PREVIEW: Early Winter Theatre Offerings
By Roy Berko
It’s Cleveland — it’s going to be cold and snowy in the coming months. It’s a perfect time to go to live theatre and escape from all the stress. Here’s a partial list of what’s on the boards:
CLEVELAND PLAYHOUSE
216-795-7000 or go to http://ClevelandPlayHouse.com.
Fri 1/13 – Sun 2/5: TEN CHIMNEYS – a heart-warming backstage comedy. Presented in CPH’s new Second Stage Theatre, Allen Theatre complex.
Fri 2/10 – Sun 3/4: RADIO GOLF – the final chapter in August Wilson’s 10-play cycle chronicling African-American life in the 20th century. @ Allen Theatre.
DOBAMA
216-932-3396 or http://Dobama.org
Fri 2/24 – Sun 3/18: MIDDLETOWN – Will Eno’s new comedy exploring the universe of a small American town.
PLAYHOUSESQUARE
216-241-6000 or go to http://PlayhouseSquare.org
Fri 1/6 – Sat 1/7 & Fri 1/27 – Sat 1/28: JOSHUA SETH’S BEYOND BELIEF: AN INTIMATE EVENING OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ILLUSION – mind-reading, magic and hypnosis. @ 14th Street Theatre.
Fri 1/6 – Sat 1/28: FLANAGAN’S WAKE – an interactive Irish wake which takes the audience to Ireland for an evening of tales, singings and mourning. @ Kennedy’s Down Under.
Tue 1/17 – Sun 1/29: HAIR – revival of the peace and love era musical, featuring Aquarius, Starshine, nudity and adult subject matter. @ Palace Theatre.
Sat 1/28 – Sun 1/29: INBAL PINTO & AVSHALOM POLLAK DANCE COMPANY – conceived by Israeli choreographer Inbal Pinto, includes circus-world wandering street acrobats and oddly beautiful creatures.
BECK CENTER
216-521-2540
Fri 2/3 – Sun 3/4: SPRING AWAKENING – winner of 8 Tony Awards, is a rock musical adaptation of the controversial 19th century German play that explores with poignancy and passion the turbulent journey from adolescence to adulthood. (Produced in cooperation with BW College’s Music Theatre Program.)
ACTOR’S SUMMIT
330-374-7568 or go to http://ActorsSummit.org
Thu 1/19 – Sun 2/5: BULLY – one actor portrays the life of Teddy Roosevelt!
CLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE
216-631-2727 or go online to http://CPTonline.org
Thu 1/5 – Sat 2/18: Big Box ’12 – provides local artists with the opportunity to create and produce new work. Includes eleven world premiere workshop showings of theatre, dance, music and genre-defying performances.
Thu 1/19 – Sun 2/4: At-TEN-tion Span – the 10-minute play series returns, exploring different themes of politics, love and personal struggle in innovative ways.
Thu 2/23 – Sat 3/10: ANTEBELLUM – a provocative play that resonates with the entwining realities of Nazi cruelty and Hollywood dreams.
KARAMU THEATRE
216-795-7070
Fri 2/3 – Sun 2/26: The Bluest Eye – Nobel Prize-Winning Toni Morrison’s story about the tragic life of a young black girl in 1940s Ohio. (This production contains adult language and themes.)
LAKELAND THEATRE
Lakeland Community College 440-525-7526
ANYONE CAN WHISTLE: a Steven Sondheim musical about a fight to save a fictional bankrupt town.
ENSEMBLE THEATRE
216-321-2930
Thu 1/12 – Sun 1/29: SONG FOR CORETTA – examines five fictional African American women who find laughter and hope while waiting in the rain to pay tribute to the recently deceased Coretta King.
Thu 2/2 – Thu 2/9: LOWER NINTH – a play of exploration of faith, survival and mutual redemption which finds two men and a corpse stranded on a roof after Katrina.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Roy Berko. Berko’s blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 2011, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://RoyBerko.info. His reviews can also be found on NeOHIOpal and CoolCleveland.com.
Roy Berko, who is a life-long Clevelander, is a Renaissance man. Believing the line in Robert Frost’s poem “Road Not Taken,” each time he comes to a fork in the road, he has taken the path less traveled. He holds degrees, thought the doctorate from Kent State, University of Michigan and The Pennsylvania State University. His present roles, besides husband and grandfather, are professor, crisis counselor, author and entertainment reviewer… Read Roy Berko’s complete bio here