Cleveland's Classic Theater Company Announces Season Transition Plan For 2021-22

Great Lakes Theater (GLT) announces a 2021-22 transition plan that addresses ongoing pandemic-related challenges. As the health and safety of patrons, artists, and staff is Great Lakes Theater's top priority, the theater is cancelling the remaining productions in its 2020-21 season - Agatha Christie's Black Coffee, The Tempest, and The Marvelous Wonderettes.

With an eye to the future, Great Lakes Theater is also announcing a new 2021-22 season - featuring a lineup that includes many of the productions that have previously been cancelled due to the pandemic.

Great Lakes Theater's 2021-22 season will commence in the fall with the jazzy musical celebration of Fats Waller, Ain't Misbehavin', presented in repertory with Shakespeare's sublime battle of wits and wills, Much Ado About Nothing (September 24 - November 7, 2021). The annual production of Charles Dickens' holiday classic, A Christmas Carol (November 26 - December 23, 2021) will bisect the season. The winter/spring of 2022 will feature Agatha Christie's Black Coffee, a Hercule Poirot thriller, (February 11 - March 6, 2022) followed by Shakespeare's enchanting romantic comedy, As You Like It (March 25 - April 10, 2022) and Off-Broadway's effervescent '50s jukebox musical, The Marvelous Wonderettes (April 29 - May 22, 2022).

Directors for Great Lakes Theater's 2021-22 season productions include Gerry McIntyre (Ain't Misbehavin'), Charles Fee, GLT Producing Artistic Director (Much Ado About Nothing and Agatha Christie's Black Coffee), Sara Bruner, GLT Associate Artistic Director (As You Like It), and Jaclyn Miller, GLT Artistic Associate (The Marvelous Wonderettes).

The theater will begin its 2021-22 season transition process on February 1st by assisting existing subscriber-ticketholders from cancelled productions. Current ticketholders will receive complete information regarding the ticket resolution and renewal process via mail. Additional interim information is available at www.greatlakestheater.org/SeasonTransitionInfo.

Subscription package purchases will be available to the general public beginning March 1st. An adult subscription to Great Lakes Theater starts as low as $186. 25 and Under Savings subscriptions begin at $39. For complete information, patrons should call (216) 640-8869 or visit www.greatlakestheater.org in March.

Single tickets go on sale in July. Regular priced adult tickets will range from $15 - $89. Regular priced student/youth tickets for the Hanna Theatre are $15 ($30 for A Christmas Carol in the Mimi Ohio Theatre) and will be available for all performances.

Great Lakes Theater's 2021-22 season is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a generous public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. The Ohio Arts Council also provides generous season support.

Five of the company's 2021-22 season offerings (Ain't Misbehavin', Much Ado About Nothing, Agatha Christie's Black Coffee, As You Like It and The Marvelous Wonderettes), will take place in GLT's revolutionary, audience-friendly home at the Hanna Theatre, Playhouse Square, while A Christmas Carol will remain in its traditional Mimi Ohio Theatre setting.

Great Lakes Theater's award-winning home at the Hanna Theatre features a unique thrust stage configuration where the audience surrounds the performance - affording attendees a uniquely intimate theater experience in which no seat is further than 13 rows from the stage. At the Hanna, patrons select from a variety of seating opportunities that include traditional seats, club chairs, lounge/bar seats, banquette couches and private box seating. Boasting a fully flexible hydraulic stage, state-of-the-art theatrical systems and a visionary "Great Room" inspired design concept that integrates the artist and audience into a single unified environment, Great Lakes Theater's Hanna home is one of the most innovative theaters in the country.

Great Lakes Theater will continue to afford patrons extraordinary access to its production process at every Hanna Theatre performance in 2021-22. The Hanna's doors always open sixty minutes before each show allowing patrons to observe the complete pre-show preparation process of GLT's actors and technical staff. Elements such as stage combat rehearsals, dance calls, prop/scenic pre-sets, technical cue rehearsals and actor warm-ups will be conducted in full view of patrons, offering GLT audiences an unprecedented glimpse into the theatrical process. A complete list of pre-/post-show enhancement programming is available at www.greatlakestheater.org.