CPH Announces 101st Season
Posted March 19, 2016 in Press Releases
Cleveland Play House Reveals 2016-2017 Season
CLEVELAND, OH (March 19, 2016) After a landmark year which yielded an unprecedented Centennial Season and the coveted Regional Theatre Tony Award®, Cleveland Play House (CPH) is following up on the heels of the past year’s success with a dynamic, stimulating and engaging 2016-17 Season. CPH staff, led by Artistic Director Laura Kepley, announced the titles of the new season today on the Allen Theatre stage to a full house. The theme of this season is “moving forward” and audiences will have plenty to look forward to with a season that encompasses history, mystery, comedy, drama and even a brand new Disney musical. CPH's 101st Season would not be possible without CPH’s generous sponsors, donors, patrons, and community partners.
“Our 101st season will build on the success of our Centennial Season and drive the momentum forward as we continue to inspire, stimulate and entertain Northeast Ohio with plays and theatre education programs of the highest professional standards” states CPH Artistic Director Laura Kepley. “All of the plays in this year’s season will appeal to the head, heart and spirit and will be told in the intimate, immediate and imaginative CPH style that our audiences have come to expect. We hope our audiences will be as excited as we are about this thrilling new season!”
The 2016-17 season will open with the political drama All the Way, followed by the steamy and smart Sex with Strangers. The season will take a comedic turn with the side-splitting whodunit Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, and will explore complicated subject matter in How I Learned to Drive. The season moves from an emotional drama to a dark comedy that boisterously explores family dynamics in Between Riverside and Crazy, and will come to a rousing close with the new Disney sure-fire hit musical, Freaky Friday. Rounding out the season will be the return of the beloved holiday show, A Christmas Story.
2016-2017 Cleveland Play House Season
All the Way
Written by Robert Schenkkan
Sept 17-Oct 9, 2016 • Allen Theatre
The clock is ticking. The November election looms. “Accidental President” Lyndon B. Johnson’s window is closing to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and win the American people over to the side of momentous social change. But at what cost? Backroom deals and showdowns between the infamous and the influential take center stage in this absorbing Tony Award-winning drama. A mirror of our times, All the Way reflects the power of one person and one vote to transform our country.
Sex with Strangers
Written by Laura Eason
Oct 22-Nov 13, 2016 • Outcalt Theatre
Olivia is an obscure novelist on the cusp of 40; Ethan is a famous blogger - and 28. When these two strangers collide at a remote B&B, a steamy romance erupts. Passion, intellect and secret agendas clash in Sex with Strangers. This smart, tantalizing take on modern love flirts with the ever-blurring line between public and private in our digital age.
Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery
Written by Ken Ludwig
Jan 21-Feb 12, 2017 • Allen Theatre
The hunting and haunting of the heir to the Baskerville fortune proves the most puzzling—and dangerous!—case in the illustrious careers of Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson. Cleveland favorite Ken Ludwig is back with his madcap adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic mystery, transforming The Hound of the Baskervilles into an all-out comedic theatrical adventure. Full of humor, horror, and plenty of stage magic, five actors play nearly 40 roles in this kooky and spooky caper that will have you howling with laughter.
How I Learned to Drive
Written by Paula Vogel
March 4-26, 2017 • Allen Theatre
Buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. Li’l Bit takes us on a no holds barred trip back in time to her adolescence in 1960s Maryland and her complicated relationship with an older man. A deeply compassionate look at how we are shaped by the people who hurt us, How I Learned to Drive masterfully veers in and out of personal memory and deftly traverses comedy, drama and farce. CPH Artistic Director Laura Kepley steers Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary masterpiece.
Between Riverside and Crazy
Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
April 1-23, 2017 • Outcalt Theatre
Ex-cop Walter "Pops" Washington is NOT one to let things go. NOT the memory of his recently deceased wife. NOT the racially-charged lawsuit he filed years ago against the NYPD. And most definitely NOT the impressive rent-controlled apartment he shares with his parolee son and ragtag surrogate family. But, eviction notices and ultimatums are piling up, and Pops is caught between losing his honor and losing his home. Bringing together the poetic and the profane, this 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner is an exuberant and darkly comic tale of truth, family, and pride.
Freaky Friday
Book by Bridget Carpenter
Music and Lyrics by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey
Based on the novel “Freaky Friday” by Mary Rodgers and the Walt Disney motion pictures
Directed by Christopher Ashley
Anchor production of the 2017 New Ground Theatre Festival
April 15-May 14, 2017 • Allen Theatre
When an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right again before mom’s big wedding. Freaky Friday, a new musical comedy based on the celebrated novel by Mary Rodgers and hit Disney films, is a hilarious, contemporary update of an American classic in which a mother and daughter really see what it is to be a family and experience first-hand each other’s lives, if only for a day.
Special Non-subscription Holiday Engagement!
A Christmas Story
Written by Philip Grecian
Based on the motion picture written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark
November 25-December 23, 2016 • Allen Theatre
He’s back! One boy. One holiday wish. And a world that seems to be conspiring to make certain it doesn’t come true. The record-breaking show returns to the CPH stage in all its pink-bunny-suit, glowing-leg-lamp, triple-dog-daring glory. The perfect holiday treat for the entire family.
All CPH performances are in the venues of the Allen Theatre Complex, Playhouse Square, Cleveland. Shows preview at 7:30 p.m. the first Saturday, 6:30 p.m. the first Sunday, 7 p.m. the first Tuesday and 7:30 p.m. the first Wednesday and Thursday, with 2:30 p.m. matinees most Saturdays and Sundays. They open at 7:30 p.m. the first Friday and close on a Sunday. There is one Thursday matinee performance at 1:30 p. m. for each production.
Ticket Information
Subscriptions: Subscribers save up to 17%. Full and flexible season packages range from $241-$415. To purchase subscriptions or get more information, call 216-400-7096 or visit clevelandplayhouse.com
Single show tickets: Single show tickets will go on sale in early August. Prices for single tickets range from $25 to $90 with special discounts available: $15 rush tickets for currently enrolled students under age 25 with valid student ID. Call 216-241-6000 or visit clevelandplayhouse.com
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Cleveland Play House, recipient of the 2015 Regional Theatre Tony Award and founded in 1915, is America's first professional regional theatre. Throughout its rich history, CPH has remained dedicated to its mission to inspire, stimulate and entertain diverse audiences in Northeast Ohio by producing plays and theatre education programs of the highest professional standards. CPH has produced more than 100 world and/or American premieres, and over its long history more than 12 million people have attended over 1,600 productions. Today, Cleveland Play House celebrates its centennial while performing in three state-of-the art venues at Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland.
The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Cleveland Play House with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. We also thank the residents ofCuyahogaCountyfor supporting Cleveland Play House through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
Contact info:
Mainstage shows contact
Kelly Luecke
Publicist
C. 216-712-6292
CPH contact (Institutional needs, CWRU/MFA and Education shows):
Ed Gilchrist
Director of Marketing
W. 216-400-7020 C: 216-246-7242
egilchrist@clevelandplayhouse.com
