PRESENTS “A CHRISTMAS CAROL”
A holiday farce, in the tradition of Monty Python, when the ladies of TFAHETGDS tackle Dickens for a loss.

CLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE
216-631-2727 or go on line to www.cptonline.org
Sept 26-Oct 6
SPRINGBOARD
Presentations of new scripts by local artists with post-show discussions.

Oct10-26
INSOMNIA:  THE WAKING OF HERSELVES
A woman joined onstage by two other parts of herself fighting for some cohesive identity.  (A revival of CPT’s 2010 production.)

Oct 17-19
LEAP/CONCEIVE
A showcase which features short segments from larger works-in-progress and asks for audience feedback.

Nov 8-9
TEATRO PUBLICO DE CLEVELAND
CPT’s new program to create original theatre with artists from the local Latin American community.

Nov 14-17
Y-HAVEN PROJECT
CPT artists and the residents of Y-Haven, a program for homeless men with drug and alcohol problems, collaborate to create an original lay.

Nov 29-Dec 14
DOUG IS A D-BAG
An interactive work that asks the audience to turn ON their cell phones and join the trials and tribulations of Lorie & Doug as they fall out of love.

Nov 29-Dec 21
THE LOUSH SISTERS DO THE NUTCRACKER
Singing siblings Jolly and Butter Rum are back with more booze, bawdy fun and Christmas memories.  World premiere.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE
216-321-2930 or http://www.ensemble-theatre.com
Sept. 27-Oct 20
ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER
Clevelander Rajiv Joseph’s play about a world-renowned origami artist who, when she opens her studio to a teenage prodigy and his school teacher, discovers that life and love can’t be arranged as neatly as finding the perfect fold!

Nov 21-Dec 15
PRELUDE TO A KISS
At Peter and Rita’s wedding, a mysterious old man insists on kissing the bride with fascinating consequences!

GREAT LAKES THEATRE
http://www.greatlakestheater.org or 216-241-6000
Sept 27-Nov 3
RICHARD III
The rise and fall of Shakespeare’s most diabolical villain – a homicidal hunchback--on a bloody campaign to seize the English crown.

Oct 4-Nov 2
SWEENEY TODD
Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical tells the tale of an unjustly exiled barber’s quest to avenge the wrongs done to him and his family by a lecherous judge.

none-too-fragile
www.nonetoofragile.com or 330-671-4563
Sept 13-28
NERVE
Adam Szymkowicz’s romantic comedy about on-line dating, which alludes to the author’s idea that sociopaths also deserve love.

Nov 15-30
LAST OF THE BOYS
Steven Dietz’s dark comedy about two soldiers who were on a road outside Dak To, Vietnam, in 1967, and then find each other thirty years later in a trailer park in California and celebrate one last hurrah.

convergence continuum
convergence-continuum.org or 216-687-0074
Aug 23-Sept 12
BASED ON A TOTALLY TRUE STORY
Ethan’s world is turned comically upside down when a Hollywood producer wants to turn one of his plays into a big-budget horror movie.

Oct  11-Nov 2
LILIES, OR THE REVIVAL OF ROMANTIC DRAMA
A drama, which takes place in 1952 in the church of a prison where the jailed Simon Doucet makes a confession to his old friend, Bishop Bilodeau.

Nov 29-Dec 21
FOOL FOR LOVE
Sam Shepard’s classic humorous study of love, hate and the dying myths of the Old West.

BLANK CANVAS

440-941-0458 or www.blankcanvastheatre.com
Aug 23-Sept 7
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIRE de LUNE
Terence McNally’s Broadway hit illuminates how two people navigate the insecurities of modern romance. Their journey is as timely as a tweet and as timeless as the full moon spilling through a window.

Oct 11-Nov 2, midnight show Oct 26 and 31
TEXAS CHAINSAW MUSICAL
A return engagement of this theatre’s award winning musical relates the coming of age story about a handsome serial killer, his overly affectionate Momma, the woman he loves, and the pantywaist runt that ruins everything.  If you don’t want to get covered in the over 15 gallons of blood spilled each night, ask to be seated in the “splatter free zone.”

Dec 6-21
GODSPELL
A contemporary rock musical centering on THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW, and featuring a score by Stephen Schwartz, which includes Day By Day.

To see a composite of the reviews of members of the Cleveland Critics Circle, go to www.clevelandtheaterreviews.com