Cain Park To Produce RAGTIME In 2019

The City of Cleveland Heights announces RAGTIME will be produced in the Alma Theater June 13-30, 2019 as part of Cain Park?s 81st season; preview is June 13 with opening night on June 14. Cain Park Theater Artistic Director Joanna May Hunkins directs RAGTIME with musical direction by Jordan Cooper.

Based on E. L. Doctorow's 1975 novel by the same name, RAGTIME uses song to weave together stories of early twentieth-century New York from three very different perspectives - African Americans in Harlem, immigrants from Eastern Europe, and upper-class suburban whites. The differences of these groups are bridged and transcended by the popular music of the era, much like today. Back in 1998, the original Broadway production of RAGTIME was nominated for "Best Musical" among its 13 Tony nominations. Terrence McNally won the Tony Award for "Best Book of a Musical," and composer Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens won Tonys for "Best Original Score." Ahrens also won the Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Lyrics" (as did McNally and Flaherty in their respective categories). The production won a Tony Award for "Best Orchestrations," and Audra McDonald won her third Tony for "Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical."

Equity and Non-Equity Auditions will take place February 22-23, 2019 in the Cleveland Heights Community Center with details to follow. Callbacks are on February 24.

Joanna May Cullinan has worked at Cain Park in various capacities over the past 20 years, most recently directing the critically acclaimed productions of Rock of Ages and Memphis. She is also the Associate Director of Community Engagement for The Musical Theater Project. As a freelance director/performer throughout northeast Ohio, Joanna has worked with Great Lakes Theater, Cleveland Play House, Mercury Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre, and Beck Center among others. Joanna graduated from Baldwin-Wallace University with a B.A. in Theatre and completed the graduate studies program in Arts Management at The University of Akron. She also attended The National Cabaret Conference at Yale University where she worked with multiple Broadway legends and Tony award nominees.

Jordan Cooper is the artistic director for Shining Star CLE 2019 and has worked at Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Playhouse Square, Lakeland Civic Theatre, Cain Park, Tantrum Theater, French Creek Theatre, Blank Canvas Theater, The Florida Repertory Theatre Company, Near West Theatre, Cassidy Theatre, and the list goes on. His work in theater began at a young age and has flourished into a thriving career as a director, music director, pianist and accompanist. His favorite Cleveland theater credits include: Next To Normal, The Light In the Piazza, Violet, Into the Woods, The Last Five Years, Merrily We Roll Along, A Little Night Music (Lakeland); Memphis, Rock of Ages, The Toxic Avenger, Godspell, The Frogs (Cain Park); Next To Normal (Tantrum); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Little Foxes (Cleveland Play House); Ella Enchanted, A Civil War Christmas, Peter & The Starcatcher (Dobama).

Cain Park, a municipally owned and operated summer performing arts park and one of the nation's oldest landmark outdoors entering its 81st season in 2019, is produced by the City of Cleveland Heights and is located on Superior Road between Lee and South Taylor roads.