DOBAMA THEATRE FEATURED IN APARTMENTGUIDE

Check out the recent ApartmentGuide article we were featured in:

Whether you know it as the Forest City, The City of Light, or simply The Land, Cleveland, OH is a well-loved Midwestern hub. There is something for everyone to discover along the lakeside, from sports history to culinary adventures to outdoor havens. To help uncover some of the many hidden gems in Cleveland, we reached out to local experts for their recommendations on can’t-miss spots. Whether you’re renting an apartment in Cleveland, OH, living in a rental house in the city, or looking at buying a home in the area, this list of hidden gems in Cleveland is sure to help you make The Land feel like your home. 

Read the full article here: 10 Hidden Gems in Cleveland, OH | ApartmentGuide

DOBAMA WINS A “KATHY” AWARD

Photos from Actors’ Equity Spirit Awards Ceremony

2019 YEAR-END THEATRE AWARDS

2019 Cleveland Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards

Best Non-Musical Production
STUPID F**KING BIRD, Dobama

Best Actress – Non-Musical
Laura Perrotta, STUPID F**KING BIRD, Dobama

Rising Stars - Female
WINNER! Calista Zajac, NETHER, Dobama

Best Director – Non-Musical
WINNER! Nathan Motta, STUPID F**KING BIRD, Dobama

Best Projection Design
T. Paul Lowry, NETHER, Dobama

Best Sound Design
Richard Ingraham, STUPID F**KING BIRD, Dobama

THE PLAIN DEALER

“2019 Year in Review”
Best adaptations: “Stupid F---ing Bird” and “An Iliad.”
In “Stupid F---ing Bird,” Aaron Posner doesn’t so much adapt Anton Chekhov’s Russian masterpiece “The Seagull” as put it through a meat grinder, producing a leaner, funnier, more flavorful dish aimed at the contemporary American palate. The cast of seven (boiled down from Chekhov’s 13) in the Dobama Theatre production was sublime, particularly Laura Perrotta as Emma, one of the most unapologetically self-absorbed creatures to ever tread the boards. In Perrotta’s hands, she was a mesmerizing narcissist, lassoing lovers and lacerating rivals with Chekhov’s immortal dialogue, made more lethal by Posner. Director Nathan Motta layered cheeky, meta detail throughout his wry, wonderful show to link Chekhov’s text to Posner’s contemporary version: One old guy even made himself a White Russian. What a way to toast Dobama’s 60th season.

CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS

Best Performance by an Actor in a Drama:
Jason Martin, “Wakey, Wakey”, Dobama Theatre

The New York Times theater critic raved over Will Eno’s early one-man monologue “Thom Pain (based on nothing),” calling the caustic yet comedic Pulitzer-finalist play “stand-up existentialism.” In Eno’s newest work “Wakey, Wakey,” the existentialism is served sitting down. Wheelchair-bound, actually, and told by a physically and mentally diminished man in the last throes of life. In an abundance of non sequiturs caused by increasingly fading faculties, Jason Martin as Guy toggled between consciousness, sub-consciousness and self-consciousness as well as between the trivial and the profound to share with us what he had learned in life so that we would not take ours for granted. Martin’s playfulness and gentle accessibility, performed under Christopher Mirto’s direction, made us want to offer our undivided attention. And it was his ability to frame this conversation as a most generous, noble and agonizing gesture by Guy that made us hang on each and every word.

Best Design – Projections: T. Paul Lowry, “The Nether”, Dobama Theater
How does one create a visual backdrop for a play like Jennifer Haley’s “The Nether,” that travels between the real world to an immersive virtual reality the likes of “The Matrix” and “Inception?” Director Shannon Sindelar called on projection designer T. Paul Lowry, who generated remarkably dimensional digital imagery of green landscapes with trees whose leaves rustled in the breeze, a gorgeous blue sky with meandering clouds overhead, and a city skyscape dramatically cast in shadows. All this was seen through three large windows on an otherwise dark and bare stage that transitioned to a virtual Victorian bordello, designed by Patrick Rizzotti and lit by Marcus Dana, when a beam of light scanned the space that set into motion the illumination of the wall’s decorative wainscoting and the pixelated accessing of a computer program. “Just because it is virtual doesn’t mean it isn’t real,” says one of the characters. Lowry’s colorful and animated images prove this to be true

CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS “Most Memorable Moments in 2019 Cleveland Theatre”
7. DOBAMA DOES THE DARK WEB: By offering plays with titles like “Stupid F**king Bird,” thoroughly despicable characters and the irritating sound of cicadas in “Appropriate,” and plots that are political provocations like the one in “Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again,” Dobama Theatre seems to be daring an audience to attend its recent productions. This was never more in evidence than in its brave and brilliant staging of Jennifer Haley’s “The Nether,” under Shannon Sindelar’s direction. Here, the central character (Matthew Wright) is an unapologetic pedophile whose online business provides a safe haven and playground for like-minded clientele. But the moment we learn that a middle-age man (David Peacock) is behind the pre-pubescent female avatar (Calista Zajac) who has been sexually entertaining the avatars of the adult guests, we find ourselves both appalled by this daring piece of theater and applauding artistic director Nathan Motta for serving up such gripping, cutting-edge Off-Broadway fare.

2018 Year-End Theatre Awards

CLEVELAND CRITICS’ CIRCLE

BEST PLAY
"Grounded"
"Sunset Baby"

BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY
Ananias J. Dixon - "Sunset Baby"

BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY
*Anjanette Hall, "Grounded"
Catherine Albers, "John"
Mary Francis Miller, "Sunset Baby"
Tracee Patterson, "Appropriate"
(* = WINNER Best Actress in a Play)

BEST DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Alice Reagan - "Grounded"

BEST SCENIC DESIGN
*Cameron Michalak, "John" & "The Effect"
(* = WINNER Best Scenic Design)

BEST PROJECTION DESIGN
*T. Paul Lowry - "Ella Enchanted"
T. Paul Lowry - "The Effect"
T. Paul Lowry - "Sunset Baby"
(* = WINNER Best Projection Design)

SPECIAL MENTION:
Dorothy Silver’s five-minute monologue on why her character went crazy,
in "John" at Dobama Theatre

THE PLAIN DEALER

Top 10 Productions of 2018
“Grounded”
Dobama Theatre

CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS

Best Performance by an Actress in a Drama
Anjanette Hall
“Grounded”
Dobama Theatre

In local playwright George Brant’s one-woman drama, Anjanette Hall played an ace Air Force pilot whose career flying an F-16 into combat is scuttled due to an unexpected pregnancy. Her performance of 90 minutes of uninterrupted epic poetry that transformed the literal into the abstract was absolutely spell-binding. Her masculine physicality, foul mouth and confident swagger got our initial attention. But it was Hall’s attention to small details in her phrasing and pacing, under Alice Reagan’s direction, that held it and it was the emotional fragility that slowly took over that kept our eyes riveted to the stage.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy
Abraham McNeil Adams
“Appropriate”

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and MacArthur Fellow “genius” grant recipient who the New Yorker compared to Sam Shepard, Eugene O’Neill, Tracy Letts and Tennessee Williams. It all shows in the brilliant prose and poetry that fill the dialogue in the dark comedy “Appropriate,” with Abraham McNeil Adams being a primary recipient in the role of Franz. The play begins after the patriarch of a white Arkansas family has died in his run-down ancestral plantation home and his grudge-bearing adult children (Tracee Patterson, Tom Woodward and Adams) and their families (Ursula Cataan, Kelly McCready, Ireland Derry, Miles Pierce) arrive to divide the estate. Adams played the black sheep of the family and did so, under Nathan Motta’s direction, with a wonderful vulnerable that had the audience laughing with him as much as it laughed at him.

Best Design – Scenic
“Appropriate”
Dobama Theater

As previously noted, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ play begins after the patriarch of a white Arkansas family has died in his run-down ancestral plantation home and his three grudge-bearing adult children arrive to supervise the auction of the home and the dividing of the estate. The family’s historical toxicity is evident in the decaying, mold-covered walls of the Southern Gothic mansion designed by Cameron Michalak, which then brilliantly self-destructed at the end of the play to depict the future of the house once its occupants and its racist history have been exorcised.

Best Design – Projections
T. Paul Lowry
“Ella Enchanted”
Dobama Theater

In the cinematic Disney version of “Cinderella,” it’s possible for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage and a plain country bumpkin and a prince to join in marriage. But the true bibbidi-bobbidi-boo to be found in Dobama’s rendition of the knock-off musical “Ella Enchanted,” under Nathan Motta’s fairy godmother-like direction, is the turning of something middling (the script and score) into something magical (this production). This was largely accomplished by T. Paul Lowry’s animated images of big skies and sweeping landscapes that were projected on a rear screen and other imagery projected on the proscenium. All this helped transport the audience to an inviting and absolutely enchanting world set for storytelling.

CLEVELAND SCENE

BEST PLAY

Grounded, Dobama Theatre

BEST SINGLE PERFORMANCES

Anjanette Hall, Grounded, Dobama Theatre

BEST DUO PERFORMANCES

Mary Francis Miller and Ananias J. Dixon, Sunset Baby, Dobama Theatre

Catherine Albers and Dorothy Silver, John, Dobama Theatre

BEST DIRECTOR

Justin Emeka, Sunset Baby, Dobama Theatre

Laley Lippard, The Effect, Dobama Theatre

BEST SCENIC DESIGN

Cameron Michalak, John, Dobama Theatre

Douglas Puskas, Ella Enchanted, Dobama Theatre

BEST SOUND DESIGN

Jeremy Dobbins, The Effect, Dobama Theatre

BEST PROJECTION DESIGN

T. Paul Lowry, Ella Enchanted, Dobama Theatre

—

CLEVELAND CRITICS CIRCLE
2017 Theatre Awards

Best Non-Musical Production:

Winner! – The Flick
Superior Achievement – Hand to God
Superior Achievement – How To Be A Respectable Junkie
Superior Achievement – brownsville song (b-side for tray)
       *4 of 6 shows recognized were Dobama Theatre productions

Best Actor – Non-Musical:

Winner! – Christopher M. Bohan, The Flick

Superior Achievement – David Peacock, The Night Alive

Superior Achievement – Luke Wehner, Hand to God

                  *3 of 5 people recognized from Dobama Theatre productions

Best Actress – Non Musical:

Superior Achievement - Lisa Louise Langford, brownsville song (b-side for tray)

Superior Achievement – Dorothy Silver, Marjorie Prime

Best Director – Non-Musical:

Winner! – Nathan Motta, The Flick

Superior Achievement – Matthew Wright, Hand To God

Rising Star Award - Male:

Winner! - Jabri Little, brownsville song (b-side for tray)

Superior Achievement – Colin Frothingham, Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Irregulars

*2 of 4 people recognized from Dobama Theatre productions

Rising Star Award – Female:

Winner! – Logan Dior Willams, brownsville song (b-side for tray)

Superior Achievement – Elise Pakiela, Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Irregulars

*2 of 3 people recognized from Dobama Theatre productions

Best Scenic Design:

Superior Achievement – Jill Davis, Marjorie Prime

Best Projection Design:

Superior Achievement – T. Paul Lowry, brownsville song (b-side for tray)

Superior Achievement – T. Paul Lowry, Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Irregulars

*2 of 3 shows recognized were Dobama Theatre productions

Best Sound Design:

Winner! – Cyrus O. Taylor, brownsville song (b-side for tray)

Superior Achievement – Erik T. Lawson, Marjorie Prime

*2 of 5 people recognized from Dobama Theatre productions

Best Full Production Premiere of a Script by a Local Writer:

Winner! - How To Be A Respectable Junkie by Greg Vovos

"In September, Lisa Langford was Lena, the grieving grandmother of a black teen killed by gunfire in Dobama Theatre's 'brownsville Song (b-side for tray)'....She confronted... prejudices in "Brownsville Song," insisting Tray's death wasn't "the Same Old Story" - her grandson wasn't another thug gunned down in a gang war but a good kid in the wrong place at the wrong time. In Langford's mouth, Lena's words detonated with the force of small bombs."

"In Dobama's "Hand to God," Luke Wehner was Jason, a depressed, repressed teen, and his Satanic sock puppet Tyrone. We knew Wehner was voicing and manipulating the potty-mouthed Muppet, but he did it with such skill, it was easy to forget the two were one."

"Best new play by a local playwright: "How to Be a Respectable Junkie" - Greg Vovos set out to write a realistic play that captured the human catastrophe of the opioid crisis in Northeast Ohio and found his truth in Craig, an ex-junkie he met at a town hall at Perry High School. Vovos incorporated the man's true-life story into a compelling piece of activist drama that debuted at Dobama in June, demanding that we look past the numbing statistics at the people who'd do anything to kick - the first step in putting an end to the deadly epidemic."

Cleveland Plain Dealer - Year in Review 2017: From 'Junkie' to 'Lizzie,' standouts on Northeast Ohio stages

David Peacock, The Night Alive

Christopher M. Bohan, The Flick and How to Be a Respectable Junkie

Luke Wehner, Hand to God

Jabri Little, brownsville song (b-side for tray)

Ray Caspio, Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Irregulars

BroadwayWorld-Cleveland Professional Theater Tributes -2017

OUTSTANDING NON-MUSICAL PRODUCTIONS

HAND TO GOD, Dobama Theatre

HOW TO BE A RESPECTABLE JUNKIE, Dobama Theatre

MARJORIE PRIME, Dobama Theatre

THE FLICK, Dobama Theatre