cain park
All Dina Rees Evans wanted was an outdoor space for her Cleveland Heights High School students to perform A Midsummer's Night Dream. So the teacher staged the production at the foot of a sledding hill at Taylor and Superior in 1934. The show drew such grand applause that the city was convinced to build a permanent theater — named after Cleveland Heights Mayor Frank Cain — featuring a main amphitheater with the addition of the smaller Alma Theater in 1944. The theater staged classical performances of Shakespeare, Moliere and Ibsen in addition to contemporary fare such as The Man Who Came To Dinner. In the 1960s, the main stage fell into disuse until a $100,000 renovation for the filming of Those Lips, Those Eyes in 1979 breathed new life into the theater. Since then, it has thrived as the host of concerts, an annual arts festival and the plays it was built for more than 80 years ago.
