Thu 1/23-Sat 1/25 @ 7-10:30PM
One thing you can say for certainty about Cleveland Public Theatre is that it never rests on its laurels. It’s always coming up with new ways to support all types of work at all stages of development. For instance, its long-running Test Flight program (coming in early February and now broken into two parts due to the number of deserving submission) gives playwrights the chance to give their new work a tryout in front of an audience.
Now it’s come up with a totally new concept called SoftLaunch, which it describes as “a weekend-long performance festival/conference that seeks nothing less than a complete reinvention of what theatre can be,” something CPT is always trying to do. “If your project does not fit the normal theatre mode, it belongs in SoftLaunch,” they say.
The evenings feature installations and events taking place all over CPT’s campus — theaters, lobbies, hallways, even the rooftop. Some pieces will be relatives polished while others will be in a raw, preliminary stage. Wandering through the building, visitors might stumble on a solo show, a participatory performance, a radio play-style audio performance, a strange yoga class, improvised music, installations and much more. They deal with topics ranging from dementia to sexual fluidity to generational trauma to American’s gun obsession to childhood experiences to just pure sensation and fun. Some of the creator/producers are well-known, including CPT’s executive artistic director Raymond Bobgan or puppetmaker/costumer Robin VanLear, who conceived the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Parade the Circle, while others are just starting to spread their wings in the local creative scene.
Go here to get some background on each of the 20 events, get tickets and plan your evening.