New Ground Theatre Festival

Roe Green, Honorary Producer bio

Cleveland Play House is pleased to announce the return of the New Ground Theatre Festival (NGTF) in person!

NGTF is a celebration of Cleveland-inspired new play development at Cleveland Play House. This season's festival features play excerpts written by three groundbreaking playwrights commissioned through the Roe Green Fund for New American Plays: Vichet Chum, Jessica Dickey, and Charly Evon Simpson.

NGTF provides audiences with the opportunity to meet the three playwrights and get a preview of their plays in progress. Playwrights will dialogue with special guests and instrumental collaborators from Cleveland and beyond, offering a deeper look into the worlds of the newly commissioned plays, as well as the stories and people that inspired them. Additionally, CPH is thrilled to unveil an interactive component of Mapping New Ground, which can be experienced virtually or in person.

Roe Green is the Honorary Producer of New Ground Theatre Festival.

EXPLORE THE LOCATIONS BEHIND THE SHOWS
This year's New Ground Theatre Festival features three productions set around Cleveland. Use our interactive map to explore and discover the details behind the scenes.

Explore Cleveland using our in-person activities map and step into its stories through a series of curated routes and activities. This fun, self-guided experience is part scavenger hunt and part history tour! Whether you have a day, an hour, or only five minutes, there’s an exciting adventure just waiting for you.

Past Shows

The Ghost Tour

May 14, 2022

Have you ever seen a ghost? Playwright Jessie Dickey has been haunted by this question ever since her childhood. Join Jessie as she takes us on a tour through the science, theories, and philosophies behind our understanding of the supernatural. Set on a ghostly, abandoned stage inspired by Cleveland's Variety Theatre, this humorous and intimate solo show delves deep into what haunts us — things both spectral, and devastatingly human.

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I'm Back Now

May 14, 2022

Inspired by Cleveland’s past, present, and future, I’m Back Now is a poignant family drama that transcends time and space. At 19, Sara travels to Cleveland to meet her birth mother Elle. As she strives to reconcile the legacy she thought she knew with her actual origins, Sara discovers that she is a descendant of Sara Lucy Bagby, the last woman ever prosecuted under the Fugitive Slave Act. Traveling through time from the 1860s to today, the play weaves together three generations of one Black family in a deeply felt meditation on the histories we carry.

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Liébling

May 21, 2022

Acclaimed author Sovanna has hit a wall with his writing and his relationship. At the encouragement of his partner Leo, the two travel to Cleveland for a change of scenery and much needed respite. Immediately, Sovanna encounters the cantankerous Hungarian/German/Cambodian ghost of Leo’s grandmother. Trying to live beside a specter while also offering to mentor a young visual artist, an overwhelmed Sovanna finds himself on an unexpected journey towards the truth of his present situation. A witty and moving story of how we grapple with legacy and representation—and how art can help us navigate both.

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