Cleveland Playhouse Presents 4th Annual FusionFest 4/29-5/10

For the fourth consecutive year, The Cleveland Play House presents FusionFest, the only multidisciplinary performing arts festival at a regional theatre in the country, from April 29-May 10, 2009. The festival will offer a sampling of international and "other-worldly" works, including an ancient Japanese art form, Dogugaeshi, by master puppeteer Basil Twist, performances by Charles Ross of his One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, and a world-premiere adaptation of Thorton Wilder's comic novel Heaven's My Destination, by Tony-award nominee Lee Blessing and commissioned by The Play House expressly for FusionFest with support from The Roe Green Foundation.

"This year marks the coming of age of FusionFest," says Michael Bloom, FusionFest creator and Cleveland Play House Artistic Director. "The adventure is anchored by a world premiere play commissioned by The Play House and includes exciting partnerships with the Cleveland Museum of Art and The Cleveland Orchestra."

Complementing Heaven's My Destination, for which The Cleveland Play House received a $25,000 "Access to Artistic Excellence" grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the FusionFest lineup created by Bloom and Play House Associate Artistic Director, Seth Gordon, includes partnerships with the Cleveland Museum of Art, Verb Ballets, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Karamu House, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Mandel Jewish Community Center. This year's New Play Readings feature works by two members of The Play House Playwrights Unit, Eric Coble and Faye Sholiton.

Tickets to most FusionFest events can be purchased by calling The Cleveland Play House ticket office at (216) 795-7000, ext 4 or online at www.clevelandplayhouse.com. Ms. Roe Green is the Honorary Producing Sponsor of FusionFest, presented in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

FUSIONFEST 2009 EVENTS

Heaven's My Destination by Lee Blessing, based on the comic novel by Thornton Wilder

Presented by The Cleveland Play House with support from National Endowment for the Arts
April 24 - May 17, 2009 ~ Drury Theatre
Directed by Michael Bloom
Tickets Available NOW: $10 to $65; call Play House at 216-795-7000 or online

Meet George Marvin Brush-Don Quixote comes to Main Street in the Great Depression, and one of Thornton Wilder's most memorable characters. A traveling textbook salesman, he is also a fervent religious convert determined to lead "a good life." In a startlingly relevant tale of religion and tolerance-with poignant and sometimes hilarious consequences-his travels take him through smoking cars, bawdy houses, banks, and campgrounds from Texas to Illinois-and into the soul of America.

A Brush with Heaven: Thornton Wilder and America's Spiritual Voice During the Depression
A Symposium by The Cleveland Play House
Sunday, April 26th, 4:30pm ~ Drury Theatre
Admission is FREE

An insightful look at The Cleveland Play House's world premiere production of Heaven's My Destination, The Life of Thornton Wilder and the inspiration for his best-selling 1935 novel Heaven's My Destination, and the spiritually-conflicted world of its protagonist George Brush. Panelists include Tappan Wilder, nephew of author Thornton Wilder; Lee Blessing, playwright, Heaven's My Destination; Clayton Koppes, Professor of History, Oberlin College; Michael Bloom, moderator.

Basil Twist's "Dogugaeshi" presented by the Cleveland Museum of Art
April 30 - May 3, 2009 @ 3:00pm & 7:30pm ~ Brooks Theatre
Tickets Available NOW: $39 / $41; call CMA at 1-888-CMA-0033
Master puppeteer Basil Twist unfolds an intimate, abstract, contemporary journey of images and emotions influenced by the rare tradition of Japanese stage machinery, dogugaeshi. This hour-long performance features original shamisen compositions created and performed live by master musician Yumiko Tanaka. The multidisciplinary production blends Twist's signature puppetry with superb video projection, lighting, and sound design. Not suitable for children under 12.

Dorothy Silver Playwriting Award Winner presented by the Mandel Jewish Community Center
Title TBA
April 30, 2009 @ 7:30pm ~ Studio One
Tickets Available NOW: $10; call Play House at 216-795-7000 or online

The Dorothy Silver Playwriting Competition, sponsored annually by the Mandel Jewish Community Center, is a highly regarded international writing competition for plays about the Jewish experience. For over twenty years countless plays with Jewish themes have been submitted to the competition. Many past winners have been produced and received national recognition. The judging panel is comprised of seasoned theatre professionals drawn from the Cleveland area, including producers, directors, actors and critics. Dorothy Silver, for whom the competition is named, is a well-known and respected theatre professional who served as the Mandel JCC's Cultural Arts Department director for many years.

Verb Ballets All Stars presented by Verb Ballets
May 1-2, 2009 @ 7:30pm ~ Bolton Theatre
Tickets Available NOW: $18 / $25; call Play House at 216-795-7000 or online

See the world premiere of In the Groove and Over the Top from nationally respected choreographer and native Clevelander Dianne McIntyre, and a major revival from Verb Ballets repertoire by Seán Curran, Mozart Piano Trio in C Major. The pieces in this repertoire also highlight music from the classical and jazz worlds.

New Play Readings presented by The Cleveland Play House
Tickets Available NOW: $10; call Play House at 216-795-7000 or online

A Girl's Guide to Coffee, by Eric Coble
Directed by Seth Gordon
Sunday, May 3 @ 4:00 ~ Studio One

Everything you need to know can be learned behind the counter of the Steamed Bean Coffee House, at the hands of barista-extraordinaire Alex. Join her as she grapples with life, love, death and decaf beans in her quest for the Holy Grail of espresso: The Perfect Latte.

U.S. v. Howard Mechanic, by Faye Sholiton. Adapted from The Fugitive Candidate: The Autobiography of Howard Mechanic, The Last Prisoner of the Vietnam War, by Howard Mechanic
Directed by Seth Gordon
Saturday, May 9 @ 4:00 ~ Brooks Theatre

Shaker Heights native Howard Mechanic never dreamed his presence at a campus anti-Vietnam War rally would prompt his false arrest on federal charges and turn him into a fugitive for nearly 30 years. U.S. v Howard Mechanic examines how one idealist struggles to stay whole while trying to reclaim his freedom and his life.

Minstrel Show, or The Lynching of William Brown by Max Sparber, presented by Karamu
New Play Reading
May 2, 2009 @ 4:00 pm ~ Studio One
Tickets Available NOW: $10; call Play House at 216-795-7000 or online

A retelling of the harrowing story of the real-life murder of an African-American man in Omaha, Neb., in 1919, through the narration of two fictional African-American blackface performers.

One-Man Star Wars Trilogy by Charles Ross, presented by The Cleveland Play House
May 6 - 10, 2009 @ 3:00pm & 8:30pm ~ Baxter Stage
Tickets Available NOW: $20 / $29; call Play House at 216-795-7000 or online

A one-hour, high energy, nonstop blast through the first three Star Wars films. The catch is there's only one cast member. Charles Ross, the writer and solo performer, spent too much of his childhood in a galaxy far, far away and adulthood has been similar. Ross plays all the characters, recreates the effects, sings the music, flies the ships, and fights both sides of the battles.

American Music with the Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Players presented by The Cleveland Orchestra
Friday, May 8, 2009 @ 6:30pm ~ Brooks Theatre
Tickets Available NOW: $40; call Play House at 216-795-7000 or online

Members of The Cleveland Orchestra will perform American chamber music from the 1930s that explores the depths of the human spirit and shared emotional experiences from this historic era, represented in various works of American musical legends from Aaron Copland to George Gershwin.

Pechu Kucha presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA)
May 8, 2009 @ 8:20pm ~ MOCA
Admission is FREE

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