BARE is the 16th Annual Baldwin Wallace Collaboration Show

For their 16th annual collaboration, Playhouse Square and Baldwin Wallace University join as one to present an original and innovative production, Bare. Performances will be held Friday, March 31st , through Sunday, April 2nd. Tickets start at $25 and are available by calling 216-241-6000 or by visiting playhousesquare.org.

Bare is a coming of age musical with music by Damon Intrabartolo and lyrics by Jon Hartmere Jr. It tells the story of the senior students of St. Cecilia's Catholic Boarding School struggling with the frivolities and intensities of adolescence. Through a dynamic contemporary pop rock score, Peter and his schoolmates search for a way to express themselves within the confines of their parents' expectations, their own social pressures, and the strict confines of their religious upbringing.

Bare marks the 16th anniversary of spring partnership productions with Playhouse Square and Baldwin Wallace University. This collaboration allows BW senior Arts Management and Entrepreneurship students to gain the experience and opportunity to work under mentors of the Playhouse Square while the Musical Theatre students perform in a professional setting. The artistic team will include music theatre direction major Harrison Roth who will be graduating this spring. The team also includes Baldwin Wallace Theatre & Dance Alumni, Choreographer Lauren Tidmore. The design team includes Scenic, Costume & Lightning Designer Russel Borski and Sound Designer Patrick John Kiernan.

Laura Welsh Berg will direct Bare in her debut production as a Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre faculty member. Along with being the new acting specialist role on the BWMT team, Laura is a longtime company member with Great Lakes Theater in Cleveland, and sister companies the Idaho Shakespeare Festival and the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. Her roles for these companies include the title role in "Hamlet," Beatrice in "Much Ado About Nothing," and Vera in "And Then There Were None" among other roles.

For Laura, directing Bare is an exciting opportunity to explore the themes of love and self-acceptance. "The power of love has long shaped us as humans, not just on a person to person level, but as whole societies. What we see in Bare is not just the effects of a beautiful love on the two people who share it, but also on the community as a whole" says Laura.

Laura also spoke to the importance of directing this show right now. "This musical helped bring comfort and inspiration to many in the LGBTQA+ community, who are now coming of age in an era where the hard-won freedoms they watched their elders fight for stand once again in danger all over this country...and so the honoring of that struggle could not come at a more important time. It is my hope this production will provide a space to share a vital story: love is love. One love can change a community, help reshape the world. Onstage and off."

Bare runs for one weekend only, with performance times Friday, March 31st at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, April 1st at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, April 2nd at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at playhousesquare.org or by calling 216-241-6000.

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