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 #4: February 4-6 (Double Bill)

Everything is Everything Project:
2 PLAYS – A Sleep and A Wake and 30 Awkward Minutes With Pat and Glenn
By TA213

A Sleep and A Wake
Written and performed by Val Kozlenko and Eric Perusek

What does it mean to truly be awake: how many of us sleep – walk through our lives? Through two contrasting monologues, A Sleep and A Wake explores every human being’s decision about whether or not to wake up the next morning…

30 Awkward Minutes with Pat and Glenn
Written and Performed by Renee Schilling and Lew Wallace

What happens when two people are trapped in the void? Pat and Glenn are two lost souls debilitated by their own desires and fears. Neither of them living in reality, one day they collide. Trapped together, they are forced to communicate and for the first time, be honest with themselves. 30 Awkward Minutes with Pat and Glenn is the exploration of what it means to have more questions than answers and how truly awkward our interactions can be.

Artist Bio:
TA213 is a new theater group made up of former and current CSU students. Our last play “The Myth of Cleveland” was featured at this year’s Ingenuity Fest. We view theatre as a living, breathing entity, we aim to create new work and find fresh approaches to existing works. We are very happy and honored to be involved with Cleveland Public Theater’s Big Box series!

Sick Fuck

Written by Paul Shoulberg
Directed by Noe Montez
Featuring: John Robert Armstrong*
*Appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

Sick Fuck follows a nameless man as he tries to navigate his way through a lifetime of resentment, regret, and heartache while terminal cancer eats away at his body. His dark and comical take on love, loss, and strategic, but in no way symbolic, shirt selection both attacks and embraces societal expectations of what good drama is supposed to be.

Armed with only his biting wit, a playful fascination with disorienting the audience, and the healthy (often half-naked) body of the actor picked to physically represent him on stage, this man desperately attempts to seek redemption in his final hour on earth.

Artist Bios:
Paul Shoulberg (Playwright) is from Lawrence, KS. His play, Reel, premiered as part of Indiana University’s main stage season in Dec’06, was performed at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee, WI, as part of the American College Theatre Festival, and was the winner of the Kennedy Center’s 2007 Mark Twain Playwriting Award for Comedy. His play,Dying on the Vine, was a semifinalist for the 2008 O’Neill Theatre Conference as well as the 2008 Julie Harris Playwright Competition and was selected for the 2008 Last Frontier Theatre Conference. His play,We Three, was the winner of the 2009 Ruby Lloyd Apsey Play Search for plays confronting racial issues and will receive its world premiere at the University of Alabama Birmingham in 2011. His play, Tweaked, received 2nd Place in The University of Tulsa’s New Works For Young Women Competition and was the runner-up in Stony Brook University’s 2006 John Gassner New Play Competition. His play, Slip, Stumble, Fall was selected for the The Willows Theatre’s NextFest, was a finalist in HotCity Theatre’s New Play Competition and received an Honorable Mention in The University of Tulsa’s New Works For Young Women Competition in 2007. He received his B.A. in Theatre and Film from Kansas University and his M.F.A. in Playwriting from Indiana University.

Dr. Noe Montez (Director) recently moved to Cleveland from Bloomington Indiana, and works primarily as the Dramaturg for the Cleveland Play House and as a faculty member in Cleveland State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance. Directorial Credits include Taking Care of Business(Cleveland Public Theatre’s Y-Haven Program),Death on My Mind, Farewell to Hollywood andUndercurrents; staged via a grant from the N.E.A.,Loving Parents, Carry On, Hand on Mirror, Joe’s Friendly and The Complaint (Bloomington Playwright’s Project). Academic productions includeThe House of Bernarda Alba, The Culture of Fear, Slop Culture and Ohio Impromptu. Dr. Montez has also served as an actor and stage manager in theatres across the Midwest. Noe holds a B.A. in Theatre and Dance from Grinnell College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Theatre History, Theory and Literature from Indiana University. When not working artistically, he writes on Contemporary Argentine Theatre’s attempt to reconstruct a national identity in the aftermath of the Dirty War. His work can be found in The Journal of Theatre and Religion, New England Theatre Journal, Texas Theatre Journal and in the the forthcoming book Public Theatres and Theatre Publics.

John Robert Armstrong (Man) John holds a B.A. in musical theatre and an M.F.A in acting from Indiana University. John recently moved to Ohio where he serves as professor of acting and musical theatre at Ohio Northern University and is a recurring teaching artist at the Paper Mill Summer Conservatory in Millburn, NJ. Credits IncludeHamlet (Freed PAC, OH), Macbeth (Indiana Repertory Theatre, IN), Treasure Island, a musical…(Beef and Boards, IN), Santaland Diaries (Cardinal Stage Company, IN), Pure Heaven (Emelin Theatre, NY), The Piper (NYMF), Seussical The Musical(National Tour), Company, Parade (Broward Stage Door Theatre, FL), Into the Woods (Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre, CO), Forever Plaid, Smoke on the Mountain (Brown County Playhouse, IN). University roles include John Proctor (The Crucible), Guido Contini (Nine), Marvin (Falsettos), Leo Frank(Parade), Pirate King (Pirates of Penzance). John is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association