Play To Have American Premiere At Dobama Theatre

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH - From Dobama Theatre: Dobama Theatre announces a special summer event: the American Premiere of ON THE GRILL, running June 21-July 8, directed by Leighann Delorenzo.

2015 ISRAELI ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST PLAY

Everything is ready for the Israeli Independence Day party at the home of Rochale and her husband Zvika. The lawn has seen better days and so has the family. Their grown son is home from Berlin for the holiday and he’s brought an unexpected guest. Grandmother is frail and attended to by her newly hired Sri Lankan caretaker. As neighbors come to visit, news broadcasts on the television keep everyone on edge. As smoke from the barbecue circles in the air, fighter jets circle in the sky. And as food is passed, drinks poured, and the good old songs sung, conflicts are reignited that cannot be ignored. Tensions mount on the home front, and on the front, in this intimate look into the hopes and heartbreak, feelings and fears of an Israeli family and the community that surrounds them.

ON THE GRILL features
Dorothy Silver, David Vegh*, Juliette Regnier*, Andrew Gombas*, Arif Silverman+, Emily Viancourt,
Rocky Encalada+, Nicholas Chokan+, Michael Regnier and Olivia Scicolone+

About the Playwright:
Born in 1964 in Afula, DROR KEREN is an actor, playwright, director and dubber. Keren directed an adaptation of A Horse Walks Into a Bar, David Grossman’s Man Booker Award-winning novel (2017), for the Cameri Theatre of Tel-Aviv, in which he also portrays the main character. He wrote and directed ON THE GRILL (2015) for the Cameri Theatre of Tel-Aviv, winner of the Israeli Theatre Prize for Best Original Play. Keren, a graduate of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London, has been leading a fruitful acting career for almost two decades. He participated in many of the Cameri Theatre of Tel-Aviv’s productions in the last 18 years: TO THE END OF THE LAND by David Grossman, SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS by Carlo Goldoni, REQUIEM by Hanoch Levin, THE GOOD PERSON OF SZECHWAN by Bertolt Brecht and more. At the Habima Theatre, he participated in THOSE WHO WALK IN THE DARKNESS by Hanoch Levin and at Gesher Theatre in ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD by Tom Stoppard and TARTUFFE by Moliere. Keren, who has also worked extensively in the Israeli TV and movie industry, is a 3-time winner of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television Prize for Best Actor.

About the Director:
LEIGHANN DELORENZO most recently directed Dobama productions of THE REVISIONIST and SLOWGIRL. Previously she appeared as Helena in the Dobama Theatre production of KIN. Leighann is currently the Middle and Upper School Performing Arts Teacher and Dean of Grades 11 and 12 at Laurel
School in Shaker Heights, where she teaches technique-based acting classes. Her specialty is heightened
texts and voice and movement for the actor. Recent directing credits include Noel Coward's HAY FEVER,
Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and Federico Garcia Lorca's THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA
ALBA. Leighann earned an MFA in classical theater performance from The University of South Carolina
and completed her graduate program with a professional acting fellowship with The Shakespeare
Company in Washington, DC. There she appeared in five productions, sharing the stage with Dixie
Carter, Hal Holbrook and Ty Burrell, and also served as a member of the master acting class faculty.
Leighann made her Cleveland acting debut in Neil La Bute's THIS IS HOW IT GOES at The Bang and The
Clatter in 2009, appeared at Dobama as Theresa in CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, and played the
title role of Sabra in Karen Sunde's HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM at none too fragile in Akron,
where she was most recently seen in IN A FOREST DARK AND DEEP and was also featured in the world
premiere of the critically acclaimed POSSUM DREAMS by Ed Falco, which enjoyed an Off-Broadway
engagement. Leighann has served as acting faculty for the Dobama Emerging Actors Program (DEAP) for
the past eight seasons.

Tickets are $26-$32. Senior, Student, Military, Dobama Member and Jewish Federation discounts available.
Call the Box Office at 216.932.3396. Walk up box office hours: Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm; Saturday noon-4pm during performance weeks and one hour before all performances.

Sunday, June 24 is a Pay-As-You-Can Performance. In an effort to remove economic barriers and to make Dobama’s productions accessible to everyone, the first Sunday of every production is a 7:30pm Pay-As-You-Can Performance.

Show dates and times:
Wednesday, June 20 at 7:30 pm - Preview Performance, all tickets $15
Thursday, June 21 at 7:30 pm
Friday, June 22 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, June 23 at 8:00 pm
Sunday, June 24 at 7:30 pm - Pay-As-You-Can Performance
Thursday, June 28 at 7:30 pm
Friday, June 29 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, June 30 at 8:00 pm
Sunday, July 1 at 2:30 pm

Thursday, July 5 at 7:30 pm
Friday, July 6 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, July 7 at 8:00 pm
Sunday, July 8 at 2:30 pm

For information on our Audience Engagement events, visit dobama.org.

Please mention any accessibility needs at time of reservation. Assisted Listening Devices are available upon request.

Image via Dobama Theatre, ON THE GRILL