Dale Omori, Plain Dealer file photographDancers rehearse at the Gordon Square Theatre in 2005. The Ohio Department of Development today said it was providing $200,000 for removal of asbestos from the theater's ceiling.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Federal stimulus money will help with the continued renovation of the Cleveland Public Theatre, in Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood.

The Ohio Department of Development said today that $200,000 from a new fund to clean up and revitalize historic sites is headed to the theater, for asbestos removal.

The theater is part of the historic Gordon Square Arts District, which has seen a multimillion-dollar redevelopment in recent years.

The new money should pay for asbestos removal in the ceiling of Gordon Square Theatre, one of three performance venues that constitute Cleveland Public Theatre, said general manager Denis Griesmer.

The work is scheduled from January to March, when the Gordon Square Theatre is typically closed, Griesmer said.

The project will not only make the building safer, but will also help in the job-generating restoration of the neighborhood, state development Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel said in a news release.

[Original Article on Cleveland.com] [PDF]

Published: Friday, July 02, 2010, 2:31 PM Updated: Tuesday, July 06, 2010, 3:34 PM

Tony Brown, The Plain Dealer

VINCENT SACCO This scene makes it look as though it might be called “Tony n’ Tina’s Shotgun Wedding,” but it’s actually “Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant.” And even though it will be performed with a five-course meal next season at Cleveland Public Theatre, Miss Conni Convergence and the Avantgardists dare you to call it dinner theater.

Raymond Bobgan is cool. And five years into his executive artistic directorship of Cleveland Public Theatre, he just keeps getting cooler, mixing sound business decisions with risky artistry at the city’s leading dispenser of cool theater. After finishing the 2009-10 season with the strongest one-two programming punch of the year in Cleveland (“Open Mind Firmament” and “Wanderlust”), Bobgan has just announced the city’s most promising-sounding 2010-11 season. Dig all this:

• Four world premieres, including “Don’t Call Me Fat” by Turkish playwright Ozen Yula and “My Dog Barking” by Cleveland Heights scribe Eric Coble.

• Four Midwest premieres: The second production anywhere (after New York’s Public Theatre) of Pulitzer Prize-winning Suzan-Lori Parks’ latest; an avant-garde dinner-theater (!) offering; and a play co-authored by a creator of the upcoming Broadway musical “Spider-Man.”

• And a beefed-up new works development program to join CPT’s already strong Big Box and Little Box series, including a remount of Chris Seibert and Bobgan’s critically acclaimed one-woman tour de force, “Cut to Pieces,” which will then tour.

Bottom line: While most other theaters in the area are sticking to the reduced schedules and calculatedly mainstream productions instituted to cope with the recession, Bobgan and CPT are out at high noon on Detroit Avenue at West 65th Street with avant-garde guns blazing.

Meanwhile, in his spare time, Bobgan is also overseeing CPT’s partnership in developing the Gordon Square Arts District, including the ongoing renovation of CPT’s expansive campus.

So, take a breath and get a gander at what’s up next season at 6415 Detroit. If you want more information, go to cptonline.org or call 216-631-2727. Or you can catch Bobgan re-caffeinating himself several times a day next door to the theater at Gypsy Beans & Baking Co.

Shows open on a Thursday and close on a Saturday unless otherwise noted.

Saturday, Sept. 11: Pandemonium 10: The West Wild Side. CPT’s annual wacky arts, food and beverage fundraiser comes of age.

Sept. 30-Oct. 16: “The Book of Grace.” CPT regular Sheffia Randall Dooley directs Parks’ multilayered confrontation between Buddy, a veteran of the Iraq war, and his estranged father, a Desert Storm vet who now works as a border guard.

Oct. 7-30: “Don’t Call Me Fat.” Yula, who’s at CPT and Cleveland State University on a grant from the Cleveland Foundation, directs his satire about an obese man’s journey from sickbed to talk-show fame.

Oct. 14-30: “Kill Will.” Playing off the title of a Quentin Tarantino movie, husband-and-wife writers Josh Brown and Kelly Elliott edit the Shakespeare canon down to one evening of the Bard’s best fights and murders. Veteran CPT hand Alison Garrigan directs the world premiere.

Friday, Oct. 22 and Sunday, Oct. 24: “Il Tabarro.” CPT collaborates with Opera Per Tutti, a Northeast Ohio company whose name is Italian for “opera for all,” on Puccini’s tale of love, desperation and violent jealousy. Scott Skiba directs.

Nov. 5-7: Y-Haven Project. CPT stages the 11th annual collaboration with residents of an inner-city Cleveland center for homeless men in treatment for drug addiction.

Nov. 11-Sunday, Nov. 21: Little Box series. Staged readings of new plays by local playwrights are followed by audience discussions.

Wednesday, Dec. 1-18: “Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant.” CPT presents an audience-participation dinner-theater show (a la “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding,” but way weirder) served up by Miss Conni Convergence and the Avantgardists.

Friday, Jan. 14-Sunday, March 6: Big Box series. Eight weekends of new works as CPT opens its doors to area artists.

March 3-19: “Darwinii.” Glen Berger, now at work with “The Lion King’s” Julie Taymor and U2′s Bono on “Spider-Man,” collaborates with CPT regular Brett Keyser on a play about a thief who’s convinced he’s the great-great-great-bastard-grandson of Charles Darwin.

Friday, March 11-Sunday, March 27: NEOMFA Playwrights Festival. Three new works by students in the Northeast Ohio MFA Creative Writing Program, a collaboration of four area schools.

Thursday, March 24: Women’s Voices. The 12th annual female version of the Y-Haven Project, a collaboration with the Elyria YWCA’s Women’s Campus Project.

April 7-23: “Fever/Dream.” CPT staffer Beth Wood directs the Midwest premiere of Sheila Callaghan’s update of 17th-century Spanish playwright Pedro Calderon de la Barca’s “Life Is a Dream.”

April 7-23: “I Hate This” and “And Then You Die.” Local playwright, actor and director David Hansen presents his two previously produced one-man shows (one about personal loss and the other about personal victory) in repertory. Directed by Garrigan.

April 21-May 7: “Insomnia.” Holly Holsinger (Bobgan’s wife) collaborates with Karin Randoja and Seibert on a new play, starring Holsinger and Seibert and directed by Randoja, about a woman on the brink of something like death, mental collapse or self-discovery.

May 5-Sunday June 5: DanceWorks. Five companies perform world premieres in CPT’s 11th annual dance showcase.

May 12-28: “My Dog Barking.” Jeremy Paul, on loan from Theater Ninjas, directs the latest from Coble, about two lonely people’s lives taking a bizarre turn when a starving coyote appears at their doors.

May 26-June 4: “Cut to Pieces.” Bobgan and Seibert restage their shattering 2009 multimedia adaptation of the Persephone myth to lay bare Seibert’s soul.

Dates to be announced: Developing works. They include “My Hemisphere and Your Hemisphere Live Across the Street,” “People4Change” and Bobgan’s own “Rusted Heart Broadcast,” which he described as “a radical new play with an ensemble cast [that] re-examines religion, art and community in the heart of America.”

And, “I think it takes place in a tent and travels like a revival.”

How cool is that?

[Original Article on Cleveland.com] [PDF]

Published: Saturday, June 19, 2010, 11:59 PM Updated: Monday, June 21, 2010, 10:59 AM

Julie Washington, The Plain Dealer

Gus Chan, The Plain Dealer “Sex and the City 2″ Girls Night Out party at the Capitol Theatre– a one-time silent-film theater that was renovated and reopened in 2009 — is an example of the vitality of the Gordon Square neighborhood. The Gordon Square Arts District capital campaign is the recipient of a 2010 Cleveland Arts Prize.

It took a small village to raise the Gordon Square Arts District capital campaign from toddler to noisy, energetic adolescent. It’s appropriate that the village will be among those honored Saturday as winners of the 2010 Cleveland Arts Prize.

It’s the first time in recent memory that a Cleveland Arts Prize has been awarded not to a person or an organization but to a neighborhood.

“No one person could have done what Gordon Square Arts District is doing,” said the district’s executive director, Joy Roller. “To give it to one person would be totally unfair. I congratulate the Arts Prize for getting it.”

The Cleveland Arts Prizes — given to creative artists whose work enriches Northeast Ohio and whose accomplishments set a standard of excellence — were announced in May. Artists will be honored at the annual awards event Saturday at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Gordon Square was awarded a Martha Joseph Prize for Distinguished Service to the Arts, given to an individual or organization whose vision or philanthropy has made a significant contribution to the arts in Northeast Ohio.

While only Cleveland City Councilman Matt Zone will go onstage to accept the prize on behalf of Gordon Square, nearly a dozen other civic leaders will receive an Arts Prize medal. They include Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization executive director Jeff Ramsey, Gordon Square Arts District executive director Joy Roller and Cleveland Public Theatre executive artistic director Raymond Bobgan.

The district is a collaboration among Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, Cleveland Public Theatre and the Near West Theatre.

Its capital campaign has set a goal of raising $30 million for five projects in Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, involving the area’s theaters, streetscaping and parking, Roller said.

MORE INFO

Cleveland Arts Prize

What: The 50th annual prizes recognize artists with ties to Northeast Ohio who have made significant contributions in the arts.

When: Ceremony is at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art.

Tickets: $250, VIP tickets (reception at 6:30); $100, patron tickets (reception at 7); $50, general admission.

Info: E-mail info@clevelandartsprize.org or call 216-321-0012.

Gordon Square claims it has generated more than $500 million in economic development in the surrounding community near West 65th Street and Detroit Avenue.

“It’s using the arts for a catalyst for economic development,” Roller said. “The Gordon Square Arts District story is many layers deep.”

A ribbon-cutting for the first phase of Cleveland Public Theatre’s capital campaign was part of Gordon Square Arts District Day on June 12. The neighborhood celebrated with walking tours, music and classic cartoons at the Capitol Theatre.

Among the other prizes to be bestowed are the Robert P. Bergman Prize for leaders who are dedicated to a democratic vision of the arts as well as awards for emerging and midcareer artists, and lifetime achievement.

The Cleveland Arts Prize board of directors solicits nominations, and a jury chooses the winners, said executive director Marcie Bergman.

In Gordon Square’s case, the jury originally received a nomination for just two of the movers and shakers, but the jury felt more of the people involved also deserved recognition, Bergman said.

John Zayac, president of the Project Group, a Cleveland-based firm that manages capital projects, originally nominated Zone and Ramsey for their work with Gordon Square.

Zayac, who lives in Detroit-Shoreway, knew about the neighborhood’s transformation. The Project Group was project manager for the Capitol Theatre and Cleveland Public Theatre capital projects. The Project Group also served as fiscal agent for the district.

While serving as an arts-prize juror in 2009, Zayac noticed the nomination list was heavy with artists living or affiliated with organizations on the East Side. Determined to correct that, the following year he nominated Zone and Ramsey, and resigned as a juror to avoid conflict of interest.

As deliberations were under way, Zayac got a call from a jury chairman asking if Zayac would mind if the jury chose to honor Gordon Square instead of two individuals.

“It’s great the entire district is getting the award,” Zayac said. “Jeff and Matt are first among equals.”

[Original Cleveland.com Article] [PDF]

Photos from June 12th, Discover Gordon Square Arts District Day Gallery

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Photos from June 11th, ‘Made in the 216′ 2010 store opening & ‘Out of Place’ Midnight Show

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View and share these photos on Gordon Square Arts District Facebook page.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — One cultural event is a cherished civic tradition. The other is trying to become one. Both had successful Saturdays. Partly because it never rained.

Though ominous clouds hung low in the Cleveland sky throughout the morning and early afternoon, both Parade the Circle on the East Side and the Gordon Square Arts District Day on the West Side were spared thunderstorms that had been promised by the National Weather Service the day before.

At 11:00 a.m. with the temperature at a muggy 85 degrees, cars were already parked halfway through Martin Luther King Blvd. A license plate read KRE8IVE, and you had to be creative just to find a place to park. Folks wearing T-shirts, tank tops and short shorts — some pushing baby strollers — made their way to Wade Oval for the 21st annual Parade the Circle celebration.

“We had 70,000 people last year, and this looks about the same,” said parade director Robin VanLear from atop her six-foot-high stilts as she directed costumed marchers. “We seem to have reached a critical mass with the parade, and it’s a good number without being too crowded.”

Though the humidity was oppressive, it didn’t dampen the crowd’s spirit as more than 50 parade entrants danced around the circle. Among them was a group called Books Open Doors to New Worlds featuring Amy Frank and Sean Hensley, who were married at 9 a.m. that morning at Holden Arboretum. The wedding party of 50 bused over to Cleveland to take part in the parade.

“This is our honeymoon,” said Hensley. “Next year we’re going to do something simple like go to Japan.”

Another entry in the parade was The Phoenix, a 10-foot-tall bird on wheels made entirely of the clear plastic packaging from medical supplies. The bird’s creator, is Sawson Alhaddad, an anesthesiologist from the Cleveland Clinic.

“It took a year to save all of these pieces of discarded plastic,” she said. “I work in a suite that has seven operating rooms, so everybody helped me collect them”.

Across town in Gordon Square, at West 65th Street and Detroit Avenue, Ryann Anderson squeezed out some acoustic folk jazz on a makeshift stage for a dozen onlookers. Gordon Square executive director Joy Roller said she expected the crowd to pick up at the first-time event as the East Side event wound down. A free shuttle took people back and forth.

“We had to add another vehicle because the one we had was packed,” Roller said. “We just want people from the East Side to find out that we’re here and that we have art and culture and theater music and great food. We want everyone to discover us.”

The hub of activity in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood was a temporary store called Made In 216. The double storefront space offered clothing, jewelry, hats and furniture — all made in the Cleveland. The place was cooled with an industrial-sized fan, had a D. J. playing tunes and ice-cold beer on tap. Danielle Deboe organizes the bazaar twice a year to promote small Cleveland retail manufacturers.

“I live in the neighborhood and have another store across the street called Room Service,” said Deboe. “It’s an art-centric lifestyle boutique. We were packed in here last night. You couldn’t move. As soon as the parade is over, we expect everyone to come over to Gordon Square and party late into the night.”

[Online Article - Cleveland.com] [PDF]

Score one for the Detroit Shoreway area, and minus-one for downtown Cleveland.

One Walnut, the nationally acclaimed restaurant and longtime watering hole for Cleveland’s powerbrokers, is closing later this month. Owner Marlin Kaplan, who also operates the highly successful Luxe Kitchen and Lounge in the Gordon Square neighborhood, will shift even greater attention to the emerging West Side arts district when he opens a second restaurant a few blocks down the street from Luxe.

Kaplan has formed a partnership with restaurateur Rosita Kutkut to transform her recently shuttered spot La Boca, 5800 Detroit Road, into an upscale taqueria.

“My wife, Melissa, and I decided to close One Walnut after a lot of heartfelt thought,” Kaplan said. “Times have changed since we opened nearly 11 years ago.”

The couple’s move had long been under consideration, as a growing number of vacancies in neighboring office buildings steadily eroded the restaurant’s core customer base. Meanwhile, the air of dressy sophistication that characterized One Walnut and earned it the praise of publications such as Esquire and Gourmet seemed increasingly detached from the far more casual tone of modern dining — the very style that has drawn droves of dinner guests to Luxe.

“[One Walnut] had its heyday, and at a time when Cleveland didn’t have a lot going on in terms of restaurants,” says Kaplan. “It’s lasted 10 years; there aren’t a lot of restaurants downtown that can say that.”

Josh Taylor, a spokesman for the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, regrets the departure of a prestigious name on the city’s landscape. But he points to the recent opening of Chinato on East Fourth Street and the soon-to-debut Zinc around the corner on Euclid Avenue as indications of downtown’s continuing revitalization.

“That’s not to diminish Kaplan,” Taylor says. “And just because one opportunity closes doesn’t mean another won’t open. We hope he can be a part of downtown again in the near future.”

The restaurateur won’t be too far away — certainly not for fans of his cuisine. When the new spot, Roseangel, opens sometime in early July, they will find house-made margaritas, more than a dozen moderately priced tacos and a variety of a la carte menu items.

“It’s a good change, I think,” says Kutkut, who will lend her behind-scenes expertise. “This is the direction I’ve wanted to take, going smaller and making the corner even better.”