State of the Arts

They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway, but they’re shining along Euclid Avenue, too, as the curtain lifts this weekend on “Broadway in Cleveland.”

In today’s State of the Arts, WKSU’s Vivian Goodman sits down with Playhouse Square’s executive producer for a preview.

A play opening this weekend in Ashtabula is based on an archive of letters written home from every war in U.S. history.

“Dear Folks. I’m sorry I haven’t wrote you in quite a while. Saigon was hit heavy.”

A letter from Vietnam read from the stage of the Ashtabula Arts Center is one of many that have made rehearsals for “If All the Sky Were Paper” emotionally draining for both cast and crew.

Director Cathy Lawson felt the play’s impact just reading the script.

For a troupe of Cleveland dancers, entertainment is just one part of the mission. Opening minds is another.

In today’s State of the Arts, WKSU’s Vivian Goodman finds modern dancers leaping from artistry into activism. 

At an Inlet Dance Theater rehearsal, a male dancer runs to gather momentum to fly into the upraised arms of three female dancers. But it’s not perfect. So they do it again and again, until it is.

The choreographer of the piece is Dominic Moore-Dunson, the rehearsal coordinator and a company member.

A long-running Cleveland Public Theater summer program for at-risk youth has new funding to expand into the school year.

In today’s State of the Arts, WKSU’s Vivian Goodman goes backstage at the Student Theater Enrichment Program .

“No. Do not arrest this man. I am king. I don’t care who you are. You will lose your life. Then I’ll just have to lose it.” 

On Saturday, the Akron Art Museum’s putting on a “last-look” party to celebrate the final week of its Mark Mothersbaugh exhibition.

Since the spring, the Akron museum and Cleveland’s Museum of Contemporary Art have shared a retrospective of the Akron native and Devo founder’s audio and visual art. In today’s State of the Arts, WKSU’s Vivian Goodman tours both shows with a curator and with the artist himself.

Mark Mothersbaugh claims he can tell how old people are by how they know him.