Sorry Doesn't Sweeten Her Tea (2019): A workshop production
at Cleveland Public Theatre
Directed and adapted by Lauren Joy Fraley
as a part of the 2018-19 Joan Yellen Horvitz Fellowship
Based on Helen Oyeymi's short story of the same name
(With special permission from the Wylie Agency)
A teen girl with a peacock's tail, an ex-shaman-turned-popstar, and others in their lives attempt to recover from disillusionment with methods ranging from public apologies & rehab... to the pet-sitting of a Siamese fighting fish in a house of locks where doors can only be closed with a key.
at Cleveland Public Theatre
Directed and adapted by Lauren Joy Fraley
as a part of the 2018-19 Joan Yellen Horvitz Fellowship
Based on Helen Oyeymi's short story of the same name
(With special permission from the Wylie Agency)
A teen girl with a peacock's tail, an ex-shaman-turned-popstar, and others in their lives attempt to recover from disillusionment with methods ranging from public apologies & rehab... to the pet-sitting of a Siamese fighting fish in a house of locks where doors can only be closed with a key.
Little Neptune (2018): At Cleveland Public Theatre's Pandemonium '18
(AKA Bona Fide Stone)
Created by Lauren Joy Fraley with Brandon McSwain and Jeremy Paul
Directed by Lauren Joy Fraley as a part of the Joan Yellen Horvitz Fellowship
Fez meets Mr. Carbine. Mr. Carbine meets Fez.
Both contemplate youtube stardom, the desire to transmute, and counterfeit stones (AKA The Self).
Poetry is in-motion during this short play based loosely
(...very loosely) on the Japanese Stonecutter Myth.
Who We Used to Be (2017): Produced by Theater Ninjas
Created & Directed by Jeremy Paul & the ensemble
Music Composed & Arranged by Lauren Joy Fraley & Jeremy Paul
An outcast fights to defend her home. Sisters are separated by death and betrayal. A wounded animal sends a man's life hurtling out of control. Who We Used to Be performed at the Canopy Collective as a part of the Theater Ninjas Preludes System, expanding the world of Marble Cities (2013) & The Grand Celebration of the Celestial Mystery (2015).
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Don't Wander Off (2017) Produced by Theater Ninjas Created by Jeremy Paul, Lauren Joy Fraley, Ryan Lucas, Christopher Hisey and Eric M.C. Gonzalez An explosion wakes you up from hibernation sleep near the end of a seven year long voyage to another star system. Your spacecraft is disabled, half your crew is missing, and if you want to make it back home again, you’ll need to work with the other survivors to make hard choices, navigate life-or-death situations, and discover the truth behind mysterious events. Don't Wander Off is an innovative storytelling performance that combines immersive theater and interactive game mechanics to create a unique sci-fi experience like nothing you’ve ever seen. Choose your course. Risk it all. Stay alive. Don't Wander Off. In this unique team storytelling event, audience players will have to work together to make smart choices in order to survive in an imagined environment. Smashing together politics, intrigue, roleplaying and world-building, this is a exciting new kind of theater+ event. |
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NOONDAY (2017) Created by Cathleen O'Malley, Renee Schilling, and Lauren Joy Fraley Music by Lauren Joy Fraley On an otherwise unremarkable day, the furniture starts moving… and What’s Been Hiding Under the Table (or in a bowl of breakfast cereal) turns a woman’s world upside down. Noonday was workshopped as a part of Cleveland Public Theatre's Test Flight series, and was developed during CPT's Entry Point festival and Theater Ninjas' "Positive Reinforcements" open mic. |
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The Last Day (2016): Created and Produced by Lauren Joy Fraley, Eric Gonzalez, Christopher Hisey, Val Kozlenko, Ryan Lucas, Jeremy Paul, and Miranda Coble with Theater Ninjas
"What happened on The Last Day?" That’s the question players will answer in the latest interactive story from Theater Ninjas, Cleveland’s purveyors of out-of-the-ordinary experiences. Audiences solve puzzles, manipulate arcane machines, and investigate the life of a mysterious woman’s magical past. The Last Day is a giant, explorable puzzle box full of tantalizing clues and whispered secrets. Like walking inside a three-dimensional novel, this interactive experience creates a rich universe inside a series of rooms filled with lost letters, sketches of fantastic beasts and lands, postcards from unseen spirits, missing memories, and exotic artifacts. Borrowing from video games—like Myst and Gone Home—and ‘escape the room’ games, The Last Day is an intimate encounter with the unknown. |
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Auxiliary (2016): Created and performed by Lauren Joy Fraley Produced as a part of Broken Codes, produced by Theater Ninjas Broken Codes is a collection of multi-media performances by Cleveland artists about the conflicted relationship between technology and modern life, exploring the themes women in tech, artificial intelligence, and the evolutionary effects of the internet. In this original performance, Theater Ninjas melds dance, theater, music, video art, and game design with stories of digital life. In Auxiliary, by Lauren Joy Fraley, a woman and her AI negotiate over self-sufficiency, solidarity, and the stakes of screwing up. Featuring video art, live performance and a small installation, this living sketchbook is embedded with hand-drawn images, many of which were created by girls at Cleveland’s own Orchard STEM school during a Theater Ninjas residency. |
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The Lunar Landscape (2014-2016) The Lunar Landscape is collaboration between Theater Ninjas, Playhouse Square, Cathleen O'Malley, Lauren Joy Fraley, and visual artist Ian Petroni to develop an interactive performance installation for the Very Young. This immersive, multi sensory discovery was filled with nonverbal storytelling and clowning, and shared with children under 5 and their caregivers. This same collaboration resulted in Arboreality: The Nest, an interactive installation designed by Petroni and featuring interactive characters created by Theater Ninjas, and was commissioned by the Playhouse Square for the International Children's Theater Festival. Photos by Ian Petroni |
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Ancestra (2014): Directed and Conceived by Holly Holsinger
Produced by Cleveland Public Theatre Inspired by the 1853 National Women's Rights Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Ancestra tells stories of heritage, sisterhood and overcoming adversity. With a multigenerational, multicultural cast this emotionally charged performance combines traditional and original songs with spoken-word poetry and powerful movement to remind us of those who came before and the power of possibilities for the future. “There’s plenty of righteous anger in Ancestra, and that’s a damn fine thing.” Christine Howey, Rave and Pan Photo by Steve Wagner |
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Airwaves (2014): Created and Directed by Northeast Ohio Artists
Including works pictured right, by Caitlin Lewins and Melissa Crum Produced by Cleveland Public Theatre Air Waves is a fantastical journey of wish-fulfillment that weaves sustainability themes into a uniquely theatrical experience. This play features whimsical vignettes, original music and bold performances by Northeast Ohio's most adventurous theater artists. Part Three of CPT's multi-year "Elements Cycle," Air Waves is designed to inspire new ways of thinking and provoke conversation that will continue long after audience members leave the theater. Photos by Steve Wagner |
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Black Cat Lost (2013): Written by Erin Courtney
Directed by Jeremy Paul
Produced By Theater Ninjas
Featuring Ray Caspio, Lauren Joy Fraley, and Sarah Moore
Obie Award-winner Erin Courtney’s Black Cat Lost dives into the beauty of impermanence using ritual, song, zen poetry, silent film and memoir. Three shifting characters move through a kaleidoscopic view of life, death and the unseen. This will be the Ninjas’ first touring performance, moving to a different location in Northeastern Ohio every weekend.
Read about Theater Ninjas' production of Black Cat Lost in AMERICAN THEATRE MAGAZINE. Photo by Jeremy Paul
Directed by Jeremy Paul
Produced By Theater Ninjas
Featuring Ray Caspio, Lauren Joy Fraley, and Sarah Moore
Obie Award-winner Erin Courtney’s Black Cat Lost dives into the beauty of impermanence using ritual, song, zen poetry, silent film and memoir. Three shifting characters move through a kaleidoscopic view of life, death and the unseen. This will be the Ninjas’ first touring performance, moving to a different location in Northeastern Ohio every weekend.
Read about Theater Ninjas' production of Black Cat Lost in AMERICAN THEATRE MAGAZINE. Photo by Jeremy Paul
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Cultivated (2013): Co-created by Lauren Joy Fraley and Cathleen O'Malley
Produced for Cleveland Public Theatre's Pandemonium This cyclical outdoor performance installation explores the tension between a plant's domestication and nature's desire to bend towards the light. The piece was inspired by the movements of a cultivated balcony tomato plant (nearly imperceptible but definite and constant), shifting towards the light of the sun. Photo by Matt Gray. |
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Ninja Days (2013): An interactive exhibit at The Cleveland Museum of Art
Produced by Theater Ninjas
Theater Ninjas performers bring "The Last Days of Pompeii" exhibit to life in a unique experience featuring characters from “The Excavation.” With a variety of characters, scenes, and interactive experiences, no two Ninja Days are alike.
Photo by Jeremy Paul.
Produced by Theater Ninjas
Theater Ninjas performers bring "The Last Days of Pompeii" exhibit to life in a unique experience featuring characters from “The Excavation.” With a variety of characters, scenes, and interactive experiences, no two Ninja Days are alike.
Photo by Jeremy Paul.
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Earth Plays (2013): (Created by Northeast Ohio Artists including Meantime Anthropocene by Pandora Robertson & The Ensemble)
Produced by Cleveland Public Theatre The provocative vignettes of Earth Plays invite us to reconsider our relationship to the very ground we walk on, and remember they beauty and joy of our environment. Read about Earth Plays and CPT's Elements Cycle in AMERICAN THEATRE MAGAZINE. Photo by Steve Wagner. |
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Free Radical And the Late Night Sketchbook (2013):
Created by Pandora Robertson with the ensemble
Directed by Pandora Robertson
Workshopped as a part of in Cleveland Public Theatre's Big Box Series
Free Radical and The Late Night Sketchbook follows a woman's journey that begins with a game-changing crisis, the horror of which repels, intoxicates and consumes her. This woman's journey forces her to come face to face with multiple philosophical questions exploring confession,
identity and truth.
Photo by Pandora Robertson
Created by Pandora Robertson with the ensemble
Directed by Pandora Robertson
Workshopped as a part of in Cleveland Public Theatre's Big Box Series
Free Radical and The Late Night Sketchbook follows a woman's journey that begins with a game-changing crisis, the horror of which repels, intoxicates and consumes her. This woman's journey forces her to come face to face with multiple philosophical questions exploring confession,
identity and truth.
Photo by Pandora Robertson
