Cleveland's Classic Company Announces Expanded 2015-16 Season to Headline Hanna Theatre Home

The new lineup features a pair of Shakespearean classics, two Tony Award-winning musical, and a murder mystery thriller.

CLEVELAND, OH – Charles Fee, Producing Artistic Director of Great Lakes Theater (GLT), unveiled an ambitious, six-production array of classics to headline the company’s 2015-16 season. Great Lakes Theater’s fifty-fourth year is scheduled to run from September 2015 through May 2016 at PlayhouseSquare’s Hanna and Ohio Theatres.

GLT will commence its 2015-16 season with the Tony-winning musical, The Secret Garden, presented in rotating repertory with Shakespeare’s towering tragedy, King Lear (September 25 - November 1, 2015). The company’s annual production of Dickens’ holiday classic, A Christmas Carol (November 28 - December 23, 2015) will bisect the season. In the spring, GLT will present Agatha Chritie’s murder mystery classic, And Then There Were None (February 26 – March 20, 2016) followed by Shakespeare’s comedy, Love's Labour's Lost (April 8 – 24, 2016) and the world’s Longest running musical, The Fantasticks (May 13-29, 2016) written by Tom Jones, with music by Harvey Schmidt.

Great Lakes Theater resident artist, Victoria Bussert will celebrate her 29th year at GLT when she helms the company’s pair of musical productions, The Secret Garden and The Fantasticks, in the coming season. Joseph Hanreddy, who most recently directed Great Lakes Theater’s acclaimed production of Richard III, will return to direct the company’s production of King Lear. Tyne Rafaeli will make her GLT directing debut with Love’s Labour’s Lost. And GLT producing artistic director, Charles Fee, will direct And Then There Were None. The director of GLT’s annual production of A Christmas Carol will be announced at a later date.

Great Lakes Theater’s 2015-16 season is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. Generous season support is also provided by The Cleveland Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council.

Five of the company’s 2015-16 season offerings (The Secret Garden, King Lear, And Then There Were None, Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Fantasticks), will take place in GLT’s revolutionary, audience-friendly home at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, while A Christmas Carol will remain in its traditional Ohio Theatre setting.

Great Lakes Theater’s award-winning home at the Hanna Theatre features a unique thrust stage configuration where the audience surrounds the performance - affording attendees a uniquely intimate theater experience in which no seat is further than 12 rows from the stage.At the Hanna, patrons select from a variety of seating opportunities that include traditional seats, club chairs, lounge/bar seats, banquette couches and private box seating. Boasting a fully flexible hydraulic stage, state-of-the-art theatrical systems and a visionary “Great Room” inspired design concept that integrates the artist and audience into a single unified environment, Great Lakes Theater’s Hanna home is one of the most innovative theaters in the country.

Great Lakes Theater will continue to afford patrons extraordinary access to its production process at every Hanna Theatre performance in 2015-16. The Hanna’s doors always open ninety minutes before each show allowing patrons to observe the complete pre-show preparation process of GLT’s actors and technical staff. Elements such as stage combat rehearsals, dance calls, prop/scenic pre-sets, technical cue rehearsals and actor warm-ups will be conducted in full view of patrons, offering GLT audiences an unprecedented glimpse into the theatrical process. A complete list of pre-/post-show enhancement programming is available here.

Subscriptions to Great Lakes Theater’s 2015-16 season are on sale now. An adult subscription to Great Lakes Theater starts as low as $150. Student subscriptions begin at $39. For complete information, patrons should call (216) 640-8869 or click here.

Single tickets will go on sale in August. Regular priced adult single tickets will range from $15 - $70. Regular priced student/youth tickets for the Hanna Theatre are $13 ($26 for A Christmas Carol in the Ohio Theatre) and will be available for all performances. Further details and pricing specifics for single performance tickets will be announced in August.

Great Lakes Theater, Cleveland’s classic company, has brought the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience since 1962. The first resident company of PlayhouseSquare, GLT will celebrate its 33rd year in downtown Cleveland this season. On its main stage and through its extensive education programming, Great Lakes Theater positively impacts the lives of over 100,000 adults and students annually.

Posted on: February 08, 2015

Category: Press Releases