Thu 2/20-Sat 3/8
Cleveland Public Theatre’s next production, Showin’ Up Black, written by Cleveland actress/playwright Jeanne Madison (whose previous works have been performed at CPT and Ensemble Theatre) and helmed by noted local director Jimmie Woody, who has worked virtually everywhere in the area, has already acquired a bunch of fans, thanks to its sold-out run as part of CPT’s works-in-development series Test Flight (currently going on simultaneous with Showin’ Up Black’s opening). It sold out during its 2023 Test Flight run and several evenings of the current full-production run are already sold out as well.
Its synopsis reads, “On the eve of their daughter’s cotillion, the Hopegoodes, an affluent African American family in Cleveland, see their plans for the perfect debutante ball collide with a Black Lives Matter protest. As the protest gets nearer, secrets and competing desires get shaken loose, tearing at the fabric of the family, challenging what, exactly, it is to be Black.”
The play’s official opening night is Saturday February 22, although it has preview nights February 20 and 21. Go here for tickets — make it quick!