Great Lakes Theater Festival’s 2004 Season Begins In The Summer

April 15, 2004
43rd Season Features A Summer Repertory, A Fall Repertory, The Queen’s Arrival And An Expanded Performance Schedule.

CLEVELAND, OH – Charles Fee, Producing Artistic Director of Great Lakes Theater Festival (GLTF) recently announced plans for the theater’s ambitious 2004 season. “In our 43rd season, we renew our commitment to the work of William Shakespeare, to producing theater in the summertime and to our long-standing rotating repertory tradition as a theater company,” Fee said. “We couldn’t be more excited to return to producing theater in the summer. It is the foundation on which this company was built. And it will be the springboard for our success in the future. By returning to our roots and by forging deeper partnerships with Playhouse Square Center and the Theater District community as a whole, we intend to demonstrate how the arts can serve as an engine for economic development particularly when we work together as a community. With an amazing season of plays, with an expanded performance schedule and with a committed company of artists the sky is the limit in 2004. It really is quite exciting.”

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s 43rd season is sponsored by National City Bank and Armada Funds. “We are grateful to National City Bank and Armada Funds for their generous support of our upcoming season,” said Bob Taylor, GLTF Executive Director. “It is a testament to their commitment to the arts and to the economic health of Northeast Ohio. We couldn’t be more proud to have their support.” Media sponsors for the Festival’s 2004 season are WCPN 90.3 ideastream and WKYC Channel 3.

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s 2004 season will run from July through December and will feature a summer repertory, a fall repertory and its annual holiday classic. In the summer, GLTF will present Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Drew Barr, in rotating repertory with Jess Borgeson, Adam Long and Daniel Singer’s The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), directed by Charles Fee. The Festival’s fall rotating repertory will pair Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Charles Fee, with William Shakespeare’s tragedy Julius Caesar, directed by Risa Brainin. GLTF will conclude the 2004 season with its annual production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, adapted and directed by Gerald Freedman and staged by GLTF Associate Artistic Director, Andrew May. All productions will be presented in the Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square Center.

Each repertory will run for six weeks, an expansion over last year’s five-week schedule. “We were thrilled by the response of our audience and our critics to last season’s rotating repertory of Hamlet and Tartuffe,” said Charles Fee. “The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The opportunity to see a single acting company perform two plays on the same stage alternating shows nightly makes the Great Lakes Theater Festival experience a unique one in Northern Ohio. It is a great challenge for artists and great fun for audiences.” The idea of expansion was the right next step according to Greg Quinlan, the Festival’s Managing Director. “It is clear that it is time for us to grow our schedule again,” said Quinlan. “Difficult times led us to cut our performance calendar two years ago. The great response to the last two seasons leads us to believe that growth is worth the risk. It makes sense now to give our audience more performance options. By adding Wednesdays back into our performance calendar and by extending the runs of each repertory by one week, we will expand our capacity by 25%.” (Consult the online season performance calendars for complete details.)

Another new feature of the Festival’s upcoming season is a free, nightly, outdoor event on Euclid Avenue, just outside the Ohio Theatre, called The Queen’s Arrival that will commence one half hour before each GLTF performance. “The Queen’s Arrival was conceived in the Green Show tradition that has long been a popular part of summer Shakespeare Festivals across the country. We are excited to introduce the concept to Cleveland,” said GLTF Associate Artistic Director Andrew May. “We were very interested in how the concept might work in an urban, downtown setting. We are still working out the details and I don’t want to ruin the surprise. But I will tell you that it will be interactive and family friendly, it will feature the arrival of a very special guest in a horse-drawn carriage and it will be a great way to kick off your evening downtown, whether or not you are coming to the show. We hope that you will join us for the festivities.” The Queen’s Arrival is one of many initiatives born from the Festival’s work with the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2004 focus group.

“2004 is an exciting time for Great Lakes Theater Festival. We have really reinvented this institution from the ground up,” said Fee of the Festival. “Of all the changes that we have made, I think the thing that is most exciting to me is to have been able to renew our commitment as an organization to the idea of company. On an artistic level, on an administrative level and in our work throughout this vibrant community, the idea of company has and will continue to yield great results for the Festival. I look forward to the opportunity to produce another amazing season of great, classic theater in collaboration with this talented ensemble.”

Fee confirmed that Opening Night performances of The Taming of the Shrew, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), The Importance of Being Earnest and Julius Caesar have been scheduled for Saturday evenings while A Christmas Carol’s opening night is slated for a Friday night. Performance calendars for the 2004 season have been expanded to include Wednesday evening performances. Curtain times for all evening performances will remain at 7:30 p.m., with a 1:30 p.m. curtain time for Saturday matinees and a 3:00 p.m. curtain time for Sunday matinees. The Sunday, August 8th curtain time for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) has been adjusted to 7:00 p.m. to accommodate other events at Playhouse Square Center. All five productions in GLTF’s 2004 season will continue to offer sign interpreted and audio described performances as well as the popular Director’s Night and Playnotes pre-show discussion series. (Consult the online season performance calendars for complete details.)

An adult subscription to Great Lakes Theater Festival starts as low as $69. Young adult subscriptions (age 25 and under) begin at $24. Single tickets range in price from $20-$45. Subscriptions are available now by calling (216) 664-6064. Single tickets go on sale June 1, 2004 and will be available by calling (216) 241-6000, by ordering online, by visiting the Playhouse Square Center Box office or any Tickets.com outlet located within all Tops Friendly Markets. Groups of ten or more receive discounts as do educators and students.

Since 1962, Great Lakes Theater Festival has brought the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience in Northern Ohio.