Showin’ Up Black
Written by Jeanne Madison
Directed by Jimmie Woody
February 20, 2025 - March 08, 2025
7:30pm, Thu/Fri/Sat and 3:00pm, Sun, Feb. 23 & Mar. 2, Gordon Square Theatre. Previews Feb. 20 & 21. Opening Night is Feb. 22.
All performances of "Showin’ Up Black" are sold out! We're now offering a waitlist for general admissions. To join, visit the CPT box office in person starting at 6pm tonight. Please fill out your name, desired number of tickets, and provide a contact number. If you're hesitant about sharing a phone number, arrive by 7:15pm for a ticket availability update. Released tickets, if any, will be sold in waitlist order. If you're not present or miss the call, we'll proceed to the next person. While we'll make every effort, ticket availability is not guaranteed.
Thanks to all who came out to support this show!
Following a sold-out run in Test Flight 2023, Showin' Up Black is back with a full production!
On the eve of their daughter's cotillion, the Hopegoodes, an affluent African American family in Cleveland, see their plans for the perfect debutante ball collide with a Black Lives Matter protest. As the protest gets nearer, secrets and competing desires get shaken loose, tearing at the fabric of the family, challenging what, exactly, it is to be Black.
Click here for COVID-19 Safety Protocols. (Sunday Covid-Conscious performances)
The Gordon Square Theatre is ADA-compliant featuring a ramped entrance and an all-gender, wheelchair accessible restroom.
Ensemble Members:
The Creative Production Team Includes:
Scenic Designer: Richard Morris
Photos by Emanuel Wallace
Showin’ Up Black in the Media
News 5 cleveland – Showin’ Up Black makes its world premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre:
CoolCleveland: CPT’s “Showin’ Up Black” Highlights a Culture Clash
Ideastream Public Media: Three Cleveland theaters sharing stories of Black joy this February
Open Door with Vince Robinson:
Audio interview Vince Robinson did with Jeanne Madison:
Audience testimonials from the first run of Showin’ Up Black at Test Flight:
About playwright JEANNE MADISON
Jeanne Madison was the 2021/2022 Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellow at Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT), and a member of the Dramatists Guild. Her plays have been performed at CPT and the Ensemble Theatre, where she is a member of Stagewrights. Jeanne is a recipient of the Cleveland Scene Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Comedy for Sassy Mamas at Karamu House. Favorite roles include the PBS broadcast of Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed, The Velocity of Autumn at Karamu House, Picnic at Oberlin Theater, Left in Ink at Cleveland Public Theatre, and the award-winning Cleveland Shakespeare Festival.
Her on-camera work includes numerous TV commercials and films, including White Noise, produced by Netflix. Jeanne’s education includes a BA and MBA from Case Western Reserve University and Master Classes at Cleveland Play House.
About DIRECTOR JIMMIE WOODY
Some of Jimmie’s most recent directorial credits include: Jitney by August Wilson (Beck Center); Election Day by Lee Chilcote (BorderLight Festival); Brownsville Song/B-Side for Tray (Dobama Theatre); Art of Longing by Lisa Langford (Cleveland Public Theatre); To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, and Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (Weathervane Playhouse); Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky and The America Play by Suzan-Lori Parks (University of Akron); The Split Show, How Blood Go, and The Bomb by Lisa Langford (Tri-C, Convergence Continuum & Cleveland Public Theatre); Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, For Colored Girls… by Ntozake Shange, Jitney, Two Trains Running, Gem of the Ocean & Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson (Cuyahoga Community College [Tri-C Metro]); 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks (Cleveland Public Theatre); MLK Day by Jimmie Woody, The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe & When the Chickens Came Home to Roost by Laurence Holder (Karamu House); Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman (Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, Cleveland Public Library, and the Cleveland Botanical Garden); Underground Griots by Natalie Parker & Keith Josef Adkins (Cleveland Public Theatre, The National Black Theatre Festival and Here Café NYC); Wilberforce & Hollis Mugley’s Only Wish by Keith Josef Adkins (Cleveland Public Theatre, The National Black Theatre Festival & New York Hip Hop Festival); The Bacchae of Euripides by Wole Soyinka (Cleveland Public Theatre and Columbia University); Song by Daniel Gray Kontar and InCogNegro by Lisa Langford (Cleveland Public Theatre).
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