For its 100th birthday, the nation’s first professional regional theater is getting quite the present—a Tony Award.
Cleveland Play House, founded in 1915, will receive this year’s Regional Theatre Tony Award, which recognizes a company that produces high-caliber work. The award, which includes a $25,000 grant, is the second to be given to an Ohio theater after the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in 2004.
In addition to its over 1,600 productions—and an estimated 12 million audience members—Cleveland Play House’s thriving New Ground Theatre Festival and active education department make the honor well-deserved.
“We’re focused on telling stories that matter, stories that are socially relevant,” managing director Kevin Moore told Backstage. He added that the Play House’s mission statement, “to inspire, stimulate, and entertain diverse audiences in northeast Ohio by producing plays and theater education programs of the highest professional standards,” echoes its motto of 100 years ago: “Art in democracy.”
“Like a lot of the Midwestern regional theaters, we do a broad range of new work,” Moore said. “Last year’s Tony winners, classics, musicals—variety is the key to what we do.”
Asked if the announcement of the award has affected the theater’s operations, Moore said, “It didn’t really change our plans, but [it indicated] we’re on the right track.” The news has been celebrated among patrons and northeastern Ohio theater artists, and incorporated into the theater’s development campaigns, he said, “as a signal to potential supporters that our course is clear.”
“It validated what we’ve been trying to do. It’s both a great honor for 100 years of hard work and a springboard for the future.”
The company’s upcoming anniversary season will pull out all the stops, featuring a mix of buzzy new ideas and reimagined classics. Kicking things off in September will be Ken Ludwig’s “A Comedy of Tenors,” a new farce set in 1930s Paris and a sequel of sorts to the playwright’s “Lend Me a Tenor.” Then Arthur Miller’s controversial classic “The Crucible” will get its first production at the theater since the ’50s. “That happens to be running during Arthur Miller’s 100th birthday,” said Moore. Rounding out 2015 will be the third annual production of “A Christmas Story,” one of the most successful musicals in the Play House’s history.
2016 will feature an audience favorite, “Little Shop of Horrors,” which was selected in part to honor the theater’s history. “In 1915 we did a lot of puppet work, marionette work, and avant-garde puppetry, so ‘Little Shop’ is our nod to our puppet past,” Moore explained. The season continues with three contemporary plays in a row: Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop,” Rebecca Gilman’s “Luna Gale,” directed by Austin Pendleton, and Rajiv Joseph’s “Mr. Wolf.” Everyone’s most beloved beauty shop in “Steel Magnolias” will conclude the season next summer.
“A lot of times anniversary seasons are reviving shows from [past] eras,” said Moore. “Ours is more about connecting with people from and in Cleveland.” To learn more about the award-winning Play House, visit clevelandplayhouse.com.
Inspired by this post? Check out our theater audition listings!