The goal of Big [BOX] is to support new work and local artists.

CPT provides:
– The James Levin Theatre
– Basic production staff, stage management, box office support
– Marketing and advertising support

The artists provide the rest!

The writers, directors, actors, and designers selected for Big [BOX] dedicate themselves to creating new and original work, or stretching their artistic powers by working in new disciplines. The resulting performances are always amazing and well attended. Big [BOX] performances and artists often go on to receive larger exposure and production at CPT.

Week #8: March 4-6 (Double Bill)

Voice Over

Conceived and Directed by Pandora Robertson
Written collaboratively, and performed by Bernadette Clemens*, Kelly Elliot, Dale Franks, Ilee Tylor and Steven West
Lighting Designer: Dennis Dugan
Video Designer: Gary Galbraith
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

How often and in how many ways do we try to answer these questions? “Who am I?” “Do other people know who I really am?” Or maybe “Will I ever be the same person again?” Like Andy Warhol’sCampbell Soup Cans, and his Marilyn Munroeprints, Voice Over plays with theme and variation to pose these questions.

Voice Over is a one-act theater piece, approximately 50 minutes in length, developed collaboratively by a diverse cast of five of Cleveland’s favorite actors. Each member creates their own deeply personal monologue about what it what it means to be them. This material is then reinterpreted by the ensemble in ways that provoke us to confront our assumptions about appearances and who we think we are.

Artist Bio:
Pandora Robertson was last seen at CPT inWanderlust: A History of Walking. Other credits include Ensemble Theatre’s The Magic Fire, Porthouse Theatre’s The Importance of Being Earnest, convergence-continuum’s The Minneola Twins, and Dobama Theater’s The Laramie Project. She directed Shorn at Dobama Theatre, and choreographed at The Cleveland Play House, GTLF, Cain Park, and Ensemble Theatre, and was a seven-year member of Ohio Ballet. Pandora holds an M.A. in Theater Arts from CWRU.

Bernadette Clemens (AEA, AFTRA): trained at Columbia University and the British American Drama Academy. Northeast Ohio credits include: Cleveland Play House, Great Lakes Theater Festival, The Beck Center, Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, Ensemble Theatre, Jewish Community Center, and Fine Arts Association. Favorite roles include Nora in A Doll’s House, Vivie in Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and Jill in Equus. She was last seen at Cleveland Public Theatre in Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape.

Dale M. Franks began his career in theatre in 1967 in a college production of You Can’t Take It With Youin Detroit. Since then he has acted in and directed more than 100 shows, including three turns as John Adams and one as Dickenson in 1776. Leading roles include, The Man Who Came to Dinner and Lend Me a Tenor, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas andLion in Winter. He appeared in The Magic Fire at Ensemble Theatre.

Kelly Elliott wears many hats as a local theater artist, but mainly is an actor and stage combat choreographer. Her work has been seen with companies such as Cleveland Public Theatre, Dobama Theater, Ensemble Theater, The Beck Center, Great Lakes Theater Company’s education department, and Theater Ninjas.

Ilee Tylor is a young ambitious artist who has performed at The Cleveland Playhouse and four seasons at the Marilyn Bianchi Kid’s Playwriting Festival. Recent credits include singing in the Contemporary Youth Orchestra with famed singer/songwriter Jon Anderson and an appearance in the short film Huck Finn Fantasy. Ilee is a competitive gymnast, captain of the Cleveland Heights Youth Cheerleading Team, and studies the Kathryn Dunham dance technique with the “Taylor Project”.

Steven West is thrilled to be a part of Big Box for a second year in a row. A Detroit native, Steven is in his second season as an actor/teacher in GLTF’s school residency program. Steven played Shane in Dobama’s production of The New Century. Other favorite credits include TJ in Southern Baptist Sissies, White Rabbit Alice in Wonderland, GremioTaming of the Shrew, and E.K. Hornbeck Inherit the Wind. BFA Wayne State University.

Gary Galbraith (video designer) was a principal dancer with the Martha Graham dance company as well as a guest artist with several international dance companies and festivals and has staged Ms. Graham’s ballets for companies and schools internationally. He has also choreographed several digitally infused dances that incorporate multi-media and network technologies some of which has been showcased at national conferences where he has been a featured speaker.

Side Effects May Include

Written by Marc Jaffe and Eric Coble
Directed by Eric Schmeidl
Featuring Nick Koesters*
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

You know those good news/bad news stories?

GOOD NEWS: Phil is paddling into middle age with some grace. He’s got a lovely wife (Maggie), lovely kid, and he gets to take out his pet-peeves in a successful stand-up routine at comedy clubs across the country. The primary complaint being his quiet sex life in this 20-some-year marriage.

BAD NEWS: His wife develops Parkinson’s disease. Not only is this bad in all the ways you would imagine, but she’s a successful OB/GYN. They wonder if they can keep this secret.

GOOD NEWS: There are drugs that can control the symptoms for now.

BAD NEWS: Potential fresh hell world of side effects.

BUT GOOD NEWS! His wife gets the rarest of side effects: A WILDLY AMPED UP SEX DRIVE NOT FELT BY MAGGIE SINCE SHE WAS 19 YEARS OLD!

BAD NEWS: Phil isn’t nineteen.

Side Effects May Include is a roller-coaster ride through an escalating mountain of pills, fidelity, secrets, questions of manhood and womanhood, age, desire, more pills, on-stage and bedroom performance anxiety, still yet more pills, and ultimately, an exploration of whether our deepest personalities and desires are anything more than chemical reactions within our brains.

ALL TOLD BY ONE MAN WITH ONE MICROPHONE AND A HUNDRED PILL BOTTLES.

Artist Bios:
Marc Jaffe is a former Seinfeld writer and has written for other television shows as well. His book Sleeping With Your Gynecologist – Tales From My Marriage to an OB/GYN was a best seller. Marc is also the inventor of a magical Elijah’s Cup for Passover, that enables Elijah to actually drink his wine at the Seder. That and Marc’s books and other biographical info can be found at his websitewww.elijahdrinks.com

Eric Coble is a playwright whose works include, “Bright Ideas”, “Ten Minutes From Cleveland”, “For Better”, and “The Giver” and have been produced Off-Broadway, throughout the U.S., on several continents, and perhaps most importantly, in Cleveland. Awards include an Emmy nomination, the AT&T Onstage Award, and the Cleveland Arts Prize. Eric is a Creative Workforce Fellow, sponsored by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

Eric Schmeidl is a native of Cleveland. He has directed productions for theatres including The Cleveland Play House, the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, and Dobama Theatre. His own plays have been produced by theatres including the Denver Center Theatre Company, The Cleveland Play House, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and Cleveland Public Theatre.

Nick Koesters plays Phil and Maggie and Shel and everyone else in this one-man show. Nick has performed on the stage of most every major theatre in northeast Ohio including: The Beck Center, Playhouse Square, Great Lake Theatre Festival, Dobama, Cain Park and The Cleveland Playhouse. Nick lives in Tremont with his two muses: his amazing wife Carolyn and their daughter Calliope.