Cleveland Public Theatre announces tour of

RED ASH MOSAIC

Created by Raymond Bobgan & Cleveland Core Ensemble.
Directed by Raymond Bobgan.

Red Ash Mosaic will tour from Cleveland to New Orleans & Columbus

Spring, 2018

Cleveland, OH – Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) is proud to announce a limited tour of Red Ash Mosaic, created by Raymond Bobgan and Cleveland Core Ensemble. The Cleveland Core Ensemble and collaborators will tour this spring to New Orleans and Columbus.

Within this tour, Cleveland Core Ensemble is experimenting with different performance environments, seeking non-traditional and unusual performance spaces. According to Cleveland Public Theatre’s Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan “We want to think of this performance as less of a theatre production and more of an intimate transmission.” Red Ash Mosaic will perform in two cities in collaboration with ensemble-based companies Mondo Bizarro & ArtSpot Productions (in their collective space: Catapult) and Available Light Theatre.

The Cleveland Core Ensemble will also be sharing Red Ash Mosaic in Cleveland through invitation only showings. Public may request invitations through: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4192796/Request-an-Invitation-to-Red-Ash-Mosaic.

DATES

CLEVELAND: March 30 – 31 & April 4 – 7
CPT’s Parish Hall | 7:30pm | To request an invitation visit:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4192796/Request-an-Invitation-to-Red-Ash-Mosaic

NEW ORLEANS: April 12 – 14
at Catapult, hosted by Mondo Bizarro & ArtSpot Productions

COLUMBUS: June 21 – 23
at the Riffe Center, hosted by Available Light Theatre

Due to this tour, the Cleveland Core Ensemble will not be presenting a new work originally scheduled for spring 2018.

About the Play

Beginning in the daily doldrums of a video game store, Red Ash Mosaic erupts into a fracturing of realities and parallel lives, launching into an otherworldly land of dreams, spirits, and the awakening of one man as he confronts his own death/life.

Set in a modern America filled with fears and forgetting, Red Ash Mosaic reaches back to the cradle of our civilization and a crux of our future – the resource-rich and archaeologically potent Nile valley. Based loosely on The Egyptian Book of the Dead (or Coming Forth by Day), the story follows one man as he strives to unite the seemingly irreconcilable forces of his life, memory, and splintered selves. Red Ash Mosaic is an experiment in theatrical form, with interwoven and contradictory narrative threads, powerful physical action, chanting, and poetic texts – designed not to show, but to invoke; not a presentation, but a transmission.

Conceived over three years, with a world premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre in the spring of 2017, Red Ash Mosaic is the culmination of a collaborative ensemble-based process. To support the development and production of Red Ash Mosaic, CPT received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. In the fall of 2016, Cleveland Public Theatre received a Network of Ensemble Theater’s Travel Grant which allowed Cleveland Core Ensemble to foster a deeper and reciprocal relationship with sister theatre Mondo Bizarro.

About the Tour

Raymond Bobgan’s past theatrical work has been seen in Romania, Brazil, Denmark, Serbia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Canada, but since taking on the leadership position at CPT, Bobgan has focused on his artistic work within the Cleveland community. National theatre artists and leaders witnessed the world premiere production of Red Ash Mosaic through CPT’s growing network of collaborators and at the National New Play Network’s 2017 conference. Based on their overwhelmingly positive response and comments about how unique the work is, Bobgan and Cleveland Core Ensemble began thinking about touring once again.

According to Stefan Brün of Prop Thtr: “Our visit to Red Ash Mosaic, within a gathering of new play theatre makers, refreshed all of our conversations and challenged our conservative form.”

According to Raymond Bobgan, CPT Executive Artistic Director and Creator / Director of Red Ash Mosaic: “My work doesn’t land for all people but for many it can be a powerful and deeply meaningful experience—they come back multiple times. During the world premiere of Red Ash Mosaic, members of the National New Play Network were in town for a conference hosted here at CPT, and were able to experience the production. The reception of this work by these theatre leaders from across the country really drove home for me the value and the impact this play can have in other communities. Not only is this tour an opportunity for us to perform elsewhere, but also a calling to exchange work. In forming relationships with sister theatres in other cities, we’ve recognized a real desire for exchange of work—seeing others’ and sharing our own.”

About Cleveland Core Ensemble

In 2012, CPT Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan began working with a group of actors to create Rusted Heart Broadcast. The principles of this work were guided by Raymond’s long experience in ensemble theatre creation. Raymond formed a core group of actors to continue working together as an ensemble company, aligning with the Network of Ensemble Theaters, a national organization of which CPT is a member, which defines ensembles as “a group of individuals dedicated to collaborative creation, committed to working together consistently over years to develop a distinctive body of work and practices.”

As part of its growth, the group claimed a name—Cleveland Core Ensemble—and is working on a multitude of projects. The ensemble is made up of Raymond Bobgan, Faye Hargate, Adam Seeholzer, and Darius Stubbs. On occasion, other actors will work inside the ensemble as guests and the ensemble will continue to be part of other theatrical projects, both independently and as company members. The purpose of the ensemble goes beyond the creation of new work, as it also influences the approach to theatre throughout the season, instills core values in the broader artistic work of CPT, contributes to CPT’s community work in events like Station Hope, and forms the pedagogical basis for CPT’s education programs. Click here to read more about Cleveland Core Ensemble.

Cast and Crew of Red Ash Mosaic

The cast is Cleveland Core Ensemble: Raymond Bobgan, Faye Hargate, Adam Seeholzer, Darius Stubbs, AND Molly Andrews-Hinders, Holly Holsinger, and Maya T Jones.

Red Ash Mosaic was created by Raymond Bobgan and Cleveland Core Ensemble. The world premiere production team included Raymond Bobgan (Director and Scenic Designer), Benjamin Gantose (Lighting Designer), Holly Holsinger and Irene Mack-Shafer (Co-Costume Designers), Matthew Ryals (Composer/Sound Designer and 2015/2016 & 2016/2017 Kulas Foundation Theatre Composer Fellow), and Maura Krause (Dramaturg).

Research and development collaborators include Dionne Atchison, Courtney Nicole Auman, Ryan Edlinger, Lauren Joy Fraley, Sally Groth, Caitlin Lewins, Colleen McCaughey, Brandon X. McSwain, Chris Seibert, Jaclyn Vogel, and Todd Krispinsky who functioned as a design consultant and advisor.

Ticket & Show Information

Information about performances in other cities to come. To request an invitation to a Cleveland performance visit: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4192796/Request-an-Invitation-to-Red-Ash-Mosaic

PRESS INQUIRIES: For interview requests, media coverage at the performances, photographs, or any additional information, please contact Caitlin Lewins, CPT Director of Audience Engagement & Media Relations at clewins@cptonline.org or 216-631-2727 ext. 211.

BIOGRAPHY OF CREATOR/DIRECTOR

Raymond Bobgan, Cleveland Public Theatre’s Executive Artistic Director

Raymond is a director and playwright specializing in ensemble-driven processes. His theatrical work has been seen in Romania, Brazil, Denmark, Serbia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and throughout the US and Canada. Raymond has won numerous awards as a playwright and in 2016, he received the Equality Ohio Ally of the Year Award. In 2017, Raymond received the Governor’s Award for the Arts. Raymond created CPT’s Student Theatre Enrichment Program, and with James Levin, co-created the Y-Haven Theatre Project. As the artistic leader of CPT, Raymond has produced 47 world premiere productions.

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS AND THEATRES

About Catapult, Mondo Bizarro, & ArtSpot Productions

Catapult is a performance laboratory dedicated to the development of original theatre and innovative design, and is the creative home of NEW NOISE, Mondo Bizarro, ArtSpot Productions, and Becker/Shattuck Studio. Housed in a 4000-square-foot warehouse that features rehearsal space, offices, design studio, and fabrication shop, Catapult provides space for rehearsals, trainings, meetings, and workshop performances. Founded in 2012 by its resident companies, Catapult is a gathering place for experimentation and creative collision for the New Orleans ensemble theatre community. https://www.facebook.com/catapultnola

Mondo Bizarro is a New Orleans-based company that has been creating daring, interdisciplinary art, and fostering creative partnerships in local, national, and international communities for the last fourteen years. They are an ensemble that creates, presents, and produces a wide array of imaginative projects aimed at utilizing art as a tool for understanding what makes us commonly human and individually unique. Mondo Bizarro’s work is intentionally multi-disciplinary, ranging from physical theatre to large-scale community festivals; from innovative digital storytelling to site-responsive productions. www.mondobizarro.org

ArtSpot Productions is an ensemble of artists dedicated to creating meticulously LIVE theatre in New Orleans.  Their productions are a sincere blend of disciplines developed through ensemble authorship, physically rigorous training, original music, interactive sculptural environments, and extended research and rehearsal. They practice social justice and shared power in their creative and organizational processes, and strive to incite positive change in the community with visually stunning performances and empowering educational programs. www.artspotproductions.org

About Available Light Theatre

Available Light Theatre is a Columbus-based fellowship of artists dedicated to building a more conscious and compassionate world by creating joyful and profound theatre, and serving the community. Available Light Theatre engages the community by staging provocative works that examine our culture, expose its shortcomings, and reveal the beauty of humankind. Available Light Theatre enriches the American theatre by seeking potent processes and vital forms that enable artists and audiences alike to live the life of the imagination. http://avltheatre.com