Playhouse Square
Cleveland State University's Factory Theatre is so often booked that students have to schedule rehearsals late at night. While department chair Michael Mauldin bemoans his program's outdated facilities, he realizes that it's a good problem to have.
Before Mauldin was hired in 2006 to breathe new life into the moribund Dramatic Arts Program, the school had only 21 majors. Campus officials had even considered canceling it. Today,CSU's theatre program boasts 85 majors -- and counting.
"We're poised to become a destination theatre program in the coming years," Mauldin predicts. "That's not hubris -- there's some very solid work being produced here."
Mauldin is especially excited about CSU's imminent move to the three new stages at the newly renovated and expanded Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare. When the theatre opens in September, CSU will share it with Cleveland Play House, which is relocating from its long-standing home near the Cleveland Clinic.
"Currently, we only have one performance stage in an old textile factory," explains Mauldin. "We're moving to a 500-seat, state-of-the-art theatre inside the Allen, a 290-seat flex space and a 150-seat black box theatre. It's a dream of a space."
Mauldin also lauded the renovation of the Middough Building on East 13th Street, which will feature classrooms, studios and rehearsal halls. "Instead of stepping over each other, we can have concurrent activities going on," he says.
Although CSU's program is already strong (Mauldin reports that 95 percent of its graduates are either working or attending graduate school in the field) it will only get better by being part of PlayhouseSquare.
"We're part of the city, whose theatrical life is so vibrant," he says. "There's so much promise and potential to live up to."
Source: Michael Mauldin
Writer: Lee Chilcote
Before Mauldin was hired in 2006 to breathe new life into the moribund Dramatic Arts Program, the school had only 21 majors. Campus officials had even considered canceling it. Today,CSU's theatre program boasts 85 majors -- and counting.
"We're poised to become a destination theatre program in the coming years," Mauldin predicts. "That's not hubris -- there's some very solid work being produced here."
Mauldin is especially excited about CSU's imminent move to the three new stages at the newly renovated and expanded Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare. When the theatre opens in September, CSU will share it with Cleveland Play House, which is relocating from its long-standing home near the Cleveland Clinic.
"Currently, we only have one performance stage in an old textile factory," explains Mauldin. "We're moving to a 500-seat, state-of-the-art theatre inside the Allen, a 290-seat flex space and a 150-seat black box theatre. It's a dream of a space."
Mauldin also lauded the renovation of the Middough Building on East 13th Street, which will feature classrooms, studios and rehearsal halls. "Instead of stepping over each other, we can have concurrent activities going on," he says.
Although CSU's program is already strong (Mauldin reports that 95 percent of its graduates are either working or attending graduate school in the field) it will only get better by being part of PlayhouseSquare.
"We're part of the city, whose theatrical life is so vibrant," he says. "There's so much promise and potential to live up to."
Source: Michael Mauldin
Writer: Lee Chilcote
pittsburgh leaders envious of rta healthline, hope to duplicate its success
"A rare case of Cleveland envy is helping to fuel the latest proposal for improving transit service between Downtown [Pittsburgh] and Oakland," begins a recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
What local officials in that town to the east covet in our own beloved town is the RTA HealthLine, which uses energy-efficient bus rapid transit vehicles to connect Public Square with University Circle and beyond.
Writing for the Post-Gazette, Jon Schmitz says, "Local officials who visited that city's HealthLine, a 6.8-mile bus route with many of the attributes of a light-rail line, want to build a similar system here."
His research pointed out that Cleveland's HealthLine trimmed a formerly 30-minute ride to 18 minutes, while boosting ridership and fueling some $4 billion in investment along the Euclid Avenue Corridor.
While Pittsburgh officials were skeptical that the BRTs would be a suitable (and far more affordable) alternative to light rail, they left Cleveland as supporters.
"This had the feel and the comfort of light rail," Allegheny County's development director Dennis Davin said in the article.
"We see this as a major regional economic development and real estate project," said Ken Zapinski, senior vice president for transportation and infrastructure for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.
"This is really an urban revitalization project that happens to have buses involved," said Court Gould, executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh.
Read the rest here.
What local officials in that town to the east covet in our own beloved town is the RTA HealthLine, which uses energy-efficient bus rapid transit vehicles to connect Public Square with University Circle and beyond.
Writing for the Post-Gazette, Jon Schmitz says, "Local officials who visited that city's HealthLine, a 6.8-mile bus route with many of the attributes of a light-rail line, want to build a similar system here."
His research pointed out that Cleveland's HealthLine trimmed a formerly 30-minute ride to 18 minutes, while boosting ridership and fueling some $4 billion in investment along the Euclid Avenue Corridor.
While Pittsburgh officials were skeptical that the BRTs would be a suitable (and far more affordable) alternative to light rail, they left Cleveland as supporters.
"This had the feel and the comfort of light rail," Allegheny County's development director Dennis Davin said in the article.
"We see this as a major regional economic development and real estate project," said Ken Zapinski, senior vice president for transportation and infrastructure for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.
"This is really an urban revitalization project that happens to have buses involved," said Court Gould, executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh.
Read the rest here.
When the Cleveland Play House kicks off its adventurous 2011 season this coming fall, it will do so in a completely reworked Allen Theatre, about 70 blocks west of its current home. Built in 1921 as a 3,000-seat movie house, the Allen is currently wrapping up a $32-million renovation that will give not only the Play House a brand new home, but also Cleveland State University's thriving theatre department.
wsj calls playhousesquare 'model of economic viability'
Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Joel Henning, arts and culture reporter, calls Cleveland's PlayhouseSquare "a model of economic viability in the arts."
"Several Cleveland performing-arts and public-media organizations are in better shape than their counterparts around the country because they are part of PlayhouseSquare, a unique business model in downtown Cleveland," Henning writes.
PlayhouseSquare, the second-largest performing arts center in the country by audience capacity, boasts 10 performance spaces with a total of more than 9,000 seats. It attracts more than a million visitors to 1,000 performing-arts events each year.
What makes PlayhouseSquare unique, the article states, is that it not only renovated and manages the spaces, but also created a local development corporation that owns and/or manager more than 2.6 million square feet of office and retail space.
Next up, reports Henning, is housing. Quoting PlayhouseSquare's Allen Wiant, "We want to build 58 stories of housing in the next few years."
Unlike years past when few lived downtown, there are now 12,000 downtown residents and the residential occupancy rate is at 95%.
Read the rest of the playbill here.
"Several Cleveland performing-arts and public-media organizations are in better shape than their counterparts around the country because they are part of PlayhouseSquare, a unique business model in downtown Cleveland," Henning writes.
PlayhouseSquare, the second-largest performing arts center in the country by audience capacity, boasts 10 performance spaces with a total of more than 9,000 seats. It attracts more than a million visitors to 1,000 performing-arts events each year.
What makes PlayhouseSquare unique, the article states, is that it not only renovated and manages the spaces, but also created a local development corporation that owns and/or manager more than 2.6 million square feet of office and retail space.
Next up, reports Henning, is housing. Quoting PlayhouseSquare's Allen Wiant, "We want to build 58 stories of housing in the next few years."
Unlike years past when few lived downtown, there are now 12,000 downtown residents and the residential occupancy rate is at 95%.
Read the rest of the playbill here.
Roe Green believes in the arts. She can't imagine a world without them, and she wants to make sure people in Northeast Ohio continue to be exposed to the latest in theater, music and dance at the Cleveland Play House. So she made a three-year, $500,000 commitment to FusionFest.
"To me it was a very exciting idea," Green says of the donation. "I like exposing people to new things. It's stuff like this at FusionFest that people would not otherwise see."
Green is honorary producer of the festival that has been celebrating new works since its inception in 2005. She also sits on Cleveland Play House board. "Arts are what make us human; without the arts we're nothing but machines," she says. "I said, 'this is something I can sink my teeth into.' This has become my baby because it perpetuates people doing new work."
Additionally, next year will mark the beginning of the annual Roe Green FusionFest Award. The $7,500 award will be given to a promising mid-career American playwright. "Having arts in the community is very important to the community," Green says, noting that for every dollar spent on theater tickets also means dollars spent for parking, food and other expenses associated with going to the theater.
The winner of the Roe Green Award will also receive script development support. The selected playwright will spend a week in residency at CPH during FusionFest, overseeing rehearsals and reading of the work and engage in workshops and master classes with young theatre artists from the region.
Source: Roe Green
Writer: Karin Connelly
"To me it was a very exciting idea," Green says of the donation. "I like exposing people to new things. It's stuff like this at FusionFest that people would not otherwise see."
Green is honorary producer of the festival that has been celebrating new works since its inception in 2005. She also sits on Cleveland Play House board. "Arts are what make us human; without the arts we're nothing but machines," she says. "I said, 'this is something I can sink my teeth into.' This has become my baby because it perpetuates people doing new work."
Additionally, next year will mark the beginning of the annual Roe Green FusionFest Award. The $7,500 award will be given to a promising mid-career American playwright. "Having arts in the community is very important to the community," Green says, noting that for every dollar spent on theater tickets also means dollars spent for parking, food and other expenses associated with going to the theater.
The winner of the Roe Green Award will also receive script development support. The selected playwright will spend a week in residency at CPH during FusionFest, overseeing rehearsals and reading of the work and engage in workshops and master classes with young theatre artists from the region.
Source: Roe Green
Writer: Karin Connelly
Homeowners were taking out equity loans with alarming abandon just a few years ago, yet now many are reluctant to invest money in their homes. "With housing values falling, demand for home repair loans has also fallen," says Larry Slenczka, Vice President of Community Development for Dollar Bank.
Yet Dollar Bank continues to finance home rehabs through a partnership with Cleveland Action to Support Housing (CASH), a nonprofit whose mission is to revitalize Cleveland neighborhoods through home repair lending.
"CASH has been successful in identifying projects driven by investors," says Slenczka. "Their transactions tend to be very solid loans that have a very low default rate." CASH offers investors and owner-occupants a reduced interest rate. Currently, that interest rate is 2.6%.
Even as the average homeowner sits on the sidelines, some rehabbers are jumping in and finding deals. And the glut of vacant properties in Cleveland has presented an opportunity for savvy investors; while foreclosure rates nationwide reached their lowest level in four years last month, Cleveland still has a backlog of empty homes.
Yet while it seems anyone with a credit card can snap up a cheap foreclosure -- plumbing optional, of course -- that's just the beginning of the process. Getting a loan is no simple feat. Struggling with unsold inventories, many banks are cautious about lending to investors, while others aren't lending at all.
That's where CASH comes in. The nonprofit's partnerships with Dollar Bank and other lenders help owners get financing. In addition to offering a reduced rate, CASH helps owners to pick a contractor, develop a list of repairs, and inspect the work.
"Everybody wins," says Slenczka. "The neighborhood benefits from reinvestment, the benefits from private investment, and the bank benefits from a healthy market return."
Source: Larry Slenczka
Writer: Lee Chilcote
Yet Dollar Bank continues to finance home rehabs through a partnership with Cleveland Action to Support Housing (CASH), a nonprofit whose mission is to revitalize Cleveland neighborhoods through home repair lending.
"CASH has been successful in identifying projects driven by investors," says Slenczka. "Their transactions tend to be very solid loans that have a very low default rate." CASH offers investors and owner-occupants a reduced interest rate. Currently, that interest rate is 2.6%.
Even as the average homeowner sits on the sidelines, some rehabbers are jumping in and finding deals. And the glut of vacant properties in Cleveland has presented an opportunity for savvy investors; while foreclosure rates nationwide reached their lowest level in four years last month, Cleveland still has a backlog of empty homes.
Yet while it seems anyone with a credit card can snap up a cheap foreclosure -- plumbing optional, of course -- that's just the beginning of the process. Getting a loan is no simple feat. Struggling with unsold inventories, many banks are cautious about lending to investors, while others aren't lending at all.
That's where CASH comes in. The nonprofit's partnerships with Dollar Bank and other lenders help owners get financing. In addition to offering a reduced rate, CASH helps owners to pick a contractor, develop a list of repairs, and inspect the work.
"Everybody wins," says Slenczka. "The neighborhood benefits from reinvestment, the benefits from private investment, and the bank benefits from a healthy market return."
Source: Larry Slenczka
Writer: Lee Chilcote
On Saturday, February 26, about 1,000 of Cleveland's most colorful characters attended the 20th Annual Jump Back Ball at the tony State Theatre. The theme of the event, which benefits the not-for-profit performing arts center PlayhouseSquare, was Passport to Party. And as Fresh Water photographer Bob Perkoski so capably captured, attendees dressed accordingly. Grab your own passport and enjoy the show.
The Civic Commons is a modern-day marriage of online technology, citizen journalism, and civic collaboration. The mission? To inform, engage and lead local residents to action on any number of weighty topics. Our guides: Dan Moulthrop and Noelle Celeste.
wall street journal critic says 'bravo' to great lakes theater festival
It was Oscar Wilde who penned the phrase, "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."
Only a fool would protest that that very phrase is the raison d'être behind this very section. So it's fitting that this item from the Wall Street Journal deals with the Great Lakes Theater Festival's repertory production of Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" and Shakespeare's "Othello."
Written by WSJ drama critic Terry Teachout, the review glowingly covers recent productions of the plays at Cleveland's Hanna Theatre in PlayhouseSquare.
"Cleveland's Great Lakes Theater Festival is mounting handsome stagings of both plays in collaboration with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, where the two productions originated this summer, and as I watched them in close succession earlier this week, I was struck by how smoothly they fit together."
Of the Shakespeare production, Teachout wrote, "This is a blood-and-thunder "Othello" that roars down the track at several hundred miles an hour, and though it's short on poetry, it lacks nothing in the way of thrills and chills."
In addition to singling out set designer Nayna Ramey, the critic goes on to wax poetic about the theater itself.
"Built in 1921, the Hanna Theatre was taken over two years ago by the Great Lakes Theater Festival. The original 1,421-seat proscenium-arch house has now been turned into a fully up-to-date 548-seat thrust-stage theater whose performing space and public areas flow together seamlessly, thus encouraging audience members to show up early and use the theater as a meeting place. (They do, too.) Rarely have I seen a happier marriage of old and new."
Read the rest of the playbill here.
Only a fool would protest that that very phrase is the raison d'être behind this very section. So it's fitting that this item from the Wall Street Journal deals with the Great Lakes Theater Festival's repertory production of Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" and Shakespeare's "Othello."
Written by WSJ drama critic Terry Teachout, the review glowingly covers recent productions of the plays at Cleveland's Hanna Theatre in PlayhouseSquare.
"Cleveland's Great Lakes Theater Festival is mounting handsome stagings of both plays in collaboration with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, where the two productions originated this summer, and as I watched them in close succession earlier this week, I was struck by how smoothly they fit together."
Of the Shakespeare production, Teachout wrote, "This is a blood-and-thunder "Othello" that roars down the track at several hundred miles an hour, and though it's short on poetry, it lacks nothing in the way of thrills and chills."
In addition to singling out set designer Nayna Ramey, the critic goes on to wax poetic about the theater itself.
"Built in 1921, the Hanna Theatre was taken over two years ago by the Great Lakes Theater Festival. The original 1,421-seat proscenium-arch house has now been turned into a fully up-to-date 548-seat thrust-stage theater whose performing space and public areas flow together seamlessly, thus encouraging audience members to show up early and use the theater as a meeting place. (They do, too.) Rarely have I seen a happier marriage of old and new."
Read the rest of the playbill here.
pittsburgh's pop city spreads the word about fresh water
In last week's issue of Pop City (yes, it's a sister IMG publication), writer Deb Smit reported on our dear publication.
"Fresh Water launches this month with the goods on Cleveland, news as it pertains to innovation, jobs, healthcare, lifestyle, design and arts and culture," she writes." The bubbly, blue homepage comes to life each Thursday with a fresh issue featuring vibrant photography and stories on the people shaking things up and the great places to visit."
Smit even encourages smitten Pittsburghers to subscribe. Thanks, Pop City!
Read all the news that's fit to pop here.
"Fresh Water launches this month with the goods on Cleveland, news as it pertains to innovation, jobs, healthcare, lifestyle, design and arts and culture," she writes." The bubbly, blue homepage comes to life each Thursday with a fresh issue featuring vibrant photography and stories on the people shaking things up and the great places to visit."
Smit even encourages smitten Pittsburghers to subscribe. Thanks, Pop City!
Read all the news that's fit to pop here.
Greg Bodnar knows wine bars. He owns the successful Market Avenue Wine Bar in Ohio City and Corks
in Willoughby. But he also knows that even good ideas can stand some
tweaking. So when his latest, Corks PlayhouseSquare, opens at 1415
Euclid Ave. in early November, fans of his other locations will notice
a difference.
"This will be a little more on the contemporary side," Bodnar says, more sleek and polished than the traditional French bistro look of its older siblings. A local artist is providing paintings for the wall, and a Cleveland Institute of Art professor designed glass lights.
The menu will emphasize tapas and other simple dishes that can be served up quickly for the theater crowd, and libations will include "high-end cocktails" as well as wine.
An extensive renovation of the site, previously Hamilton's Martini Bar, is under way, and furniture is on order. Bodnar expects the "quaint and cozy" main dining room to seat about 45. "We're going to be the little guy on the block," he says, "but the place where people stay longer and come back more often."
Source: Greg Bodnar
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
"This will be a little more on the contemporary side," Bodnar says, more sleek and polished than the traditional French bistro look of its older siblings. A local artist is providing paintings for the wall, and a Cleveland Institute of Art professor designed glass lights.
The menu will emphasize tapas and other simple dishes that can be served up quickly for the theater crowd, and libations will include "high-end cocktails" as well as wine.
An extensive renovation of the site, previously Hamilton's Martini Bar, is under way, and furniture is on order. Bodnar expects the "quaint and cozy" main dining room to seat about 45. "We're going to be the little guy on the block," he says, "but the place where people stay longer and come back more often."
Source: Greg Bodnar
Writer: Frank W. Lewis