Ensemble's 'The Gospel According to James' in Final Weekend

'The Plain Dealer' calls play 'unsettling, urgent, beautifully written'

Ensemble Theatre's current production The Gospel According to James has entered its last weekend. The play, written by Charles Smith and directed by Celeste Cosentino, is about a man and women remembering a 1930 racial crime and the events that followed. Showtimes, Tickets and More "The Gospel According to James is an unsettling, urgent, beautifully written drama that demands that we pay attention to the scourge of racism in ways Django Unchained -- with its operatic, cartoon violence -- never will," writes The Plain Dealer theatre critic Andrea Simakis. More from The Plain Dealer: Ensemble Theatre's bracing 'The Gospel According to James' a reveals a vital history The play runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The …

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Review Roundup: 'Miracle and Wonder' at Ensemble Theatre

This is your last chance to see the play at Ensemble Theatre. Here's what theater reviewers around town had to say about the show.

Ensemble Theatre's latest production, Miracle and Wonder, closes this Sunday, Dec. 2. The play, written by Cleveland Heights playwright Jonathan Wilhelm, opens three days before Christmas and includes a bizarre, comedic and heart-warming series of events that begin with a visit from a stranger in the middle of the night with unbelievable news. Throughout the play, themes of family and love are constantly present and defined. Here's what local news outlets said about the play. What did you think? Once you see it, share your reactions in the comments section below. The Plain Dealer Cleveland Jewish News The Sun Press (spoiler alert — meaning behind play title spelled out in review.) Brava, Marjorie Preston For show times and ticket …

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Vacant Home Discussion Set For Tonight

The meeting, set for 7 p.m. at Ensemble Theatre, is open to all, but the discussion will focus on vacant homes in the Grant Deming Forest Hill Historic District and the Cain Park neighborhoods.

Residents are invited to a round table discussion about vacant homes in the area at 7 p.m. tonight, Nov. 27 at Ensemble Theatre, (in the former Coventry School.) Zach Germaniuk, who works for Ferry Legal LLC in Rocky River handling business law and property law matters, will lead the discussion. The meeting will focus on the Grant Deming Forest Hill and Cain Park neighborhoods. "Foreclosed, REO, and vacant properties can challenge neighborhood stability. Zach Germaniuk will talk about the ins-and-outs of foreclosure and how a home can become a 'bank walkaway.' He’ll lead us through a discussion about neighborhood strategies to proactively deal with problem properties," the Grant Deming Forest Hill Neighborhood Housing Task Force wrote. …

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Garry Kanter

7:23 am on Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Is the city sponsoring this discussion? Is there an agenda?   more ›

Review: 'The Normal Heart' at Ensemble Theatre

Ensemble Theatre's production of the 1985 classic chronicling the rise of HIV/AIDS in New York City in the early '80s was a "a moving, incendiary production," according to The Plain Dealer.

'The Normal Heart' Opens at Ensemble This Weekend

The play chronicles the rise of HIV/AIDS in New York City in the early '80s.

Ensemble Theatre's artistic director Celeste Cosentino says she wants to stay true to the theater's original mission. Her mother, Lucia Colombi, founded the Cleveland Heights theater 33 years ago, and primarily produced American classics in the early years. Cosentino said her mother started the theater a year after she was born, and she refers to it as a sibling. The theater's first play of the season, "The Normal Heart," opens tonight, and first premiered nearly 30 years ago. The play, written by Larry Kramer and directed by Sarah May, chronicles the rise of HIV/AIDS in New York City in the early '80s. The show originally premiered off-Broadway in 1985, and won a Tony in 2011 for best revival of a play. "The story of a city in denial, '…

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Show by Eminent Playwright And Heights Grad Opens at Ensemble

Rajiv Joseph’s ‘Gruesome Playground Injuries’ explores different kinds of pain through humor.

Most on-stage love stories don’t take place over 30 years and happen in various medical facilities. But the play opening today at Ensemble Theatre, Gruesome Playground Injuries, by Rajiv Joseph, takes exactly those risks. In just 80 minutes, the play delves into the physical and emotional pain of two people, from age 8 to middle age, often employing dark humor to make its points. Joseph, whose Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, was born in Cleveland and is a graduate of Cleveland Heights High School. The two-hander at Ensemble features top talent, including Dan Folino and Ensemble artistic director Celeste Cosentino on stage, under the direction of Fred Sternfeld. Gruesome Playground Injuries, from …

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'Lower Ninth' Opens Tonight at Ensemble Theatre

The play is set on a rooftop in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hits

Ensemble Theatre's second play as part of its “Panorama of African-American Theatre: IV” series opens tonight. Lower Ninth by Beau Willimon is set on the rooftop of a house submerged in water after Hurricane Katrina. The play, directed by Ensemble’s artistic director Celeste Cosentino, follows two men who are trapped on top of the house for two days. "E-Z is a rebellious young man. Malcolm is a reformed addict who has found strength through religion," according to a press release from Ensemble Theatre. "Sharing the roof with them is the corpse of Lowboy. Over the course of two stultifying days in the sun, Malcolm and E-Z must battle heat, hunger, their pasts and each other." The theater warns that the play contains strong language and may …

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Theater Preview: 'The Seafarer' Docks at Dobama This Friday

Two Irish brothers celebrate Christmas Eve with poker, booze and truth telling

When Irish friends and hard drinkers gather to ring in the holiday, chances are sparks will fly. And that may be the case with The Seafarer written by Conor McPherson, which opens this Friday at Dobama Theatre. McPherson, whose St. Nicholas is also currently playing in Cleveland Heights at Ensemble Theatre, is a talented weaver of words. He has structured a play in The Seafarer that allows him maximum opportunities to display his character-crafting prowess. Two aging bachelors, Richard Harkin and his brother Sharky, are joined in their shabby home by a couple friends, and they all start swigging whiskey and trading lively banter. But things change when a mysterious stranger shows up and instigates a game of poker with unusually high stakes…

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Preview: Bloodsuckers to Abound in New Ensemble Play

A theater critic and vampires gather in “St. Nicholas,” opening this Friday

Many people would be hard-pressed to detect any difference between theater critics and vampires (there is one: theater critics sleep in later). That fact may not actually be explored in the one-man show St. Nicholas by Irish playwright Conor McPherson, which opens Friday at Ensemble Theatre. But this play promises an interesting adventure involving an egotistical man and the vampire myth. A jaded theater critic (is there any other kind?) is smitten by a beautiful actress. So he follows her from Dublin to London, where he encounters big-city vampires and other challenges. The themes of love and self-discovery merge in a play that has been called “spellbinding,” “poignant” and “hilarious.” Local actor Dana Hart will perform the solo role, …

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Theater Preview: 'Waiting for Lefty' at Ensemble Theatre

Pro-union play from 1935 speaks to current concerns here and throughout the country

As they say, everything old is new again. And that statement is absolutely true when referring to Ensemble Theatre’s season-opening production, Waiting for Lefty by Clifford Odets. Ensemble is now ensconced in its new home in the former Coventry Elementary School, at the southeast corner of Coventry Village. And the theater is beginning its 2011-2012 season with an old play that may initiate some passionate and even heated conversations. First produced at a time when the country was just emerging from the Great Depression, Waiting for Lefty centers on a meeting of taxi drivers who are planning a labor strike to obtain higher wages. With a vote coming up next month on Ohio Senate Bill 5, the anti-collective bargaining bill, this play hits …

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Michelle Simakis

11:21 am on Thursday, October 6, 2011

After you go to the play, tell us what you thought here!   more ›