WORK-SHOP, BABY, WORK-SHOP!

Sometimes the high stakes and pressures of a performance…can compromise one’s ability to utilize those processes for continued growth of fundamentals.  It is an awesome thing that so many stories are being told in NE Ohio theatre, and surely, each story/play/musical, there are lessons learned and gained over the experience.  We’re hoping to bring a more targeted and intentional approach to that sort of lesson building and removing the strictures that can pressurize or limit the experience.

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Craig Joseph
TRUST THE JOY, F[orget] THE REST; BY MICHAEL GLAVAN

It is altogether possible to get so preoccupied beating yourself up that you miss the forest for the wood shavings (not even a tree). I’ve tried to change my vernacular around what feels like “mistakes” or “wrong/bad” choices to “challenges” and “less clear” choices. That’s all they are.  They are the wood shavings of one less option I need to pursue from a menu of infinite options that can build joy-filled art.  There are lessons and forests to explore. Don’t get stuck in the shavings.

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Craig Joseph
CHASE WHAT YOU LOVE: AN INTERVIEW WITH JONO RODRIGUEZ 

At one time I was squatting 765 pounds “ass-to-grass”. [Football] was my way of life and a huge part of my identity. I graduated from Ohio State in 2017 with a degree in world politics.  One moment I’m taking a  photo with my family and with my degree in hand. The next… I’m taking a very different kind of photo with a very different kind of document in my hands…

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Craig Joseph
A RETURN AND A NEW CHARGE: BY SCOTT ESPOSITO, ENSEMBLE MEMBER

I’m happy to take on the administrative tasks, but what I’m most excited (and scared) about is the opportunity to produce and direct two of our Salon Series new play readings. I’ve never produced anything before and haven’t directed anything since I was in college (almost 25 years ago). I’ve been acting since I was in middle school, but recently have started to feel like I should take a risk, do the scary thing, and look for something to direct.

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Craig Joseph
FIGURING OUT THE STORY: BY CRAIG JOSEPH, DIRECTOR OF GRAND CONCOURSE

One of the helpful exercises that I took away from graduate school was the idea of doing a one page - front and back - conceptual statement for every show that I direct. I can't recall the book where the notion came from, but the writer called it a General Beauty Statement, forcing the director to confront what they find compelling and beautiful about the story they're telling, and what it has to say to the world.

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Craig Joseph
CONNECTING TO UNCERTAINTY: AN INTERVIEW WITH ZYRECE MONTGOMERY, ENSEMBLE MEMBER

[S]he is losing so much.  She’s lost her ability to communicate or connect fully with God, she’s lost her drive and mission, she’s losing faith in people, she’s losing ties to her family, and some other things that I’ll omit for sake of spoilers.  She isn’t losing her faith - that feels clear as we’re working - but all the ways she knew how to operate in faith seem to be escaping her. Coping and finding strength through all of that loss is hard, and I think that’s a lot of what this play is.

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Craig Joseph