CPH Presents The Christine Jorgensen Show, Based on the First Transgender Cabaret Celebrity
Posted October 1, 2025 in Press Releases
(Cleveland, OH) Step into the spotlight of history with The Christine Jorgensen Show—a dazzling true-story musical cabaret about the woman who redefined fame, courage, and glamour.
Cleveland Play House (CPH) presents this heartfelt comedy with original music about living life on your own terms. In the buttoned-up 1950s, an ex-GI became the first transgender celebrity in America. Based on her true story, The Christine Jorgensen Show is a feel-good retelling of the creation of a cabaret act that transformed this American icon from headline into headliner! Cleveland Play House Artistic Director Michael Barakiva, who helmed the show’s Off-Broadway premiere, brings this crowd-pleasing hit to Cleveland for its regional premiere.
Director Michael Barakiva states, “Getting to bring The Christine Jorgensen Show to Cleveland is one of the great honors of my life. This exuberant play with music is an inspiration for everyone that celebrates the joy that comes from finding your voice and being fully oneself. We are thrilled to invite our greater Cleveland community to celebrate this remarkable woman and witness her journey from headline to headliner."
Playwright Donald Steven Olson adds, “When you have joy in your life, the voice in your heart wants to sing. But sometimes, if you’re not used to singing, the song has to be coaxed out. That’s what guided me when I wrote the songs and music that are such an integral part of this show. Right now, the world needs to find joy. To find it, we must extend ourselves, not pull back and hide. That is Christine’s story and her legacy. The Christine Jorgensen Show is about finding the joy that is unique within each of us and can be shared by all of us. If we open our ears to listen and our hearts to feel, a song will follow.”
Cleveland Play House Managing Director Rachel L. Fink says, “The Christine Jorgensen Show is a fascinating, witty, and deeply human story about one woman’s journey that captivated a nation. We are excited to welcome this production to Cleveland Play House, where our audiences can experience the artistry, humor, and humanity that make Christine’s story resonate across generations. It’s a chance to discover history through the immediacy and intimacy of live theatre.”
The cast of The Christine Jorgensen Show features Augustine Lorrie (Christine Jorgensen) and Scott Ahearn (Myles Bell).
The creative team of The Christine Jorgensen Show includes direction by CPH Artistic Director Michael Barakiva, choreography by Banji Aborisade, scenic design by Riw Rakkulchon, costume design by Suzanne Chesney, lighting design by Calvin Anderson, sound design by Jacqueline Herter, production dramaturgy by Dr. Isabel Smith-Bernstein, and stage management by Rebecca C. Monroe. Lyam Gabel is the Associate Director and Cultural Consultant, Jailyn Sherell Harris is the Associate Choreographer, and Elise Hill is the Production Assistant. Calleri Jensen Davis was the casting agent.
Running October 26 – November 16 in the Outcalt Theatre at Playhouse Square, performances of The Christine Jorgensen Show are held Wednesdays through Fridays at 7:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30p.m. Preview performances of The Christine Jorgensen Show are on sale and available to attend, and take place Sunday, October 26 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Wednesday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m. The show opens on Thursday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for The Christine Jorgensen Show start at $36 (including ticket fees). Ohio Direction/EBT cardholders receive $5.40 admission to any performance (up to 8 tickets). Military personnel can receive up to 50% off tickets. Single tickets can be purchased by calling 216.241.6000 or by visiting clevelandplayhouse.com. Groups of 10 or more can save up to 50% off by contacting CPH Groups Sales at 216.400.7053.
An ASL interpreted performance of The Christine Jorgensen Show will be held on Friday, November 14 at 7:30 PM. Patrons should use promo code ASL at time of purchase to reserve a seat in view of the interpreters. For the 2025-26 season, Cleveland Play House is offering Open Caption performances by request. CPH asks that patrons request services at least three weeks before the desired performance date. Assistive listening devices (ALDs) are available at every performance upon request. Audio described performances can be made available to patrons when the promo code AUDIO is used at the time of purchase. For more information about accessibility, please visit clevelandplayhouse.com.
Join us for Wine Down Wednesday November 5 from 6pm-7pm at Parnell's Pub in Playhouse Square.
Use promo code WDW to get your ticket for just $45. With your purchase you receive one complimentary drink up to a $10 value and a ticket to the 7:30pm performance of The Christine Jorgensen Show at Cleveland Play House's Outcalt Theatre. You must be 21+ to purchase tickets to this event.
BIOGRAPHIES
THE CAST
SCOTT AHEARN (Myles Bell) (Myles Bell) recently appeared at Lincoln Center Theatre in Michael John LaChiusa’s The Gardens of Anuncia, directed by Graciela Daniele. Other New York credits include Christmas in Hell at the York Theatre, Nutcracker! at Amas Musical Theatre, and Green: The Musical at Manhattan Theatre Club’s CreateTheatre New Works Festival, where he won Best Lead Actor in a Musical. He performed in the European tour of Grease (Paris, Munich, Istanbul), and in the North American tour of Divorce Party (L.A., Miami, Toronto). Regionally, he has performed at St. Michael’s Playhouse (Desperate Measures), Ogunquit Playhouse (Chicago), the Arvada Center (The Full Monty, Forever Plaid), Phoenix Theatre (Best Little Whorehouse), Triad Stage (Dirty Blonde), and McCarter Theatre (A Christmas Carol). A graduate of Brown University, he recently received his Master’s degree in History from Harvard. www.scottahearn.net
AUGUSTINE LORRIE (Christine Jorgensen) (Christine Jorgensen) (they/she) is a queer and transfemme singer, writer, and creative, honored to be making her Cleveland Play House debut. Yale School of Drama: Julius Caesar (Caesar), Next to Normal (Gabe), Fucking A (Canary Mary), Hedda Gabler (Aunt Julle). International: Love’s Labour’s Lost (Berowne, Prague Shakespeare Company), Stick Figure Sinners (solo show, Prague), The Hands That Feed Me (solo show, Sicily Theatre). Writer/Performer: S'MORES, Four Meddling Kids and One Dumb Dog (Yale Cabaret). MFA: Yale School of Drama; BFA: UC Santa Barbara. Health, joy, & love to her family, JJ, dearest friends, and reps at HCKR. Dedicated to Malik James — you are missed immeasurably. www.augustinelorrie.com
THE CREATIVE TEAM
DONALD STEVEN OLSON (Playwright) has an international career as a playwright, novelist, and travel and garden writer. His plays have been seen in New York (Blood, The Christine Jorgensen Show), London (Beardsley), Rome (Oscar & Walt), Amsterdam (Beardsley), Pittsburgh (Oscar & Walt), and Portland, Oregon (The Garden Plays, Tourists, Oregon Ghosts), as well as on many virtual stages (TRANSITION: The Christine Jorgensen Collection). The Christine Jorgensen Show had its first staged reading at the National Arts Club in New York, followed wed by productions at the Fresh Fruit Festival, 59E59 Street Theatres, and HERE Arts Center. Oscar & Walt, Donald’s play about the 1882 meeting of literary lions Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman, won the 2019 Best Full-Length Play award from ALAP/City of West Hollywood Pride Reading Festival, with critically acclaimed productions in Rome and Pittsburgh, and a livestreamed production from Indiana University Bloomington. London-based Joffre Books recently reissued E-book editions of three of Donald’s groundbreaking novels, including The Confessions of Aubrey Beardsley, and his collection of ghost stories, The Gravedigger’s Daughter. Over the years, Donald has written dozens of travel stories and guidebooks to destinations in England, Europe and North America, and wrote two popular guides to West Coast gardens. He has just completed work on a new play about famed magician Harry Houdini. Donald lives, writes and gardens in Manhattan and Portland, Oregon. www.donaldstevenolson.com.
MICHAEL BARAKIVA (Director) (he/his)is an Armenian-Israeli American director and writer who proudly serves as the 11th Artistic Director of CPH. His work has been seen at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Primary Stages, Syracuse Stage, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and the Hangar Theatre, where he served as Artistic Director. He founded The Upstart Creatures, a theatre company that creates community through performance and food, as well as the Leadership Initiative Project, which equips historically excluded artists with the tools to succeed in leadership positions. Barakiva has received three Drama League directing fellowships, the Phil Killian Directing Fellowship (OSF), the David Merrick Prize in Drama, and was a Granada Artist-in-Residence at UC Davis. He led workshops on musical theatre at the International Puppet Theater in Sofia, Bulgaria, and was a presenter at the International University Theatre Festival at UNAM in Mexico City. He served as producer of Summer Camp 6 (Soho Rep) and as the Readings and Workshops Coordinator at New York Stage and Film, as well as a Primary Coach on Season 2 of MTV’s Made. As a writer, Michael is the recipient of a Red Bull Commission for his adaptation of John Milton's Paradise Lost, an EST/Sloan Project Commission, and a co-author of String Theory (Connotation Press). His YA novels (One Many Guy, Hold My Hand, Keepers of the Stones and Stars, all published by Macmillan) novels have been named to the Rainbow List, Equality Family Council Reading List, The Barnes and Noble’s Perfect Valentine’s Day YA Novels list, spending over a year as Goodreads #1 LGBTQ YA Novel. Education: Vassar College, The Juilliard School. www.michaelbarakiva.com
BANJI ABORISADE (Choreographer) Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Beetlejuice the Musical (Assistant Director), Select Directing/Choreography Credits include: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Asolo Rep (Choreographer), You're A Good Man Charlie Brown at Forestburgh Playhouse, Urinetown at the American Theater of Actors (Choreographer), Guys and Dolls at the Arthur Storch Theater, The Christine Jorgensen Show at HERE Arts Center and 59e59 (Choreographer), The Threepenny Opera and Violet at Riverside Theatre. Film/TV: SC7NARIO on BroadwayHD, The Last Fall, While You Were Dreaming, SYNC: The Dance Series, and Every Right. Assistant/Associate Directing credits include: Bye Bye Birdie at The Kennedy Center, Hairspray National Tour, Oliver at New York City Center, The Griswolds Broadway Vacation at 5th Avenue, Virgin Voyages: It's A Ship Show, Beetlejuice on Norwegian Cruise Line, Bull Durham at Papermill Playhouse, SoftPower at the Public Theater. BFA Syracuse University.
RIW RAKKULCHON (Scenic Designer) (pronounced Ree-you) is a Set & Costume Designer, Animator and Chef from Bangkok, Thailand. He/They has worked at Yale Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, The Old Globe, Drury Lane Theatre, Asolo Rep, The Acting Company, 59E59, Edinburgh Fringe, Primary Stages, Hartford Stage, The Public Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music amongst others. Broadway Associate Set Design: Pass Over, &Juliet, Parade. Board member of WithAll, a non-profit oganization on a fight to end eating disorders. B.F.A. Ithaca College, M.F.A Yale School of Drama (Donald & Zorca Oenslager Fellowship Award in Design Recipient). Member of United Scenic Artist 829. IG: @riwrdesign
SUZANNE CHESNEY (Costume Designer) is a Brooklyn based costume designer with over two decades of experience in theatre and television. Most recent productions include The Christine Jorgensen Show (59 E59th and HERE Arts Center), Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? (Ensemble Studio Theatre), The Bookstore (New Jersey Repertory Company). Suzanne is a member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre where she has designed many new works including Photograph 51 by Anna Zeigler, Isaac’s Eye by Lucas Hnath, and Travisville by William Jackson Harper. Regional credits include In Every Generation (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley); The Play that Goes Wrong, The Wolves, Talley's Folly, Next to Normal, To
Kill A Mockingbird, Blithe Spirit, and Turn of the Screw (Syracuse Stage); Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Steel Magnolias, Clybourne Park, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Humans, The Glass Menagerie, Between Riverside and Crazy (Pittsburgh Public Theatre); Third, Degage, Chicago and A Christmas Carol (The Hangar Theatre); www.SuzanneChesney.com https://www.michaelmooreagency.com
CALVIN ANDERSON (Lighting Designer) is a lighting/media designer and production manager located in Western Catskills, New York. They have a strong pull towards the devised, the radical, and the risky while leaning towards projects with heart and trust. Career highlights include designing Young Americans (Theater Horizon/PHL), Body As a Site of Faith and Protest (waheedworks/NYC), Blythely Ever After (Bearded Ladies Cabaret/ Boston Lyric Opera), Oscar at the Crown (The Neon Coven/NYC), Strings & Serpents (US Tour), and Piano Battle (US Tour). Calvin worked as Lighting Director for Ailey II and served The Bearded Ladies Cabaret as Director of Production. They also recently acted as Interim Director of Production at Arena Stage in Washington DC, and he is the Resident Designer and Production Manager for FJK Dance. Calvin is a proud member of USA829, Wingspace Design Collective, and a mentor with USITT’s Gateway Program. www.coandersondesign.com
JACQUELINE HERTER (Sound Designer) has served as resident sound designer at Syracuse Stage and SU’s Department of Drama, since 1997. Herter has designed for Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Wilma, Geva, Round House, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, among others. She lives in North Syracuse, NY. Jacqui repairs guitars, likes to sail and has an elderly cat that takes care of her. Favorite designs include: the Christine Jorgensen Show, the Play that Goes Wrong, Pride and Predjudice, Beauty and the Beast, Next to Normal, Hairspray, Caroline, or Change, the Wolves, the Day Room, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Red Noses, The Real Thing, A Lesson Before Dying, Copenhagen
LYAM GABEL (Associate Director) (they/he) is a trans director, writer, and performance-maker whose work conjures queer histories and futures. They co-lead Future Ghost, a transmedia ensemble creating design-driven, community-rooted works including the dance floor, the hospital room, and the kitchen table (Kelly Strayhorn Theater, CAC New Orleans, The Voxel). Select directing credits include The House of Telescopes (Pipeline Theatre), My Cousin Nelu is Not Gay (The Brick), and Alleged Lesbian Activities (The Theater Offensive). They co-direct Amm(i)gone (Woolly Mammoth, The Flea, Long Wharf, Theater Mu) and served as Associate Director of Becoming a Man (A.R.T.). Current projects include DADDY (a queer Western about trans pregnancy) and inside[OUTSIDE] (an AR soundwalk celebrating trans joy). An MFA graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s John Wells Directing Program, they are a Drama League Fellow 2018/Resident Artist 2023 and a member of SDC.
JAILYN SHERELL HARRIS (Associate Choreographer) is a Cleveland-based director, choreographer, and performer with a BAC in Theatre and a minor in Dance from Bowling Green State University. She recently served as Associate Director for Fiddler on the Roof and Choreographer/Associate Director for Fat Ham, both at Cleveland Play House. Additional credits include choreographing The Wild Party (Western Reserve Playhouse) and directing/choreographing Newsies (MAD* Factory Theatre). As a performer, Jailyn has worked across film, festivals, arenas, and stages throughout Northeast Ohio and beyond, with credits from Dobama Theatre, Ohio Shakespeare Festival, Ensemble Theatre, Karamu House, Lakeland Civic Theatre, the Players Guild Theatre, and the A.R.T. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has choreographed and originated roles in new works including VELVETEEN: A New Musical (Playhouse Square) and Heartbreakers in Hell (Rubber City Theatre). A 2023 Room in the House Fellow, she has choreographed and directed for companies across the region and is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).
ISABEL SMITH-BERSTEIN (Production Dramaturg) (they/she) is a newly-Cleveland-based dramaturg and CPH’s Literary Manager. Regionally, they have been the production dramaturg for more than thirty productions over eleven seasons at the Utah Shakespeare Festival including Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale, Henry VIII, Coriolanus, and Sweeney Todd. Other dramaturgy credits include the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Tank, and Pioneer Theatre and workshops with The Public Theater Shakespeare arm, The Drama League, and SUNY New Paltz. Most recently, they were a Visiting Assistant Professor at SUNY New Paltz. Isabel holds a BHA in dramaturgy from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. in Theater History from the University of Colorado Boulder.
REBECCA C. MONROE (Stage Manager)
CALLERI JENSEN DAVIS (Casting Directors: James Calleri, Erica Jensen, Paul Davis) is a creative casting partnership of over 20 years located in NYC. They are thrilled to be working with CPH. Awarded 16 Artios Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Casting. Broadway credits include Topdog/ Underdog, The Piano Lesson, For Colored Girls..., Thoughts of a Colored Man, Burn This, Fool for Love, Venus in Fur, Hedwig & The Angry Inch, The Elephant Man (also West End), Of Mice and Men, Hughie, The Visit, 33 Variations, A Raisin in the Sun, Living on Love, Chicago, James Joyce's The Dead. TV credits include Love Life (HBO Max) Queens (ABC), Dickinson (Apple +), The Path (Hulu), Lipstick Jungle, Army Wives, Monk, Hope & Faith, and Ed. www.callerijensendavis.com
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
MICHAEL BARAKIVA (Artistic Director) is an Armenian-Israeli American director and writer who has staged new plays, revivals, and classics in New York City and around the country. Michael was appointed Artistic Director of Cleveland Play House in December 2023, where he served as director of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as well as co-director of CPH’s world premiere production of Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure. Barakiva’s work has been seen at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Primary Stages, Syracuse Stage, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and the Hangar Theatre, where he served as Artistic Director. He founded The Upstart Creatures, a theatre company that creates community through performance and food, as well as the Leadership Initiative Project, which equips historically excluded artists with the tools to succeed in leadership positions. Barakiva has received three Drama League directing fellowships, the Phil Killian Directing Fellowship (OSF), the David Merrick Prize in Drama, and was a Granada Artist-in-Residence at UC Davis. He led a week-long workshop on musical theatre at the International Puppet Theater in Sofia, Bulgaria, and was a presenter at the International University Theatre Festival at UNAM in Mexico City. He served as producer of Summer Camp 6 (Soho Rep) and as the Readings and Workshops Coordinator at New York Stage and Film, as well as a Primary Coach on Season 2 of MTV’s Made. As a writer, Barakiva is the recipient of a Red Bull Commission for his adaptation of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, an EST/Sloan Project Commission, and a co-author of String Theory (Connotation Press). His young adult novels have been named to the Rainbow List, Equality Family Council Reading List, The Barnes and Noble’s Perfect Valentine’s Day YA Novels list, spending over a year as Goodreads #1 LGBTQ YA Novel. Education: Vassar College, The Juilliard School.
RACHEL L. FINK (Managing Director) is honored to return home to Northeast Ohio and lead Cleveland Play House during its 110th anniversary season. A proud graduate of Cleveland Heights High School and Case Western Reserve University, she discovered her passion for arts access, social justice, and inclusive leadership through formative Cleveland arts experiences — and an early internship at Cleveland Play House. She later earned her MFA in Theater Management from the Yale School of Drama (now the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale) and has spent over two decades guiding cultural institutions across the country. Fink spent 16 years at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where she founded and led the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, building it into a nationally recognized hub for education and community engagement. She went on to serve as Managing Director of Theatre Bay Area, supporting over 300 organizations and 2,000 artists across the San Francisco Bay Area. She later led Chicago’s Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre Company through the unprecedented disruptions of the COVID-19 era, guiding key operational and mission-aligned adaptations during a time of field-wide uncertainty. At Cleveland Play House, Fink has championed operational stabilization, community partnerships, and a revitalized internal culture while co-leading strategic and artistic planning alongside Artistic Director Michael Barakiva. She serves on the boards of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and CreativeOhio, and is a member of the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2026. A recognized field leader, she has co-led the Professional Association of Chicago Theatres, held fellowships with the Aspen Institute, British Council, and University of Chicago, and was a member of artEquity’s national facilitator cohort — reflecting a career grounded in both local impact and national leadership.
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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