About RAYMOND BOBGAN

Raymond Bobgan creates new performances that are bold, multilayered, and highly physical through an ever-evolving ensemble process. Raymond’s work has been seen in Romania, Brazil, Denmark, Serbia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and has been featured in American Theatre magazine, Canadian Theatre Review, Theatre Journal, and in Lisa Wolford’s book Grotowski’s Objective Drama Research. Raymond has created many works for CPT including: Feefer Rising, with Faye Hargate; Rusted Heart Broadcast; Insomnia: The Waking of Herselves, with Holly Holsinger and Chris Seibert; Cut to Pieces, with Chris Seibert; and Blue Sky Transmission: A Tibetan Book of the Dead, co-produced by CPT and La MaMa ETC (Off-Broadway).

Raymond founded the Student Theatre Enrichment Program (STEP), a job-training theatre program for teens, and co-created the Y-Haven Theatre Project with James Levin which engages formerly homeless men in writing and performing theatre, and initiated Station Hope, a community arts festival exploring contemporary issues of social justice. With Faye Hargate, Raymond initiated Teatro Público de Cleveland, CPT’s resident Latino theatre company, and Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi مسرح كليفلاند العربي, a new group dedicated to creating and performing theatre from Arabic-speaking communities.

Raymond’s professional troupe, Cleveland CORE Ensemble, recently toured Red Ash Mosaic, a surreal journey through projection to purpose. They are currently working on a new project, Candlelight Hypothesis #1-12.

Raymond was the first recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize in the discipline of Theatre. He is a two-time winner of the Creative Workforce Fellowship and a recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Fellowship. He is an alumnus of the Theatre Communications Group (TCG)’s Early Career Development Program for Directors, and of the National Theatre Artist Residency Program (Pew Charitable Trust and TCG). Raymond also received the Cisgender Ally Award at Cleveland’s Transgender Day of Remembrance and Equality Ohio’s Ally Award. In 2018, he was honored with the Cleveland Foundation’s Homer C. Wadsworth Award and in 2017, his administrative leadership was recognized with The Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio.

He was the President of the Board of Directors for the National New Play Network from 2018-2020, and currently serves on the Executive Committee; serves on the Theatre Communications Group Board of Directors; and is the Chair of the Board of the Gordon Square Arts District Cleveland Improvement Corporation.

This is Raymond Bobgan’s 15th season in the leadership position at Cleveland Public Theatre.