Cleveland Public Theatre to Present Satirical NOT-FOR-PROFIT... Beginning Next Month

Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) will present the World Premiere of not-for-profit (or the equity, diversity and inclusion play) by francisa da silveira.  This marks the second collaboration between Cleveland Public Theatre and da silveira with the first being can I touch it? from the 2022/2023 season.  da silveira, a playwright on a fast track, was a 2023 Finalist for the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. This satirical look inside of a not-for-profit mentoring program was the catalyst for the playwright's TV writing career which includes a stint with HBO's Industry.

Description: It's a typical day for the employees of RiseUp, an education nonprofit focused on urban youth mentorship―Interim CEO Lisa is dealing with un-woke board members who can't remember what organization they're supporting, Gen X Melissa is trying to use the latest Gen Z slang in a sentence, Kiki thinks they're being held back because they go by “they,” Nadine is too lazy to call IT even though she hasn't received an email in a month, “cultural” consultant Nick is a total FREE-gan who spends most of the day raiding the staff lunch room for freebies, and Alkanna's got the tea-flavored Lacroix on everybody. Will they take the time out of their day to…you know…check on the children? francisca da silveira's not-for-profit (or the equity, diversity and inclusion play) takes a satirical look inside a fictitious non-profit going through it.

Featuring: Kim Akins, Diwe Augustin-Glave, Alexandrea Decatur-Benally, Rachel Lee Kolis, Michael J. Montanus, Sydney Smith

Director: Jeannine Gaskin
Producer: Raymond Bobgan
Line Producer: Paige Conway
Stage Manager: Lauren Lash
Scenic Designer: Cameron Caley Michalak
Costume Designer: Amanda Rowe-Van Allen
Sound Designer: J'niah Davison
Lighting Designer: Libby Zamiska
Props Designer: Mia Jones

Opening Night (October 26)– Ticket includes free admission to the post-show opening party with appetizers and beverages and opportunity to mingle with cast members.

Free Bev Friday – Every Friday night at CPT is Free Bev Friday when a selection of free beverages are served after the performance.

Covid-Conscious Performances (October 27 and November 3, 2024) ─Face masks are required by all audience members for these performances.

Ticket And Show Information

Tickets for not-for-profit (or the equity, diversity and inclusion play) can be purchased at www.cptonline.org through the theater's Choose-What-You-Pay option which allows patrons to pay what they'd like from $1 to $80 with no handling fees.

About Playwright francisca da silveira

francisca da silveira is a Cape Verdean-American playwright, tv writer and Boston native whose work has been featured in ArtsBoston, The LA Times, The Boston Globe and American Theatre magazine. In 2023, her play can i touch it? enjoyed a Rolling World Premiere at Company One Theatre (Boston), Rogue Machine Theatre (Los Angeles), and Cleveland Public Theatre. Her play Pay No Worship was a 2023 Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and received its World Premiere at InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia) in April 2023.  da silveira was a 2020-2021 Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow, a member of The Public Theater's 2020-2023 Emerging Writers Group, a 2022-2023 Jerome Fellow with the Playwrights' Center, a member of The Apollo Theater's 2023 New Works Initiative Cohort, and a 2023 NYSCA commission recipient with The New Group (NYC). she is currently the 2024-2025 Tow Playwright-in-Residence with WP Theatre (NYC), where her play MINOR·ITY will receive its World Premiere in Spring 2025, co-produced by commissioning theatre Colt Coeur (NYC). da silveira was also in the writers' room for HBO's Season 3 of Industry. She holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and an MSc in Playwriting from the University of Edinburgh.

About Director Jeannine Gaskin

Jeannine Gaskin directed India Burton's short play Trade Flowers for Salt for the In Our Own Words – Our Stories Our Voices Series. Her most recent directing credit was Insurrection: Holding History by Robert O'Hara at Convergence-Continuum. Other directing credits include Devised Blues: Uncut & Funky at Baldwin – Wallace University and co-directed Until the Flood by Dael Orlandersmith at Malone University with Craig Joseph & Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel with Sarah May also at Ensemble Theatre.

About Cleveland Public Theatre

Cleveland Public Theatre has been at the forefront of new play development since 1981. Through five developmental programs, CPT serves local artists at every step of the creative process, from early ideas all the way to full productions and the entrepreneurial step of launching a new work.  Most recently, CPT announced its participation in the newly formed The Future of American Theatre Cohort, which is funded by a generous grant made by the Mellon Foundation.  The cohort includes four other small to mid-sized theaters across the United States that are dedicated to serving artists and patrons from BIPOC communities through play development, audience development and inexpensive tickets.

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