DAPHNE'S DIVE to Open Dobama Theatre's 67th Season in Cleveland Heights
Trinidad Snider leads a cast including Fabio Polanco and Roxana Bell in a North Philly-set tale of family and community.
Dobama Theatre will open the 26/27 season with the Cleveland Premiere of Daphne's Dive by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and book writer of the Broadway hit In the Heights Quiara Alegría Hudes. This production, directed by Juliana Frey-Méndez, will be performed at Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights from September 24-October 18,2026. The show will be performed in the original English with Spanish supertitles.
The play is set in a North Philly dive bar where everyone knows your name - and your business. Daphne's Dive is owned and operated by Daphne who moved to Philadelphia from Puerto Rico as a kid, and has since built a community. The regulars are a band of outsiders; among them an offbeat artist, eccentric activist, ambitious businessman, retired biker, abandoned teenager, and Daphne's vivacious sister. When they find a young girl named Ruby injured in the adjacent alley, the regulars quickly make her a part of their found family. Taking place over the course of nearly twenty years, Daphne's Dive invites audiences to pull up a stool and watch as the regulars drink, dance, grieve, and rejoice together.
The show features a superlative cast including Trinidad Snider as DAPHNE, Fabio Polanco as ACOSTA, Roxana Bell as RUBY, Mónica A. Cerpa Zúñiga as INEZ, Darryl Tatum as REY, and Katie Atkinson as JENN.
Juliana Frey-Méndez, a professor of theater at Oberlin College, directs this season's opening production. The rest of the production team includes Cameron Michalak (Set), Jeremy Paul (Lighting), Tesia Benson (Costumes), Angie Hayes (Sound), Yesi Real Rivera (Props), Graciela Fernandez (Dramaturg), Alejandro Martinez (Spanish Supertitles), Bridgett Martinez (assistant director), Barbara Kozlov (Stage Manager), Kenedy Brooks (Asst. Stage Manager), Jennifer Ryan (Wardrobe), and Kelly Sherlock (Technical Director).
Performances are Thursdays through Sunday from September 24 - October 18, 2026. Evening performances start at 7:30pm and matinees begin at 2:30pm. For a complete performance schedule, ticket prices and reservations, call the Dobama Theatre box office at 216-932-3396. Ask about the "pay-what-you-can" performances and opportunities.
Dobama is committed to making live professional theatre accessible to everyone. PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN tickets are available for anyone that cannot afford a full price ticket. Any available seat can be purchased at a pay-what-you-can price beginning one hour prior to every performance. Simply visit the Box Office to purchase.
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