Pandemonium ’16; The Fire Within is
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

Deadline for artist proposals is Monday, JULY 4TH, 2016.

On Saturday, September 10, 2016 CPT will present its annual fundraising extravaganza and “Party of the Year” – Pandemonium ’16: The Fire Within. Featuring dozens of area theatre, dance, visual and performance artists and with fabulous food and drink, Pandemonium ’16 is a benefit like no other and an opportunity for you to be a featured artist.

The Pandemonium production team is seeking proposals from extraordinary theatre, music, performance poetry, dance, visual and multimedia artists.

Pandemonium ’16 is a benefit event and all proceeds go to support Cleveland Public Theatre’s mission on stage and in the community: creating and presenting challenging and inspiring performance work, ensuring that emerging artists and small performance companies have opportunities to participate in the arts, and sustain CPT’s work with youth and with adults in transition. In its 30+ years on Cleveland’s near westside, CPT has been a catalyst for economic activity, job creation, private-sector investment in the community and led to the area’s designation as an arts district.

Read below to find out how you can be a part of the magic.

How Pandemonium Works

Over 800 Pandemonium guests will be invited to explore the CPT campus and create their own artistic adventure. With more than 60 performances to choose from, a guest may encounter a band in the balcony, giant puppets outside, an art installation in a hallway, and a 10 minute play in a garage – all in the span of 20 minutes.

Each year, the success of Pandemonium is due to the generosity of over 200 volunteer artists performing throughout the CPT campus. This year, by tapping into Northeast Ohio’s amazing arts community, we’re committed to making this the best Pandemonium to date.

Pandemonium is an opportunity to have an artistic platform and showcase your work to over 800 people. It will also give you a free backstage pass to the best party in town, a chance to meet and be inspired by some of the most extraordinary and innovative performing artists in the region.

Pandemonium is a huge production, so there is little technical support from CPT. While each space will have basic lighting and sound systems, it’s more about the performance and the art than technical spectacle. However, don’t confuse minimalism and resourcefulness with lack of style and quality. Artists are welcome to make elaborate plans for their space, but they must be ready to implement the plans themselves with little time in the space and technical support from CPT.

There will be a Stage Manager (if necessary) available for one rehearsal and the event, but it is up to each artist to provide their own artistic collaborators and produce their individual performance or installation.

Pandemonium performances should be no more than 10-15 minutes in length and involve no more than 5 artists. Most performances are presented multiple times throughout the evening. Art installations can range from large to small, depending on the individual needs and space available.

While CPT is not able to pay artists for their participation in Pandemonium, everyone is invited to enjoy the party of the year after their performances. We provide free food and beverages in the artist greenroom.

Pandemonium is just that – PANDEMONIUM! Flexibility is a must.

Who gets selected?

Proposals should be bold, inventive, entertaining and thought provoking. At Pandemonium, anything goes, so be creative and let this year’s theme inspire you!

We look for diversity in our artistic offerings at Pandemonium. Proposals can range from bands, dance companies of all varieties, short plays, art installations, poetry, performance art, wandering characters, comedians, etc. The sky is the limit, so we encourage you to think outside of the box.

In selecting works for this event we will be looking at a number of factors:

Has the artist/group demonstrated the ability to produce the proposed work? We want to feel confident that the artist/group has a clear understanding of what it takes to pull off a show, and they understand how to assess their own capacity.

Has the artist demonstrated artistic excellence? While all artistic enterprises require risk and there are no guarantees, it’s important that the artist has shown an understanding of artistry. This could be demonstrated in a work sample, resume of artist, script of past or current work, or in a project summary.

Is the work adventurous and new? CPT has a history of producing work that no one else in town will produce because it is somehow “outside the box.” The work doesn’t need to be experimental or weird (though that is fine, too), but it does need to be entertaining and compelling.

If you would like to be considered for Pandemonium’16, please complete the included application form.

Deadline for submissions is June 27th, 2016.

PANDEMONIUM ’16 APPLICATION

Deadline: June 27th, 2016

Thank you for your interest in participating in Pandemonium. Please complete the application and submit it electronically with your supplemental materials and a work sample (if available) to: New Play Associate, Caitlin Lewins at clewins@cptonline.org.

Materials will not be returned to applicants.

Click here for a Microsoft Word version of the application.
Click here for a PDF version of the application.