Cleveland Public Theatre Presents TEST FLIGHT 2023

Cleveland Public Theatre has announced the Test Flight 2023 series. Test Flight is a multi-week series that showcases new work on its way to full production, providing both local and national artists with the keys to the theatre and the opportunity to co-produce original work-in-progress.

The series encourages risk-taking and an entrepreneurial spirit towards creating new work as writers must choose their own casts and directors and are also responsible for providing artwork for their individual shows.

CPT's New Play Development Program is intended to move projects forward, whether through full productions at CPT, receiving larger exposure, or participating in touring performances or Fringe Festivals.

Show titles and descriptions are listed below and available at: Test Flight | Performance Categories | Cleveland Public Theatre (cptonline.org).

WEEK 1: January 19 - 21

Our Lady of Common Sorrows
Written and directed by Jaiie Dayo Aliya*, 2020/2021 Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellow.
A woman recently released from prison, and her loved ones, experience a crisis of faith when her 15-year-old daughter becomes pregnant under mysterious, and perhaps miraculous, circumstances.

Playwright Bio

Jaiie Dayo Aliya is an Akron Arts Alive and Knight Arts Challenge Award-winning playwright, actor and musician. They studied at Kent State University where they majored in Theater Arts and Pan-African Studies. They are Artistic Director of Ma'Sue Productions. With Ma'Sue, Dayo Aliya has produced eight plays in the past 9 years that have received numerous accolades and press in local media such as; The Devil Strip, Akron Beacon Journal, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Akronlife Magazine, and many other locally and regionally published media outlets. His work has been produced at Balch Street Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre and Akron Civic Theatre.

WEEK 2: January 26 - 28

Showin' Up Black
Written by Jeanne Madison *, 2021/2022 Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellow.

Directed by Michael Oatman

On the eve of their daughter's cotillion, the Hopegoodes, an affluent African American family, see their plans for the perfect debutante ball collide with a Black Lives Matter protest. And that's not all that collides―their secrets and competing desires get shaken loose by the nearness of the protest, and tear at the fabric of this family, challenging what, exactly, it is to be Black.

Playwright Bio

Jeanne Madison is a member of the Dramatist Guild. Her plays have been performed at CPT, and the Ensemble Theatre, where she is a member of Stagewrights. Jeanne is a recipient of the Cleveland Scene Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Comedy for "Sassy Mamas" at Karamu House. Favorite roles include the PBS broadcast of "Greenwood, An American Dream Destroyed", "The Velocity of Autumn" at Karamu House; "Picnic" at Oberlin Theater, "Left In Ink" at Cleveland Public Theatre, and in the award-winning Cleveland Shakespeare Festival.

Her on-camera work includes numerous TV commercials and films, including "White Noise" produced by Netflix. Jeanne's education includes a BA, and MBA from Case Western Reserve University, and Master Classes at Cleveland Play House. She will teach a Master Class at Oberlin College in Spring '23.

WEEK 3: February 9-11

Alter
Written by Tania Benites
Directed by Kari Barclay

Co-produced with Teatro Público de Cleveland

Using a self-help book 'Hypnosis for Self-Confidence', customer service representative Maria seeks ultimate self-improvement to succeed in the corporate world. However, she soon discovers that the best version of herself may be her worst enemy.

Playwright Bio

Tania Benites is Peruvian-born and Cleveland-raised theatre artist. She received her BA in Theatre from Cleveland State University in 2012 with a focus in performance. As an actress Tania has worked at many theatres in Northeast Ohio including Cleveland Public Theatre, Teatro Público de Cleveland, Talespinner Children's Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, LatinUs, Clague Playhouse, and Rubber City Theatre. As a playwright, Tania's work has been featured in ¡Obras en Evolución! a festival of new play readings by Teatro Público de Cleveland in 2017 and 2018 where the beginnings of Alter were formed. She is also a proud member of the Young Playwrights Collective. When she is not creating theatre, Tania serves as the Adult Programming Assistant for the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

WEEK 4: February 16-18

DOUBLE BILL-Anna of Mariupol and Gray Space will be shown on the same bill, with patrons being able to see both for the price of one.

Anna of Mariupol - Act 1 (A short rock opera set in present-day Ukraine)
Studio A LLC
Written and produced by David C. Tabar
Directed by Christina Dupre'

An innocent, young Anna finds family and friends caught up in sudden military conflict and seeks comfort from a higher order.

Dave once played keyboard in Westlake's rock band "The Color" while playing trumpet throughout his school years. Today he is best known for music that he composes, produces and releases on Blackpool Records:

Rock: All That She Wants To Be, You Are First, She's So Lovely, Livin' Free

Classical: Air For Trumpet, Stella's Waltz, Anna of Mariupol - Prelude

Jazz/Blues/Gospel: Dreamer, Ain't No Mystery, Falling For You, Be With Me Jesus

Dave's principal recording team are musicians known as Stellarworld. The 2018 film and music production "Angel in a Foxhole" was co-written and co-produced by Dave through his Studio A Films LLC as a collaboration with Dean Love Films of New York City. Dave also served as Music Director for the production, writing and scoring the film's soundtrack with his son Will Tabar. His most recent composition is music for Act 1 of the new rock opera, Anna of Mariupol, recently tracked at Lava Room Recording in Cleveland and mixed at Soundworks Studios in Leeds, UK.

Gray Space

Written by Melissa T. Crum & Ananias Dixon
Directed by Chennelle Bryant-Harris

Two strangers meet in an abstract environment. Through the shapeshifting of identity and setting, the pair explore how to have difficult conversations in real time.

Playwright Bios

Melissa Crum

Melissa Crum is a Cleveland-based director, writer, performer, educator and meaning maker. Melissa currently holds the position of Artistic and Education Associate at Cleveland Public Theatre. A recipient of the 2016/2017 Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellowship through Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT), she and co-writer & composer Caitlin Lewins developed Everything is Okay (and other helpful lies), a dark musical comedy. Everything is Okay (and other helpful lies) received a reading at the New York Musical Festival (NYMF) in the summer of 2019. Through this work, Crum and Lewins were finalists for the 2019 Mitten Lab. Melissa completed the 2013/2014 Joan Yellen Horvitz Director Fellowship at Cleveland Public Theatre where she directed The Drowning Girls.

Ananias Dixon

Ananias is blessed to be 2021 Cleveland Public Premiere Fellow. He is a theater teacher and coach at the Cleveland School of The Arts, Cleveland Play House, and Playhouse Square and has also been a member of George Street Playhouse's educational touring theatre. Theater credits include The Good Heart, The Claxson Family, How to End Poverty in 90 min, Rastus and Hattie (Cleveland Public Theater); Skeleton Crew, Sunset Baby, The Effect, An Octoroon (Dobama Theatre); Detroit 67, Julius X (Karamu House); Black Angels Over Tuskegee (Actors Temple); John Henry (Cleveland Play House); The Toilet (New federal theatre). TV/film Includes "Law and Order: SVU", "Blue Bloods", "Person of Interest"," Boardwalk Empire"," Upstairs", "NYC 22", Antwone Fisher, Home, and Criminal Activity. Ananias was also part of Cleveland Play House's New Ground Theatre Festival as the AD for The Nolan Williams Project as well as AD for The Royale under the direction of Robert Barry Fleming.

WEEK 5: February 23 - 25

Playwright, Composer & Music Director Obediya Jones-Darrell
Directed by Tara Taylor

Set in the golden era of rail, Jacket of Blue is a play with music about the struggles faced by Black train porters in the 1920's. With original music inspired by Ragtime, Jazz, Folk, Gospel, and Broadway traditions, the story follows a dignified and conflicted porter who must face the best and worst humanity has to offer during a journey across generations that transcends culture.

Playwright Bio

Obediya Jones-Darrell is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, producer, filmmaker, playwright, music composer, sound designer, and lyricist of Canadian origin and African descent. While he spent his formative years in Nova Scotia & British Columbia, Cleveland is now the place he calls home. In 2019-2020 Obediya was selected as the Kulas Music Composer Fellow for Cleveland Public Theatre.

As a storyteller he works in both theater & film mediums. Over the past three years his work has been performed internationally in theater and film festivals on five continents. In 2019 he was selected as one of Canada's 20 emerging diverse filmmakers by Toronto's Reel World Film Festival.

Test Flight 2023 runs January 19 - February 25, 2023, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30pm in CPT's James Levin Theatre, located at 6415 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44102, in the heart of the Gordon Square Arts District.

Note that audience members must wear masks if attending our Covid-conscious performances which will be every Thursday of Test Flight. Click here for COVID-19 Safety Protocols.

EVERY TICKET is "Choose What You Pay" starting at $1 and can be purchased at https://www.cptonline.org/box-office/ or through the CPT Box Office at 216.631.2727 ext. 501.

The James Levin Theatre is ADA-compliant featuring a patron elevator and an all-gender, wheelchair accessible restroom.

Every Friday is Free Bev Friday at CPT. Mingle with the artists after the show and discuss the performance in a lively, social atmosphere - your drinks are on CPT.

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