The Villager Newspaper Online Your Community News – Cleveland's Westshore
Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) Executive Artistic Director, Raymond Bobgan is proud to present American Falls, a stunning new drama by breakout playwright, Miki Johnson. The production will be directed by Bobgan and features CPT favorites Chris Seibert, Darius Stubbs, Adam Seeholzer and Faye Hargate in major roles. The production will be staged in CPT’s James Levin Theatre.
About the Show
A day in the lives of six living people and two dead ones in American Falls, Idaho. From a ghost drinking beer in a lawn chair to a Native American shoe salesman, the population of American Falls is the product of “America’s improbable experiment.” As these paths traverse in and out of each others’ stories, the play carries us from Bruce Willis in Moonlighting to the actual moon; from conceiving babies while drunk on Budweiser beer to the difficulties of those babies, and the adults they become; and from the cool pain of alienation to the warm embrace of belonging. American Falls asks ancient, unanswerable questions: What is it to live? What becomes of the child on the road to adulthood? What is it like to grow old? What does it mean to die? Told in a poetic and sensuous interplay of stories, monologues and one horrifying makeover, Miki Johnson’s American Falls “reminds us what great theatre has always been about is great storytelling.” (Houston Chronicle)
About the Playwright
Miki Johnson is a playwright currently based out of Houston TX where she is the Playwright in Residence for The Alley Theatre Education Program. American Falls was Miki’s first play produced by Houston’s The Catastrophic Theatre. Houston Press named her Best Playwright 2012 in their annual Houston Theatre Awards. Later that same year, Catastrophic produced Fleaven, a hip-hop musical written in rhyme, and in 2013 her drama clean/through won her Houston Press’ Best New Play award. With Catastrophic, she’s acted in Endgame, Crave by Sarah Kane, Bluefinger by Jason Nodler, The Designated Mourner and Our Late Night by Wallace Shawn, and Spirits to Enforce and The Pine by Mickle Maher. In 2005 she received her MFA in Acting from Yale University. She’s currently working on a commission for Playwrights Horizons, NYC.
About the Director
Raymond Bobgan is in his 9th season as Executive Artistic Director of CPT. Raymond specializes in working through an ensemble process to create new performances that are bold, multilayered and highly physical. In 2014 he became the first recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize in the discipline of Theatre, and is the recipient of the Creative Workforce Fellowship (2010 for Theatre, 2014 for Music Composition), a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture funded by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. Raymond’s work has been seen in Romania, Brazil, Denmark, Serbia, Turkey, The United Kingdom and Canada and has been featured in American Theatre Magazine, Canadian Theatre Review, Theatre Journal and in Lisa Wolford’s book Grotowski’s Objective Drama Research. Raymond has created many works for CPT including: Rusted Heart Broadcast; Insomnia, with Holly Holsinger and Chris Seibert; Cut to Pieces, with Chris Seibert; Blue Sky Transmission: A Tibetan Book of the Dead, co-produced by CPT and La Mama ETC (NY); and The Confessions of Punch and Judy, co-produced by CPT, NaCl (NY) and Number 11 Theatre (Toronto), which was published in New Canadian Theatre Volume 9.
Cast and Crew of American Falls
American Falls was written by Miki Johnson. Directed by Raymond Bobgan.
The American Falls cast includes Dionne Atchison, Faye Hargate, Chris Seibert, Adam Seeholzer, Darius Stubbs, Anthony Sevier, PJ McCready and Ryan Edlinger.
The creative and production team includes Raymond Bobgan (Director), Aaron Benson (Scenic Designer), Angelina Herin (Costume Designer), Jakyung Seo (Lighting Designer) and Sarah Nicholas (Stage Manager).
Ticket & Show Information
American Falls previews Thursday, December 4 and runs Friday, December 5 through Saturday, December 20. Performances are Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday at 7:00pm in CPT’s James Levin Theatre, 6415 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44102.
Tickets are $12 – $28.
All Thursday and Monday shows are just $12! Student and Senior discounts ($3 off) are available for Friday and Saturday performances.
**Every Friday is FREE BEER FRIDAY at CPT. Audience members are invited to mingle with the artists after the show and enjoy a drink or two on CPT.**
Tickets are available for purchase www.cptonline.org or by phone at (216) 631-2727 x 501. Group discounts available for 10+. Call to inquire.
