Dobama Theatre Announces 2018-2019 Season

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH - From Dobama Theatre: Dobama Theatre proudly announces its 59th Season, which includes six Mainstage productions and various offerings from The Playwrights' GYM, Dobama's professional playwriting unit, the 10th season of the Dobama Emerging Actors Program (DEAP) and The 41st Annual Marilyn Bianchi Kids’ Playwriting Festival. The 2018/19 Season will include six Regional, Midwest or Cleveland premieres by today’s established and emerging female playwrights.

From Artistic Director Nathan Motta:
"The time was overdue to intentionally champion the work of women who write for the stage - and to program these plays with central female characters in a single season. The moment to unveil a slate of these productions is now, particularly in the wake of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. The play is the thing - we want to make sure we're telling important stories and producing high-quality scripts."

SUNSET BABY
by Dominique Morisseau
directed by Justin Emeka

September 7 – 30, 2018
Ohio Premiere
Obie Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Steinberg Award & August Wilson Award-Winning Playwright

A tough, independent woman in Brooklyn is visited by her father, a former revolutionary in the Black liberation movement who seeks to mend their broken relationship. As father and daughter circle one another, old wounds are revealed, generational differences exposed, and blazing truths laid bare. Morisseau’s smart, entertaining and moving story about family, survival and the nature of liberation is at times both engrossing and explosive.

"[A] smart and bracing new play about two generations of urban outlaws struggling to stay afloat in the lower depths [...] covers vast acres of social and political ground." - The New York Times

JOHN
by Annie Baker
directed by Nathan Motta
Starring Dorothy Silver

October 19 – November 11, 2018
Midwest Premiere
Nominee – Best Play, Drama Desk Awards and Lucille Lortel Award

It’s the week after Thanksgiving and Elias and Jenny, a troubled young couple struggling to stay together, stop at a bed & breakfast in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania crammed with toys, figurines and Victorian kitsch. During their visit, they encounter a cheerful innkeeper and an eerie world filled with one very odd American Girl doll, among other supernatural surprises.

"Annie Baker’s JOHN is so good on so many levels that it casts a unique and brilliant light." - The New Yorker

ELLA ENCHANTED: THE MUSICAL
by Karen Zacarías
music by Deborah Wicks La Puma
directed by Nathan Motta

November 30 – December 30, 2018
Regional Premiere

As a baby, Ella is given the “gift” of obedience by a misguided fairy and cannot disobey any order. Now a teenager, the strong-willed Ella must outwit her evil stepmother, escape hungry ogres and hold on to her best friend, all while getting rid of the troublesome curse and finding her own voice. Expect delightful music and plenty of girl power in this wonderfully modern and musical Cinderella story.

"... Admirably balanced between humor and pathos... What a light touch she has with the story's wonderful messages: learning to communicate with one another, appreciating the differences, being true to oneself, exploring the world, never giving up." - broadwayworld.com

*Special added performances on 12/26 @ 7:30pm and 12/30 @ 8:00pm
*Family Matinees on 12/2, 12/8, 12/15, 12/22, 12/29 all @ 2:30pm

REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN.
by Alice Birch
directed by Sarah Elizabeth Wansley

January 25 - February 17, 2019
Cleveland Premiere
Finalist – Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2015

A wildly experimental and inventive new play that does not behave. Playwright Alice Birch has put together a grouping of vignettes that ask how to revolutionize language, relationships, work, and life in general while bursting at the seams of conformity. REVOLT is a theatrical manifesto.

“Ms. Birch’s work finds the theatrical exhilaration in civil disobedience.” - The New York Times

THE NETHER
by Jennifer Haley
directed by Shannon Sindelar

March 8 – 31, 2019
Cleveland Premiere
Winner – Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2012, Nominee – 5 Lucille Lortel Awards including Outstanding Play, Nominee – Olivier Award for Best Play

The Nether is a virtual wonderland that provides total sensory immersion. Just log in, choose an identity and indulge your every desire. But when a young detective uncovers a disturbing brand of entertainment, she triggers an interrogation into the darkest corners of the imagination. Winner of the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, THE NETHER is both a serpentine crime drama and haunting sci-fi thriller that explores the consequences of living out our private dreams.

“... A parable for where we’re headed... THE NETHER exerts a vise-like grip, while taking you down avenues of thought you probably haven’t traveled yet.” - The New York Times

THIS
by Melissa James Gibson
directed by Nathan Motta

April 26 – May 26, 2019
Regional Premiere
Finalist – Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2010

Jane is not okay. She's a promising poet without a muse, a single mother without lessons to pass along. Her dating life's in shambles, and her helpful friends are only helping make things more complicated. This bright, witty, un-romantic comedy captures the uncertain steps of a circle of friends backing their way into middle age.

"...Beautifully conceived, confidently executed and wholly accessible work...its confused but lovable characters are drawn with a fine focus and a piercing emotional depth; the dialogue sparkles with exchanges as truthful as they are clever." - The New York Times

Dobama Theatre thanks its 2018/19 Season Sponsor: Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff

Dobama will continue with The Playwrights’ GYM throughout the season, The 41st Annual Marilyn Bianchi Kids’ Playwriting Festival in June 2019, and Dobama Emerging Actors Program (DEAP) celebrates ten years in July 2019.

Dobama Theatre is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this organization with state tax dollars designated to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Dobama Theatre is also generously supported by many individual donors and the following foundations: The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The Harry K. and Emma R. Fox Charitable Foundation, The Milton and Tamar Maltz Family Foundation, Music and Drama Club, The David and Inez Myers Foundation, the Kulas Foundation and the William M. Weiss Foundation.

Dobama Theatre’s mission is to premiere the best contemporary plays by established and emerging playwrights in professional productions of the highest quality. Through educational and outreach programming, Dobama Theatre nurtures the development of theatre artists and builds new audiences for the arts while provoking an examination of our contemporary world.

Image via Shutterstock / hafakot