Fri 12/14 & Sat 2/15 @ 7:30PM
Sun 12/16 @ 3PM
Playwrights Local is a nonprofit dedicated to developing new works for theater, supporting them at all stages, from first readings to fully staged productions.
Somewhere in the middle comes a workshop production such as the one it’s giving Greg A. Smith’s Sanzaru this weekend at the Creative Space at Waterloo Arts. They describe it as “a thought-provoking and darkly humorous new collaborative work,” which uses the concept of “devised” theater where the performers help create the work during the development process. Sanzaru involves three strangers confined to a room, struggling to communicate as their situation disintegrates.
One thing that’s interesting about it is how so many of the key people involved came from elsewhere and gravitated to northeast Ohio. Writer Greg Smith is from the UK, where some of his previous work has been produced; he now works at American Greetings here. Director Erik Andrews moved here from NYC in 2016. Actors include Casey Venema, who worked in Virginia and attended Pennsylvania’s Bucknell University before landing a gig as a directing fellow at Dobama; Minor Cline, an Oberlin gradate originally from Dallas; and Lauren B. Smith, who is from NE Ohio. A post-show discussion following Sunday’s performance will be led by Dr. Shane Breaux, who teaches in Brooklyn, New York.
Admission is $8.
Cleveland, OH 44110