CPT announces a free workshop with nationally recognized theatre creator Raymond Bobgan. This workshop will serve as an introduction to Raymond’s unique approach to physical theatre/performance and as an audition for the upcoming CPT CORE Ensemble project. 

Workshop & Audition  

Raymond Bobgan is creating a new work and is seeking additional actors for the creation ensemble. This is a devising theatre process that does not begin with a script. Raymond’s work is highly physical and involves forms of contact improvisation. There may be weight-sharing, physical touch, and high cardio work. The work also involves singing, but voice training is not needed.  

The project is in development, and new actors will join the process March 15. We may allow some actors to join the process as late as March 22. Rehearsals mostly run Monday through Thursday, 6:30–10pm, and Saturday, 1–5pm (there will be some exceptions), until the last few weeks, where we move to six rehearsals a week.  

Tech rehearsals will be on Saturday and Sunday, May 24 and 25, previews on Thursday and Friday, May 29 and 30, and opening on Saturday, May 31. Closing on Saturday, June 14.  

Actors joining the performance run of this production will be paid a fee of $2500.

The Audition 

The audition is a free two-day workshop on March 1, 1–7pm, and March 2, 2–9pm. To apply for this free workshop/audition, please answer the below questions in an email to rbobgan@cptonline.org and aurozhaeva@cptonline.org, and attach a resume and headshot or recent photo. Application must be received by February 21, 2025.  

1. Name 
2. What is your experience with physical theatre and/or devising work? 
3. How do you hope theatre work in an immersive, interactive, bold, and explorative performance setting might support your current artistic journey? 
4. Why are you particularly interested in working in Raymond’s ensemble process?  
5. Are you available in general as listed above? Are there particular dates and times that may conflict?

Please only apply for this workshop if you are available to be in the ensemble, but there is no obligation. This workshop will allow you to better understand this particular process and if it is interesting to you.  

Additional details 

Who: This workshop is for actors at various levels of development who are interested in alternative approaches to performance and creating theatre.  

What: This is a style of theatre and a process for creating theatre that is intense, deeply personal, and gives primacy to physical and vocal expression, poetic and nonlinear storytelling, use of poetic and abstract text, use of song as a means for transformation and impact, and multilayered experiences. This workshop will involve intense physicality (similar to a dance workshop), enduring presence, and expansive yet focused imagination. 

Where: Cleveland Public Theatre  

When:  March 1, 1–7pm and March 2, 2–9pm. Participants must attend all sessions. 

About: Raymond Bobgan creates new, bold, multilayered, and highly physical performances through an ever-evolving ensemble process. 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 of their own.