CWRU/CPH MFA Acting Program Class of 2022 to Make Their Debut in MIDDLETOWN

The Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House (CWRU/CPH) MFA Acting Program Class of 2022 is preparing make their MFA debut as an ensemble in Will Eno's Middletown . Directed by Interim Director of the CWRU/MFA Acting Program Donald Carrier, this production runs March 18th - 28th in the Helen Theatre at Playhouse Square. The cast includes Isaac Baker, Sierra Grabowska, Kristina Gabriela, Bridget Kim, Gustavo Marquez, Chris Portley, Jordan Taylor, and Noah Williams. General admission tickets can be purchased at 216.241.6000 or clevelandplayhouse.com.

Welcome to Middletown, USA. Population: Stable. Elevation: Same. It's an ordinary small town. With ordinary people. All living seemingly ordinary lives. And yet, from all this ordinary emerges the extraordinary-the absurd, the hilarious, and the beautiful moments of lives being lived. Told with humor and deep compassion, this spiritual successor to Our Town shows us the joy, sadness, small victories and defeats we experience as we go through the ups and downs of being human.

Middletown Director Donald Carrier says, "Will Eno has a unique voice. He set out to write a play about birth and death and everything in between, where sometimes small events become significant. It's a wonderful play to explore in the first year of training as it challenges our students to remain grounded and not always strive for the 'big moment'. The characters in this play are your friends and neighbors and I am excited about the journey we are all on with this play."

Cleveland Play House Artistic Director Laura Kepley says, "Cleveland audiences will get their first glimpse of the Class of 2022 in this moving production directed by Donald Carrier. They are a playful, dynamic and engaging group of individuals who are coalescing into a very strong ensemble. I invite people to see these young actors now so you can experience the joy of watching them grow and transform over their three years of training."

"The first production of any cohort is such an exciting time," says Jerrold Scott, CWRU Katharine Bakeless Nason Professor of Theater/Chair and Artistic Director. "We've seen the students perform in their first semester in coursework and projects, but as an ensemble this is their first test in front of a true audience. Will Eno's Middletown provides such a great opportunity to shine: it evokes one of the great classics of the American theater canon-Our Town-yet puts a decidedly modern spin on it."

Middletown opened Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in 2010, and Will Eno won the 2010 Horton Foote Prize for Promising New American Play. Middletown was also produced by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2011, Dobama Theatre of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Third Rail Repertory Theatre in Portland, Oregon, and Actors' Shakespeare Project of Boston, Massachusetts in February 2013.

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