Theater News

Cleveland Play House Announces Works for 2018 New Ground Theatre Festival

The festival enters its 13th year with world-premiere presentations.

Ryan Haddad is the author and performer of Hi, Are You Single?, joining this year's New Ground Theatre Festival at Cleveland Play House.
Ryan Haddad is the author and performer of Hi, Are You Single?, joining this year's New Ground Theatre Festival at Cleveland Play House.
(© Daniel Rader)

Cleveland Play House has announced the lineup set for its 13th Annual New Ground Theatre Festival. The festival will run from May 11-19.

This year’s festival will feature Hi, Are You Single?, a story about the highs and lows of navigating the gay dating scene with cerebral palsy, written and performed by Ryan Haddad. Laura Savia directs the play, offering performances from May 17-19.

NGTF will also include a new musical The Nolan Williams Project, in which the incredible 100-year history of a family owned soul food establishment is uncovered when a real estate developer attempts to buy them out. The Nolan Williams Project is written and composed by Nolan Williams Jr. with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Nikkole Salter (In the Continuum). A performance will be held May 19, directed by Robert Barry Fleming.

Also debuting during the festival will be the world premiere of The Starkweather-South High School Physics Club First Annual End-of-Year-Lock-In, or Ghost Party, written by Diana Grisanti. The piece was commissioned by CPH and will be performed by members of the inaugural CPH Theatre Academy Teen Performance Ensemble, ages 13-17. Brittni Shambaugh Addison directs with performances set for May 12 and 13.

For more information about the 2018 New Ground Theatre Festival, click here.