CPH present World Premiere holiday musical event, LIGHT IT UP!
Posted December 3, 2021 in Press Releases
World premiere holiday musical at CPH illuminates the power of love, kindness, connection, and community.
Light It Up!
by Jason Michael Webb and Lelund Durond Thompson
Allen Theatre, Playhouse Square
(Cleveland, OH) Cleveland Play House presents the world premiere of Light It Up!, a family-friendly musical extravaganza written and composed by Jason Michael Webb and Lelund Durond Thompson. Directed and choreographed by Christopher Windom, the production running now through December 22, 2021 in the Allen Theatre and features Florrie Bagel, Kristina Gabriela, Matt Gittins, Brennyn Lark, Terica Marie, Gustavo Márquez, Benjamin H. Moore, Christopher B. Portley, Helen Marla White, and Mariama Whyte. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.clevelandplayhouse.com.
Light It Up! is a new, holly-jolly musical event that features original pop, rock, gospel, and jazz holiday tunes and new arrangements of traditional Christmas carols. The piece began as a series of original songs and arrangements of Christmas carols composed by Jason Michael Webb for “Broadway’s Carols for a Cure,” a special project to support Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Co-creator Jason Michael Webb says, “I used [the Carols for the Cure project] as a writing exercise; it was an opportunity to work with new people – a cast from a new world.” Webb worked with several artists from various Broadway casts that contributed original tunes for the project. He wrote the song “Light it Up” for the Broadway cast of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Webb says, “After a few years, we had accumulated a number of these songs…we always wanted to string them together into a show that would uplift and encourage people.”
Co-creator Lelund Durond Thompson says, “Coming out of the last year with the pandemic where we have been isolated and where we’ve not had the opportunity to feel, inspire, connect – we really wanted to create a piece that spoke to the need for us to really enjoy living life.” Thompson says, “Loss is something I am very sensitive to, and we’ve gone through a year where so many people experienced loss for the first time. We didn’t want to ignore what we’ve all gone through as a community. We’ve created something that feels new, fresh, and unapologetically inclusive.”
Director Christopher Windom shares, “…it’s a Christmas show, and it is fun and touching. Where we are at this time in this moment in this year, I can’t think of anything that would be more meaningful than a dose of delight during the holiday season.” Windom continues, “It is not without its messages and manifestos, but the greater part of it is delightful fun. I’m a firm believer that in the specific, you can find the universal. Something as specific as a religious holiday – Christmas – within that is the opportunity to see the universal, which is people coming together, loving each other, experiencing peace, and experiencing joy. It allows people to see themselves in it.”
Webb and Thompson worked together on CPH’s 2020 virtual concert, “Songs from The First Noel.” Thompson is a 2006 graduate of the Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House (CWRU/CPH) MFA Acting Program and appeared in the 2014 New Ground Theatre Festival production of Joe. Webb created musical arrangements for CPH’s 2018 production of Marie & Rosetta.
The three collaborators recently worked together on the Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson. Directed by award-winning director Liesl Tommy, Thompson served as an acting coach, Webb served as executive music producer, and Windom served as choreographer.
CPH Artistic Director Laura Kepley shares, “Light it Up! is a musical holiday spectacular set in a fictional village, where the spirit of Christmas is upheld every day. ‘Lighting it up’ refers not just to a Christmas tree, but to everyday actions we can take to make other people feel lighter, brighter and happier.” Kepley says, “Part pageant, part musical revue, the show draws from the Christian faith and traditional Christmas songs as well as other religious traditions from around the world, folk tales, and secular practices that bring light into the darkest time of the year. The cast and musicians are incredible. You will relish the classic holiday standards and you will sing the new holiday songs as if they had been part of your tradition for decades. I am so thrilled to bring this new holiday musical event to Cleveland when it feels like we need it the most.”
Leading the on-stage orchestra is Musical Director Keith Williams, who serves as conductor and keyboardist. On the stage, Williams is joined by Matthew Dolan on keyboard, Joseph Rangel on guitar, Charise Grimes on bass, and Aaron Smith on percussion.
Light It Up! was developed with support of the Roe Green Fund for New American Plays. Light It Up! is sponsored by The Kulas Foundation.
Tickets to Light It Up! range from $15 to $95. Performances run now through December 22, 2021 in the Allen Theatre from Tuesday through Sunday. ASL-interpreted and open-captioned performances available on select dates. Virtual streaming accessibility is also available. For the full schedule of performance, further details on accessibility, and to purchase tickets please visit: www.clevelandplayhouse.com.
BIOGRAPHIES
THE CAST
FLORRIE BAGEL made her Broadway debut in The Rose Tattoo with Roundabout Theatre. Credits: Call Me Madam, Me and My Girl, Brigadoon, and The Golden Apple (New York City Center Encores!); Jerry Springer the Opera (The New Group); Footloose at the Muny in St. Louis; as well as her solo show, Through the Smoke, the music of Amy Winehouse (54 Below). National Tours: Sister Act, Kinky Boots. Upcoming: The Gilded Age (HBO).
KRISTINA GABRIELA is in her final year in the CWRU/CPH MFA acting program. Kristina received her BA in Acting/Directing at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Recent CWRU/CPH credits include: Viola in Twelfth Night, Electra in Electra/Orestes, Sweetheart/F doctor/F tourist in Middletown. Other credits include Sophie in Mamma Mia, Mimi in Rent, and Beauty in Smokefall. @quirky_kris
MATT GITTINS: Credits include: Newsies, Oklahoma!, Anything Goes at Porthouse Theater; Hand to God and The 39 Steps at Short North Stage in Columbus; Heartbreakers in Hell at Rubber City Theater; Death of a Salesman at French Creek Theater. Composition: YOU GO ON. Otterbein University, BFA. Eugene O’Neill alumni.
GRACE HUNT recently appeared in Musical Memories at Cain Park and as Lead Production Vocalist aboard Celebrity Cruises Entertainment. Some other credits include Porthouse Theatre, Pioneer Theatre, The Musical Theatre Project and Cleveland Musical Theatre.
BRENNYN LARK is a NYC based actress, performer. Credits: Eponine in the Broadway revival of Les Miz, Deena Jones in the West End revival of Dreamgirls, and Tzipporah in the world premiere of Stephen Schwartz’s The Prince of Egypt. TV: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel!
TERICA MARIE, a graduate from Ball State University, is a singer/songwriter with original music available on all streaming platforms. TV: The Chi (Receptionist). @tericamarie
GUSTAVO MÁRQUEZ is a third-year candidate in the CWRU/CPH MFA Acting Program. CWRU/CPH credits: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Twelfth Night, Middletown, and Electra/Orestes. Credits: Sweat, A Christmas Carol, Native Gardens (Denver Center Theatre Company); The Comedy of Errors, Julius Caesar (Colorado Shakespeare Festival Tour); The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, Metamorphoses, You Can’t Take It With You, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, American Idiot, Dracula, Grease.Gustavo-Marquez.com
BENJAMIN H. MOORE was in the 20th Anniversary Tour of Rent, as well as Maybe Happy Ending at Alliance Theatre, The First Noel at True Colors Theatre, Shadowboxer at Baltimore Center Stage, The Fantasticks at Arkansas Rep, Sunday in the Park with George at Jennie T. Anderson Theatre, Mamma Mia! and Into the Woods at City Springs Theatre Company, Once on This Island at Georgia Ensemble Theatre, Black Nativity at Dominion Entertainment, and Gounod’s RomeĢo et Juliette, West Side Story, and The Wiz all at GLOW Lyric Theatre. His cover single, “Fix You” by BMoore is available on all digital media and streaming platforms. @mooreofthemusic
CHRISTOPHER B. PORTLEY is a third-year CWRU/CPH MFA acting program candidate.. CWRU/ CPH MFA credits: Twelfth Night, Electra/Orestes, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Middletown. Other credits: Dominique Morisseau’s Blood At The Root and Commedia Dell’ Arte (Chautauqua Theater Company); Father Comes Home from the Wars parts 1, 2, & 3 (African American Repertory Theatre); The Tempest and Measure for Measure (Shakespeare Academy at Stratford); Stick Fly (University of North Texas); Memphis (Musical Theatre of Denton).
HELEN MARLA WHITE recently appeared at Minton’s Playhouse with a solo show, at Carnegie Hall in the Take Me to the World Concert with Tituss Burgess, and Christmas Tour with Idina Menzel. Other NYC: Sistas the Musical at St. Lukes theatre, and The First Noel at the Apollo Theatre. She has worked regionally at Theatre by the Sea and Surflight Theatre in Ain’t Misbehavin. She traveled all across the world performing with several Artist as well on Royal Caribbean.
MARIAMA WHYTE returns to CPH where her credits include the workshop of Light It Up!, Inspiring Resolutions (CPH Theatre Thursday), The Amen Corner, The Nolan Williams Project, and In The Groove and Over The Top. Broadway Tours: The Color Purple (Nettie; Celie u/s), The Lion King (Shenzi and Rafiki u/s). Regional: Karamu House, Dobama Theatre, and Cleveland Public Theatre. As a vocalist, Mariama has headlined her own shows, performed with famed composer/producer David Foster, and has opened for Stephanie Mills, Lisa Fischer, and Rahsaan Patterson. Awards: Verge Fellowship (Cleveland Arts Prize 2019). Mariama will release her new recording album, “Hey You It’s Me,” in 2022.mariamawhyte.com
CREATIVE TEAM
JASON MICHAEL WEBB (Book/Music/Lyrics) is a director, composer, lyricist, musical director, producer and arranger. Awards/accolades include Special Tony Award recipient (Choir Boy), Drama Desk winner (Choir Boy), Tony Award nominee (The Rose Tattoo), two-time Stellar Award nominee, and Dove Award winner (Declare Your Name). He was the executive music producer of Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson with Stephen Bray and Harvey Mason, Jr. He directed the 2021 film of the Jason Robert Brown musical, The Last Five Years. Additional credits: composer for The Ms. Pat Show (BET+); Kenny Leon’s Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park, The Public Theater/PBS Great Performances); Empire (Fox); Juanita (Netflix);WiLDFLOWER, an original South African musical currently in development with National Black Theater/Apollo Theater; music director for The Color Purple (Tony-, Emmy-, and Grammy-winning Broadway revival); music director and co-orchestrator/arranger for MJ: The Musical; music director and co-composer/arranger for Beauty and the Beast prequel (Disney+); music director and adaptor/arranger for Disney’s Frozen: Live at the Hyperion; and music director for the six-time Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle. associate production music supervisor for The Greatest Showman (20th Century Fox); and associate musical director of Berry Gordy’s Motown: The Musical, Alan Menken’s Leap of Faith, and Jeanine Tesori’s Violet. He is arranger and music supervisor for the 2022 revival of Disney’s AIDA.
LELUND DUROND THOMPSON (Book/Lyrics) is an actor, acting coach, photographer, lyricist, writer, and director. He is founder of Lelund Durond Studios, a multi-media production company based in Los Angeles. Lelund has performed at regional and international venues such as Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the Sons d’Hiver Festival in Paris. Film acting credits include the Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect, where he also served as acting coach to Jennifer Hudson and Marlon Wayans. Additional acting clients include Diane Guerrero (Doom Patrol, HBO), Joivan Wade (Doom Patrol, HBO) and BAFTA Award Nominee/Sundance 2019 Directing Award Winner, Rhada Blank (The Forty Year Old Version, Netflix). Lelund has photographed artists from Ricky Martin to Sting, Daniel Radcliffe to Danielle Brooks, Cynthia Erivo, Corey Hawkins, and many of New York and Hollywood’s most talented artists. His photography has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, People Magazine, GQ, and Playbill. Lelund is currently in development on the musical WiLDFLOWER (National Black Theatre/Apollo Theatre) and is working with Marlon Wayans on the set of his new Netflix film. Lelund is a 2006 graduate of the CWRU/CPH MFA Acting Program.
CHRISTOPHER WINDOM (Director/Choreographer) has directed or choreographed at The Vineyard Theatre, The Public Theater Mobile Shakespeare Unit, Guthrie Theater, Alabama Shakes, Trinity Rep, Signature Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, TheatreWorks, NYMF, Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Maples Repertory Theatre, and Maine State Music Theatre. He served as choreographer for the film Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson, as well as Frozen: Live (Hyperion, Disney Resorts). He was the Drama League Fellow Assistant Director for the Broadway production of Pippin, directed by Diane Paulus (Hair, Waitress, Porgy & Bess); and he also served as assistant director of Ruined, directed by Liesl Tommy (Berkeley Rep, Huntington Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse); assistant director of February House directed by Davis McCallum; and associate director for the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, directed/choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler (Public Theater, Long Wharf). Christopher has performed in Broadway and National Tours of Fosse! and Damn Yankees, starring Jerry Lewis. He also performed at Paper Mill Playhouse, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, STAGES St. Louis, The MUNY, Goodspeed, Cincinnati Playhouse, and Sacramento Music Circus. M.F.A., Brown/Trinity Rep. B.F.A., Webster University. Christopher is on the board of directors for Notch Theatre Company. Member of SDC.
KEITH WILLIAMS (Music Director) works as a rehearsal supervisor and vocal director for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. He also serves as musical director and conductor for several significant productions, including the 2021 groundbreaking R&B opera based on the life Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I Dream. His solo album, “Tone For Worship,” debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard Top Gospel Album charts in 2013. Williams handles executive duties at the EPM Music Group record label, working with the Veterans Emergency Relief Foundation.
LEX LIANG (Scenic Designer) returns to CPH having previously designed Shakespeare in Love (Scenic & Costume Design), The Crucible (Costume Design), The Little Foxes (Scenic & Costume Design), and several others. Other Regional: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alliance Theatre, The Asolo, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Dallas Theatre Center, Denver Center, Geva Theatre, The Guthrie, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, Woolly Mammoth, and others. NYC/Off-Broadway: 50+ productions, including: Antigone, Nine Circles, and The Bacchae. He is the founder and owner of LDC Design Associates, an experiential event design and production company in NYC. Recent projects: Ubuntu Pathways: Fight For Good, Operation Smile’s 35th Anniversary Gala, The Tony Awards Gala, and BCBG’s 30 Year Retrospective, NYFW 2019. Member, United Scenic Artists-829. www.LexLiang.com
JEN CAPRIO (Costume Designer) returns to CPH where she previously designed Steel Magnolias, Rich Girl, Fairfield, and Well. Broadway: Falsettos and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. National/International Tours include: Falsettos, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Lion, …Spelling Bee. NYC: City Center Encores!, Audible/Minetta Lane, Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre, Primary Stages, Cherry Lane, LaMama, ETC, and Ensemble Studio Theatre. Regional: Kennedy Center, Guthrie, Goodspeed, Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse, Alley Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. TV: Sesame Street, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo. 2019/2021 Daytime Emmy Nomination and 2020 Emmy Award for Sesame Street. @jencapriocostumedesign
ADAM HONORÉ (Lighting Designer) is a Harlem-based lighting designer for plays, musicals, and live events. Credits include Broadway productions, regional shows, national tours, and international premieres. Internationally, Adam's work has been seen in Austria, Canada, and the Philippines, where he designed the international premiere of Fun Home, which featured Tony Award winner Lea Salonga. Adam is a Drama Desk, Henry Hewes, and Helen Hayes Award Nominee; AUDELCO Award Recipient, and a Member of “30 Under 30” in Live Design Magazine.
BROKEN CHORD (Sound Design) returns to CPH where they designed Fairfield and How I Learned to Drive. Broadway: The Parisian Woman and Eclipsed. Off-Broadway: Toni Stone at Roundabout; The Lying Lesson, The Great Leap, The Jammer, and These Paper Bullets! at the Atlantic; The Four of Us and When We Were Young and Unafraid at MTC; Bull in a China Shop at LCT3; Party People and Eclipsed at The Public; and The Winter’s Tale at TFANA. Regional: The Amen Corner, Hamlet, and Macbeth at DC’s Shakespeare Theater; Angels in America at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Enemy of the People and As You Like It at the Guthrie; Ruined and Party People at Berkeley Rep; Top Girls, A Raisin in the Sun, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and Ruined at Huntington Theatre; UniSon at OSF. Film: Fall to Rise. www.brokenchord.us
ROXANNE DE LUNA (Wig Designer) was born and raised in El Paso, TX, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts at New Mexico State University. Credits: OPH Wig Designs: Young Frankenstein, Mystic Pizza (World Premiere), Escape to Margaritaville, Annie the Musical, Kinky Boots, Menopause, Cabaret, 42nd Street, Elf the Musical; North Carolina Theater: Kinky Boots; Playmakers Repertory Company: My Fair Lady, Intimate Apparel; Miami University: Albert Herring. Regional: Glimmerglass Festival, Central City Opera, Kansas City Lyric Opera, Dayton Opera, and Sarasota Opera House. M.A., University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music in Wig & Makeup Design.
NATALIE LOMONTE (Associate Director & Choreographer) served as dance supervisor and appeared in the original Broadway production of Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark. She has toured with Momix, Pilobolus, Chase Brock Experience, and Parsons Dance, and has also performed and danced with Liza Minnelli in Sex and The City 2. She is movement director for One Year Lease Theater Company and adjunct professor for Marymount Manhattan College’s Musical Theatre Department, also serving on the Dance Department Advisory Board. Credits: 44th National Day Abu Dhabi; New York Spectacular. starring the Radio City Rockettes; Alter Ego (San Francisco Dance Film Festival Award); PEMDAS (Edinburgh Stage Award, Off-Broadway); choreographer of the film, Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with a Twist; and associate choreographer for Knights’ Tale (Japan).
RACHEL LERNER-LEY (Production Dramaturg) is in her ninth season at CPH, where she is the Literary Manager and Resident Dramaturg. CPH credits include: Clue: A New Comedy, Our Dad is in Atlantis, Christina, The Hat Box, Egress, Cicada, Tiny Houses, Minton’s Place, Ghost Party, The Chinese Lady, The Nolan Williams Project, The Good Peaches, FEED, Little Row Boat, A Comedy of Tenors, and Violins of Hope. Regional: Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Civilians, Actors Theatre of Louisville, WildWind Performance Lab at Texas Tech University, and Girl Be Heard. She is a graduate of Smith College. Member LMDA.
JOHN GODBOUT (Stage Manager) was CPH's resident stage manager from 2001 to 2008 and returned in 2011. John has also stage managed at North Shore Music Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre, The Weston Playhouse, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Arkansas Rep, Northern Stage, Seaside Music Theatre, and Porthouse Theatre.
KYRA BUTTON (Assistant Stage Manager) has worked on the CPH productions of Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, Middletown, A Christmas Story, Pipeline, Into the Breeches!, An Iliad, Tiny Houses, The Seagull, Shakespeare in Love, Macbeth, The Invisible Hand, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, among others. Credits: Baby Camp, The Heart’s Impatience, Resistance, A Streetcar Named Desire (St. Ann’s), Medea, Dreamgirls,This Day Forward (The Vineyard Theatre), and The Intergenerational Project (London). B.F.A., Syracuse University.
VANESSA C. HART (Assistant Stage Manager) stage managed the acclaimed production of Mad Forest at the Fisher Center at Bard College, The Attendants 2020 by the NerveTank presented by Arts Brookfield NY, pssst... The Boot with Beth Morrison Projects, Uncle Vanya, Sex with Strangers, and Hamlet: See What I See in St. Louis, MO, among many others.
JUDY BOWMAN, CSA (Casting) CPH: The Invisible Hand. Regional: Teenage Dick (Woolly Mammoth, Huntington, Pasadena Playhouse); Colman Domingo’s A Boy and His Soul (KTC); travis tate’s Queen of the Night (Dorset); as well as Humana Festival, MRT, DCPA, Arizona, among others. FILM/TV: Hurricane Bianca, Separation, One Moment, Dead Sound, No Alternative, Gold Star, Copenhagen, Lost Cat Corona, Big Dogs, and Hallmark’s Redemption in Cherry Springs. Artios Award nominee Best Webseries Casting, PT Barnum Award recipient. Former faculty Harlem School of the Arts & Columbia University’s MFA film school.judybowmancasting.com
LAURA KEPLEY (Artistic Director) became Artistic Director of Cleveland Play House in 2013 and has directed numerous CPH mainstage productions including Every Brilliant Thing; Into the Breeches!; Tiny Houses (world premiere, also at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Sweat; The Diary of Anne Frank; Shakespeare in Love; The Crucible; Steel Magnolias; The Good Peaches (world premiere); Fairfield (world premiere); How I Learned to Drive (also at Syracuse Stage); The Little Foxes; Venus in Fur; Good People (also at Syracuse Stage); A Carol for Cleveland (world premiere); In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; My Name is Asher Lev and CPH readings of Roe Green Award-winning plays Tiny Houses; The Chinese Lady; Soups, Stews and Casseroles: 1976; Marjorie Prime and Daphne’s Dive. She joined CPH in 2010, having arrived from Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island where she was Resident Director and Artistic Associate for four seasons and Interim Director of the Brown/Trinity Rep M.F.A. in Directing Program for one. She has also directed for The Alliance Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Chautauqua Theater Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, among others. A native Ohioan, Laura received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and her Master of Fine Arts from Brown University/Trinity Rep. She is a Drama League Fellow and a recipient of the 2009-2011 National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Career Development Program for Directors.
COLLETTE A. LAISURE (Managing Director) joined the Cleveland Play House leadership in February 2021. She served as Vice President and Executive Director of the PNC Fairfax Connection from 2012 to 2017, spearheading the strategic and operational direction of the thriving community resource center located in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood. Collette served as the President and Executive Director of The Presidents’ Council and has held board leadership roles at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Foundation, Cleveland Public Theatre, Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation and Karamu House. Laisure also served as Director of The City of Cleveland’s Office of Equal Opportunity, where she managed a budget of $1 million and was responsible for administering and monitoring compliance with the Female- and Minority-owned Business Enterprise program. She is a member of Leadership Cleveland’s Class of 2008, and a 2008 Crain’s Cleveland Business Woman of Note.
PAMELA DIPASQUALE (Director of Education and Artistic Strategies) joined the CPH in 2010 as the Director of Education. Under her guidance, the education department serves more than 30,000 children and adults annually with a suite of eleven innovative education programs and partners with more than 130 local, regional and national organizations including the US Department of Education. Pamela came to Cleveland from the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Louisville, KY, where she served as Education Director. In Kentucky, she led award-winning educational outreach programs and worked in partnership with the National and State Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Program to provide a theatre-in-education program for incarcerated youth, and successfully developed a training institute for rural theatre artists. In her career, Pamela has developed the artistic and educational vision of Children’s Theatre of Maine, where she served as Artistic Director; founded City Shakespeare, a theatre company that provides free programming for low-income urban children and teens; served as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Education at Bellarmine University in Louisville; and presented at both state and national conferences on topics related to theatre education and community building. Pamela received her undergraduate degree from Boston College and her MA from Emerson College in Boston.
ABOUT CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE
CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE, founded in 1915 and recipient of the 2015 Regional Theatre Tony Award, 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 across 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 the beginning of its second century of service while performing in three state-of-the art venues at Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland. Cleveland Play House is made possible in part by state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature to the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. Cleveland Play House is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. To learn more, visit: www.clevelandplayhouse.com.
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