That’s the first question Raymond Bobgan, artistic director of Cleveland Public Theatre, asks the playwrights and directors he works with when he’s assembling a new season.
Instead of scanning lists of published scripts and hoping he can claim a show before another local theater, Bobgan and his staff often go directly to their sources in seeking out new, unseen material.
The result is a 2011-12 season in which CPT is mounting seven full productions of world premieres (out of a total of 11 shows). This is remarkable because, for most theaters in this region and around the nation, one or two premieres per season would be considered ambitious.
“We prefer to select directors and playwrights, instead of picking shows,” says Bobgan. “Then, they tell us what they’re working on that really excites them. That’s the stuff we’re interested in presenting at CPT.”
There’s also a payoff for Cleveland audiences.
As Bobgan explains, “Our new plays receive a great response here for one important reason: Invention and manufacturing are part of the Cleveland mythos, part of the city’s collective unconscious. So our audiences have an eager, natural curiosity. And that’s a perfect match for these shows.”
Coming Up
Ya Mama!
What: Cleveland Public Theatre presents the one-woman show written and performed by Nina Domingue.
When: Previews at 7 p.m. Thursday; opens at 7 p.m. Friday. Through Saturday, Nov. 12.
Where: 6415 Detroit Ave., Cleveland.
Tickets: $10-$25. Go to cptonline.org or call 216-631-2727.
The string of CPT premieres, which features many local creators, began with the just-closed “Monster Play.” Like many of the premieres, it was a devised production (one that is not pre-scripted but put together by the director and his cast).
Next up in the premiere procession is “Ya Mama!,” a solo work created and performed by Cleveland actor Nina Domingue, which opens a two-week run Friday.
“This play deals with my changing perceptions of motherhood,” says Domingue, “about how I decided to be present for my children.” Her play was first staged in January in CPT’s Big Box workshop series.
Big Box is just one part of the multilayered development structure that CPT offers to playwrights, directors and performers. The latest edition of this series, Big Box ’12, opens Thursday, Jan. 5, and is a multiweek showing of 11 works-in-progress.
Other CPT steppingstones include Springboard, staged readings of plays in their infancy (which just concluded), and Leap/Conceive (Thursday through Saturday), a series that helps creators polish work at a midpoint in their process.
Another premiere production that is going through CPT development is “13 Most American Dreams,” which will open in May. It is conceived and directed by local theatrical innovator Pandora Robertson.
As she describes it, “My show looks at the Internet as a worldwide dream catcher, so we want to incorporate social media. We’ll probably invite the audience to keep their mobile phones on during the show as we develop interactive portraits of people and our culture.”
Three other locals — Jill, Frank and Meredith Levin — will launch the premiere of “Not The Flying Stupendas” in April. This show is for families (something of a rarity at CPT) and involves a circus where the headlining acrobats are out of commission. So staff members are forced to perform in the acrobats’ place, as clown acts and songs mesh with various personal dramas.
Director Matthew Earnest, whose “Wanderlust: A History of Walking” ignited the CPT stage last season, is returning in March with his new “Lulu Project.” It is based on two plays by Frank Wedekind, who wrote the controversial “Spring Awakening.” That 1892 play was recently turned into an award-winning Broadway musical.
As Earnest says, “This show will include graphic sexuality, as we follow a young woman making her way in a violent and debauched world.”
Thinking about that subject matter, Earnest, who is based in West Virginia, adds, “I consider myself very lucky to make some of my work here in Cleveland, where audiences embrace edgy and challenging material.”
CPT kicks off the new calendar year in January with “At-TEN-tion Span,” which offers a collection of fully produced, 10-minute devised plays by local artists.
And CPT’s season of firsts ends in May-June with “Akarui” by Iowan Jen Silverman. It’s a fantastical journey involving a transgender boy, a rave cave and forces that can transform dead bodies.
While new shows are not always great shows, innovation is critical to assuring theater remains viable by attracting young, adventurous and diverse audiences. In that effort, the energetic and daring Cleveland Public Theatre is an acknowledged leader — here and around the country.
– Christine Howey
Freelance critic Howey’s blog is raveandpan.blogspot.com.
Joshua Gunter l The Plain Dealer The restored 1921 Capitol Theatre is a gem of a place to see a movie.
‘Tis the season . . . the movie season, that is. In advance of the Oscar nominations on Jan. 25, movie companies are rolling out their heavy-hitters. A steady stream of award-worthy flicks are opening this month in Cleveland. Which one to see first? And, almost as important, where to see it? Not all movie theaters are created equal, though prices are about the same everywhere. Amenities, location and after-film fun can send a theater to the top of the box office. Read on for Some of the Best Places to See a Movie in Cleveland.
Capitol Theatre, 1390 West 65th St., Cleveland, 440-349-3306: Opened just over a year ago in the busy Gordon Square Arts District, this lovingly restored 1921 theater successfully walks the line between mainstream fare and art-house films previously shown only at the Cedar Lee in Cleveland Heights. The main 420-seat room is 3-D- capable, and all three theaters have digital projection. The theaters are smaller than some, but the seats and cupholders are roomy. Like its East Side sister, the Capitol has an impressive concessions list, with beer, wine and sandwiches in addition to the popcorn and pop. Even better, the theater offers arguably the best nearby post- and pre-show dining and drinking, including hipster hangout Happy Dog, chic Luxe bistro and cozy Stone Mad Irish pub. The Capitol also screens several special late-night and monthly Sunday brunch flicks. Up next is “The Maltese Falcon” at 10 a.m. Jan. 16. Ticketholders also get 20 percent off at brunch partners Latitude 41N, Luxe and Reddstone. And like all theaters in the locally owned Cleveland Cinemas chain, the Capitol offers weekly discounts, including $5 Mondays and free-popcorn Tuesdays.
Cedar Lee Theatre, 2163 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5411: Also part of the Cleveland Cinemas chain, this East Side mainstay has been drawing serious film fans from all parts of the region to its foreign, indie and art-house films for decades. Often home to exclusive openings — like the recent Swedish trilogy of Stieg Larsson “Girl . . ” films or the Brit-hit “Made in Dagenham,” which opens today — the theater also hosts a fantastic late-night series and is local ground zero for “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Saturday’s late-night show is camp hit “The Room” at 10 p.m. See the website for a full schedule.
Regal Crocker Park Stadium 16, 30147 Detroit Road, Westlake, 440-871-7661: No lifestyle center would be complete without a movie theater. Now Crocker Park visitors can shop, eat, see a flick, shop and eat some more. Though it offers 16 screens, this luxurious theater often sells out because of its great location and close post- and pre-show amenities, so arrive early or get your tickets online. Or just do a little more shopping or eating while you wait for the next screening. The diverse lineup, which occasionally brings art films to the mainstream, also deserves a nod.
Cinemark Valley View 24, 6001 Canal Road, Valley View, 216-447-8820: If it’s not showing here, it’s probably not showing in Greater Cleveland. This massive theater complex, located in the valley directly below Interstate 480 and easily accessible from the East and West sides, features 24 theaters, including XD and 3-D theaters. It also has some of the plushest seats and biggest screens in town.
Shaker Square Cinemas, 13116 Shaker Square, Cleveland, 216-921-9342: Yet another knockout Cleveland Cinemas theater. Movie fare at this restored Art Deco gem (formerly the Colony) ranges from arty to mainstream (more of them on the mainstream side, with a total of six screens). Concessions are top-notch — from beer to pop, nuts to popcorn. And top-notch nearby dining options make this a date-night gem, ranging from innovative American cuisine at Fire and Old World comfort food at Balaton to sexy Brazilian small plates and drinks at Sergio’s Sarava.
OVERHEARD
A weekly look at people and places in the national press: This week, we look at a recent Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog post about Cleveland’s own Melt Bar & Grilled. Blogger “beerblotter” ranked it 4 out of 5 on his dining scale and called it a “psychotically creative meal emporium; home of grilled cheese magic.”
“The pierogis, slaw and the buffalo chicken soup (which I got on a follow-up visit the next day) were all amazing. Nothing that I tried failed to meet expectations. Get as much as you can. Remember that you can always take it home. No one at this place will judge you. Take a visit, eat some food, drink some good beer and take a nap.”
The only thing beerblotter doesn’t explain is how he managed to get a table at Melt two days in a row!
OUTSIDE OPINION
Each week, “Outside Opinion” asks a visitor what he or she likes best about Cleveland. This week, we talk to Larry Spisak, 44, of New York.
Spisak, a native of the area, came to town in mid-December to see the Knicks-Cavs game. Lucky for him — and the Cavs — he chose one of the Cavs’ few winning games in recent memory, an overtime scorcher.
“It was my first time at The Q,” says Spisak, who moved to New York after college. “An impressive venue . . . and that night the Cavs were good, too. . . . It really looks like Dan Gilbert puts some money into the team, with the entertainment and concessions better than most [venues]. And it’s certainly cheaper than Madison Square Garden.”
DeMarco is The Plain Dealer’s Friday magazine editor.
Cleveland Public TheatreDancer and cChoreographer Kenya Woods performs her “Through Her Eyes,” which will be presented Feb. 11-13, as part of Cleveland Public Theatre’s eight-week Big Box festival.
Time once again for Cleveland’s premiere festival of brand-new works: never before tested, gutty and brainy.
It is called Cleveland Public Theatre’s Big Box series, and it begins Friday, Jan. 14.
CPT executive artistic director Raymond Bobgan hands over the keys to 6415 Detroit Ave. to a group of artists who have the run of the place for a week, culminating in a weekend of three performances. The series runs through Sunday, March 6.
This year, the most ambitious yet, will see shows by Cleveland State University students and recent graduates, as well as out-of-town artists drawn by CPT’s reputation as an avant-garde theater that welcomes risk taking.
Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $15. Go to cptonline.org or call 216-631-2727.
Week 1: Jan. 14-16“Ya Mama!” Written and performed by Nina Domingue and directed by Cathy Hartenstein, this one-woman show explores the life of an artist, wife, mother, Christian and black woman.
“She Cried at the Circus.” Jeff Glover writes a story about a woman who discovers at a young age that she has power beyond dreams, wealth beyond imagination and presence that inspires fear.
Week 2: Jan. 21-23 “Soliciting for Change.” Bitch, terrorist, dreamer. Those are some of the names people callplaywright/performer Molly Andrews-Hinders as she goes after corrupt corporations and advocates for working-class families. Directed by James Langa and Erin McCardle.
“Seppuku.” Written and performed by Melissa Crum and BC Miles, this piece weighs the differences between suicide and ritual suicide. Directed by James Kosmatka.
Week 3: Jan. 28-30“Mother/Tongue.” A family’s dysfunction surfaces as a workaholic mom obsessively makes Julia Child’s beef tongue, disappears for hours and speaks French. Written by Claire Robinson May and directed by Danielle Hisey.
Week 4: Feb. 4-6Everything Is Everything Project. Two plays, “A Sleep” and “A Wake,” written and performed by Val Kozlenko and Eric Perusek, explore what it is to be truly awake or to sleepwalk through life. A third play, “30 Awkward Minutes With Pat and Glenn,” written and performed by Renee Schilling and Lew Wallace, imagines two people trapped in the void of unreality.
“Sick F- – -.”John Robert Armstrong (of Indiana) will be directed by Noe Montez (who recently moved to Cleveland from Indiana) in a play by Paul Shoulberg (of Kansas) about a terminal cancer patient dealing with resentment, regret and heartache.
Week 5: Feb. 11-13 “Through Her Eyes.” Choreographed and performed by Kenya Woods, this dance piece is about three women finding grace through being broken by fears and frustrations, crisis and the job of motherhood.
“Fast Forward-Rewind-Stop.” The Marquez Dance Project does a piece choreographed by Jennifer Sandoval about the pursuit of gender equilibrium.
Week 6: Feb. 18-20“Sonic Cinema.” FiveOne Music performs a fusion of local films and new music composed by Michael Bratt and Jeremy Allen. Week 7: Feb. 25-27“Cowboy Poet.” A country musical by Deborah Magid, directed by Douglas Farren, looks at a cowboy poet, a WASP socialite and an ex-con who throw a benefit gala for adult literacy in New Mexico.
Week 8: March 4-6“Voice Over.” Conceived and directed by Pandora Robertson, this piece asks, “Who am I?,” “Do other people know who I really am?” and “Will I ever be the same person again?”
“Side Effects May Include.” Former “Seinfeld” writer Marc Jaffe and Cleveland Heights playwright Eric Coble write about a man with a lovely wife, a lovely kid and a lovely life, until Parkinson’s disease and the side effects of the medicines that treat it invade his home. Eric Schmeidl directs Nick Koesters.
The Boston-based quiz show Says You recently came to Cleveland to record a series of programs at the Capitol Theatre in the Gordon Square Arts District. Host Richard Sher and the Says You panel played their game of words and whimsy, bluff and bluster, with the help of two Northeast Ohio panelists, culture critic Charles Michener and writer-director Murray Horwitz. Award-winning local blues man Austin “Walkin’ Cane” Charanghat provided the musical accents for this holiday special Says You, which was recorded in front of a live audience at the Capitol Theatre on December 5th, 2010. It originally aired on 90.3, WCPN, ideastream December 19th , 2010 at 12:00pm.
YOU’RE CORDIALLY INVITED
to an evening at XYZ & CPT to benefit GSAD
in the heart of the Gordon Square Arts District
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010
The evening kicks off at the District’s newest establishment:
5:30 p.m. XYZ Tavern
6421 Detroit Avenue (next to CPT)
Cocktails & hors’ d’oeuvres
and continues to Cleveland Public Theatre
6:30 p.m. More cocktails and seating at CPT
7:00 p.m. “Connie’s Avant Garde Restaurant”
for a five-course dinner and theatre
This uproarious musical performance is a unique theatrical-culinary event mixing the ingredients of fine food, wine and ensemble theatre together in a hilarious parody of avant garde grandiosity. Comedy, death, violence and a five-course meal!
Individual tickets: $75
Reservations: Call Maria Asher @ 216.961.4242 x222 or masher@gordonsquare.org
RSVP: by Friday, December 3, 2010
Five-Course Menu
(With local produce subject to availability)
Roasted chestnuts and mushroom tartine
Curried butternut squash soup
Herbed apple and fennel salad
Maple-glazed ham with cranberry compote
Brown-buttered radishes
Sage-roasted sweet potatoes
Drunken chocolate Bundt cake
Dietary restrictions: Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant is able to accommodate food allergies and vegetarian needs. Please contact the box office to communicate dietary restrictions in your party. (216) 631-2727 or rcole@cptonline.org.
Midnight Syndicate FilmsZombies and vampires, oh my! “The Dead Matter” is one of seven films in the marathon.
PREVIEW Horror Movie Marathon What: Melt Bar & Grilled Late Shift presents “12 Hours of Terror,” a seven-movie marathon. Where: Capitol Theatre, 1390 West 65th St., Cleveland. When: 10 p.m. Saturday through 10 a.m. Sunday. Restrictions: No one under 18 admitted. Tickets: $25 in advance; $30 on Saturday. Available at any Cleveland Cinemas theater.
We’re talented sitters. We sit through those dopey ads and endless trailers at movie theaters. All summer, we sit at Progressive Field and watch the Indians lose. In the fall, we sit on our couches to watch the Browns lose.
But here’s the Halloween-season question: Can you sit still and be scared for 12 hours straight? It will be fun to see how many survive Saturday night. Cleveland Cinemas is hosting “12 Hours of Terror,” a horror movie marathon that kicks off at 10 p.m. Saturday at the Capitol Theatre and runs through 10 a.m. Sunday. It’s seven movies for $30 ($25 if you buy your ticket today).
“If it goes well, hopefully this will be the first annual of many,” said David Huffman, Cleveland Cinemas’ director of marketing. “Or maybe we’ll try for 16 hours next year.”
Huffman cooked up the idea after attending a Bad Movie festival in Chicago last winter. “I was so underwhelmed,” he said. “There was bad projection, cacophonous noise, people talking the whole time. I just thought, ‘Oh, we could do this so much better.’ ”
He wants the audience to have fun, but constant chatter will be discouraged. “This isn’t ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000,’ ” he said.
The Capitol’s main theater holds 422. There will be a 10-minute break between films. RJ the Movie Critic, from WKNR AM/850′s “Really Big Show,” will be hosting and awarding door prizes including haunted house passes and movie tickets. Much to the delight of the surrounding Gordon Square Arts District neighborhood, there will also be a “Loudest Scream Contest.”
If the blood and gore proves too much for some folks, one of the Capitol’s upstairs theaters will serve as a “Coward’s Corner,” showing cartoons and goofy TV shows. Before the last film screens, they’ll serve a free continental breakfast. The one restriction is that you must be 18 or older to attend.
Here’s the fright festival lineup (times approximate):
• 10 p.m. : “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Wes Craven’s 1984 original introduced the world to Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), the slash-meister who gets you in your dreams.
• 11:40: “The Dead Matter.” Shot in Ohio in 2008 by director Edward Douglas, who decided to balance his blood-sucking vampires with a bunch of zombies.
• 1:20 a.m.: Mystery Movie. No one will know which scary film it is until the opening sequence flashes by. The horror!
• 3:00: “Night of the Creeps.”At this point in the evening (morning?) you’ll appreciate Fred Dekker’s sense of humor with his 1986 flick that includes alien creepy crawlers, frat boys, sorority girls, and, of course, zombies.
• 4:40: “The Devil’s Rejects.” Speaking of zombies, Rob Zombie wrote and directed this hard-core 2005 sequel to his “House of 1000 Corpses,” so we could learn about the unique crime-fighting methods of Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe).
• 6:00: “Splinter.”One of the better porcupine-zombie-torn-flesh movies, from director Toby Wilkins in 2008. Two couples get trapped in a gas-station quickie mart with spiky things. Note the superb dialogue: “I’m nothing like your white-trash, drugged-out girlfriend!” and “It’s OK, we’ll cut off your arm!” Followed by the breakfast break.
• 8:00: “Child’s Play.”Before Jon Gruden, before “Bride of Chucky,” there was Tom Holland’s decidedly non-children’s movie, from 1988, about a doll with crazed eyes and a menacing mind of his own. And sharp objects.
To get you in proper Halloween-scream mode, here are five favorites for your renting and viewing pleasure. Don’t watch them alone!
• “Night of the Living Dead”(1968). George A. Romero’s wonder of independent filmmaking was a cult classic that became a much-imitated standard-bearer of scares. Not just zombies, but flesh-eating zombies. A new twist at the time.
• “Psycho” (1960). Alfred Hitchcock brilliantly broke his own rules of suspense, inserting totally random violence into a motel bathroom. “Mother” Bates still creeps me out.
• “Halloween” (1978).John Carpenter made life hell for baby-sitters, especially ones who think they’ve already killed the bad guy. You’d think Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) sticking a bent clothes hanger into Michael Myers’ eye would surely do the trick. Think again.
• “The Exorcist”(1973). Twelve-year-old girls can act rather devilish, but Linda Blair takes the concept to new lows in William’ Friedkin’s nightmare-provoking shocker. To paraphrase Roy Scheider in “Jaws,” “Father, you’re gonna need a bigger cross.”
• “The Shining”(1980). What’s creepier, the hatcheted twins or the old lady in the bathtub? Stanley Kubrick’s take on Stephen King not only features rivers of blood and an ax-wielding Jack Nicholson, it’s an elaborate psychological study of what it means to lose one’s mind.
“The marathon sounds extremely cool,” said “Dead Matter” director Douglas.
“It will appeal to people who like the old style of horror movies, the newer style, and we even have ours in there, which is an independent film. I just haven’t seen a lot of these kinds of things. I love the concept.”
Douglas is also one half (with Gavin Goszka) of the Chardon-based band Midnight Syndicate. The band is famous for Halloween instrumentals such as “Haunted Nursery” and “Grisly Reminder.”
The three-disc deluxe edition of “The Dead Matter” ($19.99), released earlier this year, includes making-of extras, music videos, the original motion picture soundtrack, and a Midnight Syndicate greatest hits collection, “Halloween Music.”
The mass appeal of the genre, said Douglas, comes down to escapism, “and for some of the horror films, maybe it’s a little therapeutic, to see those fears that you have up on the screen. But it’s not you, so it’s something you can walk away from.”
Douglas said he really wanted to be at the Capitol to introduce his film, but was already booked this weekend in Morgantown, W.Va.
Charnas spends the 75-minute first act in the suit, lying in bed in a hospital gown (after he spends 15 minutes in the thing before the curtain goes up).
Then, in Act 2, he is slimmed down to his normal size.
The length of time in the suit means it had to be as light (about 20 pounds) and comfy as possible. And his hands and face, his only acting tools besides his voice, had to be free.
Garrigan, a costume designer for 30 years and an actor-director, had to bring all of her skills to the project. Here is a look.
Garrigan looked at photographs of morbidly obese peopleand did sketches before rehearsals started in mid-August.
After consulting with Yula, who is directing, and taking Charnas’ measurements, she made the suit out of high-density upholstery foam (for shape), toy-animal fiberfill (lighter than foam) and lentil beans (for sag).
She covered it in breathable “peach-skin” fabric, used for dancers and figure skaters whose costumes need a “nude” look.
Once the suit was built, Garrigan worked with Charnas (seen in photo at right last week during technical rehearsals) to fine-tune the fit.
Garrigan carved out spaces where frozen cold packs could be inserted on the actor’s tummy and under his armpits to help him keep cool.
The last piece of the suit scheduled to go on every night will be the jowls (in photo at left).
Garrigan will apply pale makeup to Charnas’ face and dark circles around his eyes after he is in the suit. “He has to look really unhealthy.”
The actor’s supine position and the elevation of the stage meant that Garrigan had to use what artists call “forced perspective,” deliberately accentuating some body parts to make up for theaudience’s viewing angle.
The finished product is never, it seems, really finished.
In the technical-rehearsal photo at right, Charnas wears a bathrobe. But the next night, Yula decided to go with the hospital gown, which meant more adjustments.
Which is OK with Garrigan. “It’s been really interesting to take that kind of athletic body and turn it into the absolute opposite. And the hands-on work was not unpleasant at all, if you know what I mean.”
Brutal and beautiful might appear to be strange bedfellows, but they are apt descriptors for Suzan-Lori Parks‘ engrossing play “The Book of Grace” and the stunning production of it that opened over the weekend at Cleveland Public Theatre.
Parks, who won a 2002 Pulitzer Prize for “Top Dog/Underdog,” has a gift for capturing humanity, in our brutality and beauty, with her glancing dialogue, people talking to each other by talking past each other.
Less cryptic and more narrative than “Top Dog,” “The Book of Grace” turns on the dynamics of a family so dysfunctional and estranged it’s barely a family.
Vet, a veteran of the first war against Iraq and now a U.S. Border Patrol guard, is a brute who says he’s “on the good foot” with his second wife, Grace, but he’s dug a grave in the back yard as a reminder who’s in charge.
Grace is by all appearances his doormat, but she slowly reveals herself to be person of desires and of substance, longing for a red dress in a department store window, and having a voracious sexual appetite and a secret volume of rebelliously poetic observations under the floorboards.
Into this little world enters Buddy, who unlike Grace and Vet, is black. He returns after 15 years, and after serving in Persian Gulf II, with vengeance in mind and a grenade in pocket, to a set right some ancient wrong — but whether real or perceived is never made clear.
What: Cleveland Public Theatre presents the play by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Sheffia Randall Dooley. When: Through Saturday, Oct. 16. Where: 6415 Detroit Ave. Tickets: $10-$25; cptonline.org or call 216-631-2727.
These characters are meant to be real people, but they are also symbols for America and its boundaries. Vet sees borders everywhere, on his TV, in the creases he irons in his uniform trousers, and even in that hole.
The CPT production, the first since the play premiered in New York earlier this year, is directed with a haunting touch, but with both feet planted firmly in reality, by Sheffia Randall Dooley.
She gets assists from set and lighting designer Trad A Burns, who encloses everything in fencing and provides a functional utlities, and from a cast that performs as if intent on outdoing each other and eliciting from each other their best work.
Rod Lawrence quivers with pent-up rage as the literally ready-to-explode Buddy. He gets his chance to shine when he faces his own camcorder to document, mass murderer style, what he believes to be his final words before setting off to claim fame and infamy and revenge.
As Vet, veteran Cleveland area actor Chuck Kartali — in a role at polar opposites with the dad in the Cleveland Play House’s long-running “A Christmas Story” — expresses his own rage with simple acts. Kartali tells us more with the spray button on an electric iron and few clipped words than many another actor could with wild gestures and paragraphs of prose.
As fine as those two performances are, Sally Groth’s Grace mesmerizing presence here. Seductive, poetic, trembling to make her escape, she is both spell-binding and liberating, completely lost in the moment and yet able to transport us miles from this world to the great beyond of human experience. This is wow time.
The play occasionally makes its argument too neatly (and life is never neat). And the ending, both in the writing and staging, verges toward the mawkish.
But “The Book of Grace” is one of those rare theatrical experiences — a rare experiences of any kind — that leave one forever changed for having had it.
“What ‘cha got?”
Joshua Gunter l The Plain Dealer The restored 1921 Capitol Theatre is a gem of a place to see a movie.
Cleveland Public TheatreDancer and cChoreographer Kenya Woods performs her “Through Her Eyes,” which will be presented Feb. 11-13, as part of Cleveland Public Theatre’s eight-week Big Box festival.
Midnight Syndicate FilmsZombies and vampires, oh my! “The Dead Matter” is one of seven films in the marathon.
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