CPT to Present DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA, 5/21-6/6

Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan presents the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea by Nathan Alan Davis, directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian. The production stars emerging actor, poet, and hip hop artist Kalim Hill-a longtime participant in CPT's youth education programs-now a sophomore at Cleveland State University.

As a Rolling World Premiere, Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea will premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre and four other professional theatre companies across the country: Skylight Theatre Company (Los Angeles, CA), Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis, IN), Theatre Alliance (Washington, DC) and Oregon Contemporary Theatre (Eugene, OR). The National Rolling World Premiere is a program developed through the National New Play Network, towards advancing the work of emerging playwrights. For more information, visit nnpn.org.

About the Play: Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea

It's a month before his first day of college and eighteen-year-old Dontrell Jones III (played by Kalim Hill) wakes up from a dream that will change his life-a vision of a great-great grandfather who lost his life on a slave ship in the Middle Passage. Haunted by powerful visions, Dontrell embarks on an unconventional quest that begins with scuba gear, then swimming lessons, and ends in a boat drifting into the Atlantic Ocean to meet his ancestor's spirit.

According to playwright Davis, he wrote Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea because "it is the hero story that I need to see. My mother and father instilled in me the vision of race unity and of the potential of a united civilization... Honoring our ancestors is an essential part of that. [The play] is colored by my experience as a person of mixed race in a society obsessed with dichotomy. It is inspired by the poets, mystics, seers and Prophets of all ages."

Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian and featuring a 7-person cast, Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea is woven with movement, poetry, humor, ritual, sound and song-a magical, modern day hero's journey about living in the moment and answering the call to connect with our past.

About the Playwright

Nathan Alan Davis is a playwright from the Midwest whose chosen influences include Hip Hop, classical tragedy and Sufi poetry. Plays include Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (NNPN Rolling World Premiere, 2015), The Art of Bowing (IU Bloomington At First Sight Festival, 2014 L. Arnold Weissberger Award nomination) and The Wind and the Breeze (Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights Workshop, Lorraine Hansberry Award winner). His plays have also been produced, presented or developed at Baltimore Center Stage, Chicago Dramatists, San Diego Rep. and Source Festival (DC). Nathan is currently a fellow Lila Acheson Wallace Fellow at Juilliard. Other honors include: Jerome Fellowship finalist, Heideman Award finalist and Bay Area Playwrights Festival finalist. He received his MFA in Playwriting from Indiana University in 2014 and holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. www.davisplays.com

About the Director

Megan Sandberg-Zakian is a theater-maker based in Somerville, MA. Favorite recent projects include: Measure for Measure (Actors Shakespeare Project), a site-specific staged reading of Our Town at Cambridge's Mt. Auburn Cemetery (Underground Railway Theater), the Boston premiere of Tarell McCraney's The Brother Sister Plays at Company One (IRNE Award: Best Production; IRNE nominee: Best Director; Elliot Norton Nominee: Outstanding Production), and the Northeast premiere of Lydia Diamond's Harriet Jacobs (Elliot Norton Nominee: Best New Play; IRNE Nominee: Best Ensemble, Best Actress). Megan has previously served as the Associate Artistic Director of Underground Railway Theater (Cambridge, MA), the Providence Black Repertory Company (RI), and The 52nd Street Project (NYC). She is a recipient of the TCG Future Leaders grant, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. www.megansz.com

Cast and Crew of in a word

The production stars Kalim Hill as Dontrell, with Sheffia Randall Dooley*, Shayla Gordon, Johnathon Jackson, Laprise Johnson, Rachel Lee Kolis and Joseph Primes. *Actor appears courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers.

The production team includes Megan Sandberg-Zakian (Director), Todd Krispinsky (Set Designer), Benjamin Gantose (Lighting Designer), Tesia Benson (Costume Designer), Christina Dennis (Props Designer), Sheffia Randall Dooley (Music & Movement Lead Artist), Katrina Kroll (Stage Manager) and Chris Young (Technical Director).

Ticket & Show Information

Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea previews Thursday, May 21 and runs Friday, May 22 through Saturday, June 6. Performances are Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday at 7:00pm at Cleveland Public Theatre, James Levin Theatre, 6415 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44102.

Tickets are $12 - $28. All Thursday and Monday shows are just $12. Student and Senior discounts ($3 off) are available for Friday and Saturday performances. Every Friday is "Free Beer Friday" at CPT.

Tickets are available for purchase at www.cptonline.org or by phone at (216) 631-2727 ext 501. Group discounts available for 10+. Call to inquire.

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