About Cleveland CORE Ensemble

Raymond formed Cleveland CORE Ensemble in an effort to sustain the conditions to develop unique theatre practices, investigate the potential of the craft of acting, and create a distinctive body of theatrical works. The ensemble’s performances feature dynamic movement, poetic texts, original music, and an entrancing, dream-like style all their own.

From an earlier incarnation of this work in consistent development (Filmed by The Cleveland Film Company and When the Seed Opens created by Raymond Bobgan and Faye Hargate).

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, South Korea, 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 Dream Rust Workshop (a hypothesis project) for CPT and Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America; Frankenstein’s Wake with Holly Holsinger; Feefer Rising with Faye Hargate; Rusted Heart Broadcast; Insomnia: The Waking of Herselves with Holly Holsinger and Chris Seibert; and Blue Sky Transmission: A Tibetan Book of the Dead, co-produced by CPT and La MaMa ETC (Off-Broadway).

Raymond initiated the formation of Teatro Público de Cleveland, CPT’s resident Latinx/a/o theatre company, Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi مسرح كليفلاند العربي, a group dedicated to creating and performing theatre from Arabic-speaking communities, and Station Hope, a community arts festival exploring contemporary issues of social justice. 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.

Raymond’s research and creation group, Cleveland CORE Ensemble, created multiple Zoom shows, live movies, and hybrid performances during COVID-19 as part of the Hypothesis Exploration Project. They are currently working on a live performance art piece, Candlelight Hypothesis, which will premiere in April of 2022.

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. In 2020 he was awarded the Father Frascati Neighborhood Champion Award.

Raymond was the President of the Board of Directors for the National New Play Network from 2018-2020 and he currently serves on the boards of Theatre Communications Group, Gordon Square Arts District Cleveland Improvement Corporation (Chair), and North American Cultural Laboratory. Raymond also serves on the Racial Equity Advisory Committee for United Way of Greater Cleveland and on the Community Advisory Board of Ideastream.

This is Raymond Bobgan’s 16th season in the leadership position at Cleveland Public Theatre.