Dobama Theatre Announces Lineup For Virtual 2020-21 Season

After 60 years of producing live, professional theatre, Dobama Theatre is taking an intermission. Yet, though the action onstage is paused, Dobama's commitment to its vital mission and the community it serves is as active as ever before!

Needless to say, the 20/21 season is going to look different. However, in this time when the Dobama stage will be dark, there are many exciting opportunities.

Check out the full lineup below!

The Soliloquy Project

Over the course of the season, Dobama Theatre will release several professionally-produced short films featuring a memorable monologue from a previous Dobama production or playwright. These videos will be exclusively available to 20/21 Members for the first week of each short film's debut. Featuring some of your favorite Cleveland actors. Begins Fall 2020.

How to Be a Respectable Junkie

This important script by Greg Vovos was developed at Dobama and is based on the true accounts of a survivor of heroin addiction from Northeast Ohio. The World Premiere (starring Christopher Bohan) was a hit and was featured in The New York Times. After a limited Dobama run in the summer of 2017, a new filmed version of the full production will make this funny and moving show available to everyone. Members will be given a complimentary advance online screening, and soon thereafter Pay-What-You-Can streamed viewing will be open to the public. Early 2021.

Immersive Theatre Festival

Immersive theatre companies all over the country have shifted their unique form of storytelling to online platforms. This fall, Dobama Theatre will promote several of these companies in a virtual Immersive Theatre Festival. Choose your own adventure in various interactive theatrical experiences from performing artists near and far. The centerpiece of the festival will be a performance of Torso Book Club by Northeast Ohio's own Shadow of the Run immersive theatre company. 20/21 Dobama members will receive discount codes where available. October 15-25, 2020.

What We Look Like

Dobama Theatre is proud to announce the development of BJ Tindal's new play. Hilarious and poignant, this story centers a Black family that moves to a suburban white neighborhood. When the youngest son draws a crayon portrait of his imaginary white family, his own family is thrown into a spiral. Tindal says, "I'm tired of stories about Black pain. This is a story about Black love." Tindal is one of America's most promising emerging playwrights whose play Goodnight, Tyler won the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, and is published by Samuel French. What We Look Like will receive a public performance in a future Dobama season. Tindal holds an MFA from Northwestern University and a BA from Oberlin College, where the play was initially developed.

A Commission: TBA

Dobama Theatre is closing in on final agreements for the commission of a brand new play, and we can't wait to share the news with you. Here's a hint: it will be a new play by a renowned American playwright adapted from an extraordinary new book by a local author. Stay tuned to hear more about this thrilling project as details are confirmed. To be announced this fall.

The Land of Oz: Behind the Scenes

Get an inside look at the upcoming World Premiere musical The Land of Oz. Based on the second book in L. Frank Baum's Oz series, young Tip escapes an evil witch and ventures to the Emerald City meeting the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, and some new friends along the way. With book and lyrics by George Brant and music by Dobama Artistic Director Nathan Motta, be one of the first to hear a virtual reading of the script and snippets from each of the songs in the show. The Land of Oz will be Dobama Theatre's next holiday production once audiences can safely gather at full capacity

Artists of the Land

Over the course of the 20/21 season, Dobama Theatre will profile at least one theatre professional from the Cleveland area each week. These artists will share a meaningful story about their work in the theatre and how the pandemic has affected them. Readers will have the opportunity to make a contribution to each individual artist directly, supporting them in some small way to weather the storm during this challenging time. This series of artist profiles is similar to the popular "Humans of New York" project. Begins September 2020.

Masterclasses

Participate in Zoom masterclasses with Artistic Director Nathan Motta and other Dobama artists on subjects like directing, acting technique, and more. Cleveland theatre artists are welcome to participate, and Dobama supporters can watch the class, listen to the discussion, and ask questions. As scheduled.

Quarantine Q&As

Have a discussion with some of the artists involved in Dobama's 20/21 season through online conversations, and discuss important topics and questions with Dobama staff. Hear about what goes into writing a play, listen to actors and designers on how they approach their craft, and discuss Dobama's approach to challenges facing American Theatre in Zoom videos throughout the year. As scheduled.ob

Member Happy Hours

Be a part of a virtual happy hour! Dobama Members will be invited to share a drink over Zoom with Dobama Artistic Director Nathan Motta and other special guests. Ask questions about past shows, future plans, theatre in general, or "real life" stuff that has nothing to do with theatre at all! As scheduled