Cleveland Public Theatre Announces Tour Of RED ASH MOSAIC From Cleveland To New Orleans, Detroit, & Columbus

Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) is proud to announce a limited tour of Red Ash Mosaic, created by Raymond Bobgan and Cleveland Core Ensemble. The Cleveland Core Ensemble and collaborators will tour this spring to New Orleans, Detroit, and Columbus.

Within this tour, Cleveland Core Ensemble is experimenting with different performance environments, seeking non-traditional and unusual performance spaces. According to Cleveland Public Theatre's Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan "We want to think of this performance as less of a theatre production and more of an intimate transmission." Red Ash Mosaic will perform in three cities in collaboration with ensemble-based companies Mondo Bizarro & ArtSpot Productions (in their collective space: Catapult), A Host of People, and Available Light Theatre.

The Cleveland Core Ensemble will also be sharing Red Ash Mosaic in Cleveland through invitation only showings. Public may request invitations through: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4192796/Request-an-Invitation-to-Red-Ash-Mosaic.

DATES

CLEVELAND: March 30 - 31 & April 4 - 7
CPT's Parish Hall | 7:30pm | To request an invitation visit:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4192796/Request-an-Invitation-to-Red-Ash-Mosaic

NEW ORLEANS: April 12 - 14
at Catapult, hosted by Mondo Bizarro & ArtSpot Productions

DETROIT: June 7 - 10
Hosted by A Host of People

COLUMBUS: June 21 - 23
at the Riffe Center, hosted by Available Light Theatre

Due to this tour, the Cleveland Core Ensemble will not be presenting a new work originally schedule for spring 2018.

About the Play
Beginning in the daily doldrums of a video game store, Red Ash Mosaic erupts into a fracturing of realities and parallel lives, launching into an otherworldly land of dreams, spirits, and the awakening of one man as he confronts his own death/life.

Set in a modern America filled with fears and forgetting, Red Ash Mosaic reaches back to the cradle of our civilization and a crux of our future - the resource-rich and archaeologically potent Nile valley. Based loosely on The Egyptian Book of the Dead (or Coming Forth by Day), the story follows one man as he strives to unite the seemingly irreconcilable forces of his life, memory, and splintered selves. Red Ash Mosaic is an experiment in theatrical form, with interwoven and contradictory narrative threads, powerful physical action, chanting, and poetic texts - designed not to show, but to invoke; not a presentation, but a transmission.

Conceived over three years, with a world premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre in the spring of 2017, Red Ash Mosaic is the culmination of a collaborative ensemble-based process. To support the development and production of Red Ash Mosaic, CPT received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. In the fall of 2016, Cleveland Public Theatre received a Network of Ensemble Theater's Travel Grant which allowed Cleveland Core Ensemble to foster a deeper and reciprocal relationship with sister theatre Mondo Bizarro.

About the Tour

Raymond Bobgan's past theatrical work has been seen in Romania, Brazil, Denmark, Serbia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Canada, but since taking on the leadership position at CPT, Bobgan has focused on his artistic work within the Cleveland community. National theatre artists and leaders witnessed the world premiere production of Red Ash Mosaic through CPT's growing network of collaborators and at the National New Play Network's 2017 conference. Based on their overwhelmingly positive response and comments about how unique the work is, Bobgan and Cleveland Core Ensemble began thinking about touring once again.

According to Stefan Brün of Prop Thtr: "Our visit to Red Ash Mosaic, within a gathering of new play theatre makers, refreshed all of our conversations and challenged our conservative form."

According to Raymond Bobgan, CPT Executive Artistic Director and Creator / Director of Red Ash Mosaic: "My work doesn't land for all people but for many it can be a powerful and deeply meaningful experience-they come back multiple times. During the world premiere of Red Ash Mosaic, members of the National New Play Network were in town for a conference hosted here at CPT, and were able to experience the production. The reception of this work by these theatre leaders from across the country really drove home for me the value and the impact this play can have in other communities. Not only is this tour an opportunity for us to perform elsewhere, but also a calling to exchange work. In forming relationships with sister theatres in other cities, we've recognized a real desire for exchange of work-seeing others' and sharing our own."

About Cleveland Core Ensemble

In 2012, CPT Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan began working with a group of actors to create Rusted Heart Broadcast. The principles of this work were guided by Raymond's long experience in ensemble theatre creation. Raymond formed a core group of actors to continue working together as an ensemble company, aligning with the Network of Ensemble Theaters, a national organization of which CPT is a member, which defines ensembles as "a group of individuals dedicated to collaborative creation, committed to working together consistently over years to develop a distinctive body of work and practices."

As part of its growth, the group claimed a name-Cleveland Core Ensemble-and is working on a multitude of projects. The ensemble is made up of Raymond Bobgan, Faye Hargate, Adam Seeholzer, and Darius Stubbs. On occasion, other actors will work inside the ensemble as guests and the ensemble will continue to be part of other theatrical projects, both independently and as company members. The purpose of the ensemble goes beyond the creation of new work, as it also influences the approach to theatre throughout the season, instills core values in the broader artistic work of CPT, contributes to CPT's community work in events like Station Hope, and forms the pedagogical basis for CPT's education programs. Click here to read more about Cleveland Core Ensemble.

Cast and Crew of Red Ash Mosaic

The cast is Cleveland Core Ensemble: Raymond Bobgan, Faye Hargate, Adam Seeholzer, Darius Stubbs, AND Molly Andrews-Hinders, Holly Holsinger, and Maya Jones.

Red Ash Mosaic was created by Raymond Bobgan and Cleveland Core Ensemble. The world premiere production team included Raymond Bobgan (Director and Scenic Designer), Benjamin Gantose (Lighting Designer), Holly Holsinger and Irene Mack-Shafer (Co-Costume Designers), Matthew Ryals (Composer/Sound Designer and 2015/2016 & 2016/2017 Kulas Foundation Theatre Composer Fellow), and Maura Krause (Dramaturg).

Research and development collaborators include Dionne Atchison, Courtney Nicole Auman, Ryan Edlinger, Lauren Joy Fraley, Sally Groth, Caitlin Lewins, Colleen McCaughey, Brandon X. McSwain, Chris Seibert, Jaclyn Vogel, and Todd Krispinsky who functioned as a design consultant and advisor.

Ticket & Show Information

Information about performances in other cities to come. To request an invitation to a Cleveland performance visit: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4192796/Request-an-Invitation-to-Red-Ash-Mosaic

Photo Faye Hargate, Adam Seeholzer, Darius Stubbs, Holly Holsinger. Photo by Steve Wagner

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