If FusionFest is like a buffet, then for the third year, the Cleveland Play House is serving up the good stuff. With a trio of national solo acts and myriad local professionals, this year is bigger than ever. Now through May 11, arts lovers can pile their plates with comedy, drama, dance and more. There’s so much going on, we almost weren’t sure where to start. Almost.
All Hail Hurricane Gordo Date: Thru May 11 Why Go: Cleveland Play House teams up with the Humana Festival of New American Plays to produce Carly Mensch’s dark and quirky play depicting the codependent lifestyle of two brothers, Chaz and Gordo, who rams into walls for laughs. Change arrives in the youthful form of India, who rents a room from the brothers in an effort to escape from her painfully normal family. |
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Runt of the Litter Date: May 1-3 Why Go: He may have had a lot to prove on the field, but the theater world has embraced Bo Eason, the former ’80s Houston Oilers defensive safety, whole-heartedly. His semiautobiographical one-man show pulls the younger of two brothers out of his sibling’s shadow and into the spotlight. With sibling rivalry and athletic competition, who says football can’t pull heartstrings and shoelaces? |
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A Handsome Woman Retreats
Date: Thru May 4
Why Go: At first glance, yoga and personal crisis appear more like ingredients for the latest drama on Wisteria Lane than for comedy, but that’s before you add Kim Wayans, member of that famous comedy family, to the mix. For the first time at the Cleveland Play House, Wayans performs her self-written one-woman show, which is promised to be a “seriously funny road to inner peace.” |
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The Cleveland Plays —Part 1: Migration Date: May 8-11 Why Go: Where will you find Moses Cleaveland mingling at a Starbucks in Parma on a quest to discover the meaning of life or death? Dobama Theatre’s latest play follows our city’s founder as he posthumously searches for his life’s accomplishment, while two Cleveland families in different parts of the city try to discover their place in our corner of the world. |
For a list of all FusionFest performances, show times and ticket prices, call (216) 795-7000 or visit www.clevelandplayhouse.com.