Robert Branch

Sunday Morning Michael Dale: My Favorite Cease and Desist Letters

A while back. I was in an audience of theatre fans watching an onstage conversation between Frank Rich and Stephen Sondheim and the subject of unauthorized changes made in regional and amateur productions came up. The composer/lyricist mentioned that he had heard of a production of Company that ended with Bobby committing suicide by shooting himself.

BWW Review: Playwrights Local Presents THE PANTHER DANCER, a Bio-Play About Michael Jackson

The mission of Playwrights Local is to support dramatists of Northeast Ohio by presenting locally written works, with the vision of increasing original theater and raising the profile of area playwrights.

Photo Flash: Cleveland's Karamu House Hosts the American Premiere of THE ADVENTURES OF THE BLACK GIRL

Karamu House presents the American premiere of The Adventures of The Black Girl in Her Search for God running now through April 15, 2018.  Based on the short story by George Bernard Shaw, this side-splitting comedy is written by Lisa Codrington and directed by Nina Domingue. 

New Shaw Adaptation Receives American Premiere At Karamu House

Karamu House, the oldest African American theatre in the country, presents the American premiere of The Adventures of The Black Girl in Her Search for God from March 22 through April 15, 2018. Performances of this sidesplitting comedy written by celebrated Canadian playwright Lisa Codrington, and based on the short story by George Bernard Shaw will be held in Karamu's intimate Arena Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio. Directed by Nina Domingue, the cast is led by India Pierre-Ingram in the title role and includes Kaila Benford, Robert Branch, Samantha Cocco, Michael Head, Mary-Francis R. Miller, Prophet D. Seay, and Karl Toth.

BWW Review: THE CHASTE GENIUS AND HIS DEATHRAY GUN, an interesting history lesson unfolds at convergence continuum

'The Chaste Genius and His DeathRay Gun,' now on stage at congruence continuum, tells the tale of an obsessive, germ phobic genius who lived most of his life trying to get financial backing from the likes of JP Morgan, to develop his ideas.

BWW Review: THINGS AS THEY ARE examines poet Wallace Stevens in world premiere at Playwrights Local

As a play in process, "Things As They Are" needs to be reexamined with an eye for sharpening and tightening the dialogue and ascertaining whether all the visual and audio stimuli are necessary to tell the tale. For those who like to see new works, to discuss and add in-put into the development process, Playwrights Local and this play offer that opportunity.

BWW Review: HARM'S WAY Examines the Underbelly of Humanity at Convergence Continuum

Cleveland is in the midst of 'The Mac Wellman Homecoming Festival,' presented by Playwrights Local, in partnership with Cleveland State University Department of English, the NEOMFA Creative Writing Program, and the Michael Schwartz Library, with performances by Playwrights Local, Theater Ninjas, convergence-continuum, CSU Department of Theatre & Dance, Baldwin Wallace University Department of Theatre and Dance, and The Manhattan Project-Cleveland Lab.

HARM'S WAY Opens This Week at convergence-continuum

convergence-continuum opens its 2017 season with the Ohio premiere of Harm's Way by Mac Wellman, directed by Clyde Simon. Harm's Way, the darkly humorous fable of an angry man on a rampage through a fantastical wilderness, chronicles the exploits of very angry Santouche as he tries to make sense of his understanding of law and order in a nation of other angry people.

BWW Review: LIKE I SAY - A Script in Search of a Purpose at convergence-continuum

Len Jenkin, the author of LIKE I SAY, which he refers to as a 'sober-minded comedy,' is the recipient of three Obie Awards and received an Emmy nomination.

New Theatre, Playwrights Local 4181, to Produce Local Writers' Scripts

Purpose is to develop "a playwrights' center," which means they will "develop  plays (and playwrights), produce plays, and otherwise provide our dramatists with a long-needed home." 

BWW Review: PURE SHOCK VALUE, absurd farce confounds at None Too Fragile

Sean Derry and Alanna Romansky, Co-Artistic Directors of none too fragile have, since its founding in 2010, established the venue as a major theater in the Akron-Cleveland area. Dedicated to being an 'adventurously-bold theatrical voice,' they choose 'modern and relevant' scripts, that are 'thought-provoking, heart-touching, and, at time, principle-challenging, character-drive stories.' In other words, as they state on their blog-site, their goal is to do 'Award winning Kick-a** Theatre!'

NEOMFA Playwrights Festival Opens 2/11 at convergence-continuum

convergence-continuum presents four world-premiere plays by local graduate-student playwrights at the 2016 NEOMFA Playwrights Festival. The Festival features two full-length (two-act) plays by final-year MFA candidates Logan Smith and Lisa Langford, and two short one-act plays by second-year grad students Jaclyn Cifranic and Samuel Amazing. These plays are part of a three-year intensive program of study under playwright and Cleveland State University professor Mike Geither, and are co-produced by convergence-continuum and the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts (NEOMFA) in Creative Writing consortium. This will be the fifth year convergence-continuum has mounted the Festival at its performance space, the Liminis, 2438 Scranton Rd, Cleveland 44113 in the historic Tremont neighborhood.

UPDATE: Black Actor Justin Fraley Says He Was Replaced By White Actor as MLK For Full Run Of Kent State's THE MOUNTAINTOP

While the director says performances were divided, the actor says he was replaced for the full run.

Playwright Katori Hall Reacts To White Actor Cast As Martin Luther King, Jr. in THE MOUNTAINTOP

She calls the casting, 'a self-serving and disrespectful directing exercise for a paying audience.'

Kent State's African Community Theatre Casts White Actor As Dr. Martin Luther King In THE MOUNTAINTOP

Licensing agency changes contract after controversial production.

BWW Reviews: THE RECKLESS RUTHLESS BRUTAL CHARGE OF IT or THE TRAIN PLAY Confounds at Convergence-Continuum

Liz Duffy Adams, whose play, 'The Reckless Ruthless Brutal Charge Of It, or The Train Play' is now on stage at convergence continuum is noted for being an American abstract writer. The word 'abstract' may be the key to confronting 'The Train Play.'

convergence-continuum Presents 'THE TRAIN PLAY', Now thru 7/18

convergence-continuum continues its 2015 Season with the Ohio premiere of Liz Duffy Adams' THE RECKLESS RUTHLESS BRUTAL CHARGE OF IT, or THE TRAIN PLAY, a comic-poetic derailment of apocalyptic nightmares and American dreams.

convergence-continuum to Present 'THE TRAIN PLAY', 6/26-7/18

convergence-continuum continues its 2015 Season with the Ohio premiere of Liz Duffy Adams' THE RECKLESS RUTHLESS BRUTAL CHARGE OF IT, or THE TRAIN PLAY, a comic-poetic derailment of apocalyptic nightmares and American dreams.

BWW Reviews: Sir Isaac Newton Wonderfully Unmasked at Convergence-continuum

One of the major issues in watching a historidrama is figuring out what is real, what is fiction, and what is fantasy. This is especially the case in Lucas Hnath's ISAAC'S EYE, now on stage at convergence-continuum. Between the laughs and mumbles of 'I didn't know that,' 'wow,' and, 'no way,' it's easy to get lost in intrapersonal mumblings.

ISAAC'S EYE Opens Today at convergence-continuum

convergence-continuum, kicks off its 2015 Season with the Ohio premiere of Lucas Hnath's modern send-up of old-fashioned historical dramas, ISAAC'S EYE.