Regional Premiere Of Unromantic Comedy SIGNIFICANT OTHER Comes to Dobama

Cleveland Heights, OH-Dobama Theatre's 2023/24 mainstage season concludes with the Regional Premiere of SIGNIFICANT OTHER by Joshua Harmon, directed by Colin Anderson. The production runs April 26 - May 19, 2024 at Dobama, Cleveland's Off-Broadway Theatre.

Jordan's running out of girlfriends. Now he needs a boyfriend. Jordan Berman would love to be in love, but that's easier said than done. So, until he meets Mr. Right, he wards off lonely nights with his trio of close girlfriends. But as singles' nights turn into bachelorette parties, Jordan discovers that the only thing harder than finding love is supporting the loved ones around you when they do. From the critically acclaimed writer of Bad Jews is a comedy about companionship, loneliness, and love.

SIGNIFICANT OTHER was first produced in 2015 at the Roundabout Theatre Company Off-Broadway, where it received critical acclaim. The New York Times called SIGNIFICANT OTHER "A tenderly unromantic romantic comedy, as richly funny as it is ultimately heart-stirring." It was Harmon's second play, following 2012's biting family comedy BAD JEWS (also produced at Roundabout). SIGNIFICANT OTHER then moved to the Booth Theater on Broadway in 2017, when Harmon was only 33 years old. It explores the stereotype of the "gay best friend," but in this play, Jordan Berman is a three-dimensional protagonist. "I will say just as an audience member whenever there's a story, I'm almost always more interested in the supporting players rather than the lead character," said Harmon. "But I do remember when [the film] 'My Best Friend's Wedding' came out and what a watershed moment that was, to see a gay character in a mainstream movie and how three-dimensional he was."

Harmon started the play when he was on a writer's retreat where he studied with Annie Baker. Baker gave an assignment to write nine short scenes that could be read in any order. Harmon wrote nine scenes between the character who became Jordan and his therapist. In the early stages of writing the script he thought it would be an epic play about unrequited love. The first version was 176 pages, a lot of it was Jordan talking to his therapist, and his grandmother. Then after BAD JEWS opened to a glowing response, Harmon started to re-work SIGNIFICANT OTHER. It took a number of years before the play got to a place where it was ready for a production. The playwright has said, "One of the things that excites me about the play is that it feels simultaneously epic and very intimate. 7 actors play more than 10 characters over an almost three year period in many different locations. And yet, at its core, the play is an intimate look at a group of friends whose lives change and priorities shift as they begin to couple up and settle down. They begin to face the real beginning of adulthood, and they all feel differently as they stand on the edge of that precipice."

The Dobama Theatre production features Scott Esposito (JORDAN), Mary-Francis R. Miller (VANESSA), Kat Shy (KIKI), Katherine Nash (LAURA), Mike Glavan* (WILL/ CONRAD/ TONY), Adam Rawlings (, Catherine Albers* (HELENE), Roxana Bell (Swing), and Michael J. Montanus (Swing); with scenic design by Richard Morris Jr., lighting design by Adam Ditzel, sound design by Jim Swonger, costume design by Suwatana Rockland, props design by Andy Zicari, intimacy direction by Julia Fisher, and stage management by Barbara Kozlov*.
*member Actors' Equity Association

"We're can't wait for audiences to experience this laugh-out-loud comedy that is infused with so much heart ," said Artistic Director Nathan Motta. "This play is both a fun night out at the theatre to share with friends and a thought-provoking examination of adult relationships, emotional wellness, and the ways we connect with the people in the world around us."

As part of the theatre's new Full Circle Program, Dobama is partnering with the LGBT Community Center. The Full Circle program actively engages members from communities represented in the scripts Dobama produces to both the theatre-making process and to audience enrichment offerings. Literature about services provided by the LGBT Community Center will be offered to patrons at every show and audiences will be given the opportunity to donate to the organization before and after each performance. For more information on the Full Circle program, visit: dobama.org/full-circle.

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