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