Cleveland Public Theatre to Host 3rd Annual STATION HOPE

Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan is proud to announce the full list of participating artists for CPT's third annual Station Hope event - a jubilant community event inspired by the Underground Railroad and Cleveland's social justice heritage, and featuring over 250 individual artists and 40+ community and professional arts & culture organizations from across Northeast Ohio, creating diverse original works that address issues of equity and social change. Station Hope is free, family-friendly and open to all. The event will be held Saturday, April 30, 2016.

Last year, over 3,000 people attended the second annual Station Hope event, which featured art and performance staged in and around one of the most historically significant sites in Greater Cleveland, St. John's Episcopal Church, or-as it was known on the Underground Railroad-"Station Hope." Audiences tour St. John's sanctuary, parish hall and basement to view an array of short performances of dance, theatre, storytelling and music. Visual art displays and interactive art activities permeate the event while choral performances set the atmosphere of the outdoor spaces in and around the historic church.

Station Hope 2016 will feature both new and returning artists, celebrating hope and tackling such contemporary topics as education, police brutality, immigration, human trafficking, gun violence, income inequality, racism and gender discrimination-alongside historically-based original works that celebrate the people and stories comprising Northeast Ohio's Underground Railroad history.

Station Hope-along with a 5 part series of auxiliary events, entitled Road to Hope-is made possible in part by a selective $150,000 matching grant award by the National Endowment for the Arts' Our Town program, which supports creative place-making projects that help to transform communities into lively, beautiful, and resilient places with the arts at their core. Cleveland Public Theatre, in partnership with the City of Cleveland and former Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, is proud to be among the 69 organizations nationwide to receive this prestigious award.

Station Hope is produced by Cleveland Public Theatre, in partnership with The City of Cleveland and the Hon. Joe Cimperman, St. John's Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, Ohio City Incorporated, Friends of St. John's Church, Restore Cleveland Hope and the Cozad-Bates House, and Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority.

Station Hope is a free event and will take place on Saturday, April 30, 6:00pm-10:00pm at St. John's Episcopal Church, located at 2600 Church Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113. The event is open to all ages.

Photo by Steve Wagner