By Abigail Preiszig
When Raymond Bobgan assumed his leadership role at Cleveland Public Theatre in 2006, he was thinking about how to connect with Cleveland’s underserved demographics. It’s a diverse city, yet the reach of the public theater in sharing those narratives was limited, he says.
“We’re supposed to be the public theater, yet almost all the actors and directors and playwrights are either white or they are Black,” says Bobgan, executive artistic director at Cleveland Public Theatre and an “artist-activist,” adding that Cleveland is home to the nation’s oldest Black theater, Karamu House in the Fairfax neighborhood.
Capitalizing on the organic relationship Cleveland Public Theatre already had with the Latinx community, Bobgan held some free workshops specifically for that demographic. And in 2013, the theater company, located in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood on the city’s west side, created Teatro Público de Cleveland, a local Latinx theater company.
Comprised of a collective of Latinx theater artists, the company has now produced more than 20 performances, including at least six full-length productions, that preserve and promote Cleveland Latinx cultures for Spanish-speaking audiences and the broader public.
“Each play is really a celebration of a voice and a story from the Latinx community, so by amplifying that voice, it’s exposing, it’s educating and it’s celebrating the Latinx culture,” Bobgan tells Canvas.
TEATRO PÚBLICO MAKES HISTORY / TEATRO PÚBLICO HACE HISTORIA
Teatro Público’s work reflects the artistic goals, interests and ideals of its more than 30 members, according to its website. The company aims to explore the diversity and perspectives of Latinx-Cleveland culture. It also aims to fulfill Cleveland Public Theatre’s core mission: to raise consciousness and nurture compassion via performances and programming.
With 521,308 Hispanic/Latinx residents in Ohio, that population has grown by 140% since 2000, and its diaspora has increased in every one of Ohio’s 88 counties, according to a 2021 report from the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission based on 2020 U.S. Census data.
Between 2010 and 2020, the Hispanic or Latino population in Cuyahoga County grew by 22,057 people, or 36%, with a total population of 83,327, according to 2020 Census data. The largest population is among seven counties in the greater Cleveland area.
The city of Cleveland saw the greatest growth among Cuyahoga County communities with the Hispanic or Latino population growing by 9,165 people between 2010 and 2020, according to 2020 Census data.
Teatro Público made its debut performance in November 2013 with “Cuando Cierras Your Eyes,” directed by Bobgan with an ensemble cast of amateur and professional performers. He was uncertain about turnout, but the show oversold the 130-seat James Levin Theatre every night, he says. People wanted to see more. They were moved, excited and left the show in tears.
“Not because the play was particularly emotional necessarily, although there were some emotional parts – because they were just so proud to see their cultures shared onstage and it was so moving to hear their own language spoken onstage,” Bobgan says. “Representation matters.”
On the closing night of the play, he says the cast came out after curtain call and said, “We are introducing ourselves. We are the newest theater company in Cleveland, and we are called Teatro Público de Cleveland.”
“So, that’s how it was born,” Bobgan says.
A PLACE TO CONNECT AND GROW / UN LUGAR PARA CONECTARSE Y CRECERSE
Monica Olivera recalls her early fascination with theater, sparked while attending shows with her mother and grandmother as a young girl in Lima, Peru.
However, the first year Cleveland Public Theatre offered workshops for the Latinx community, she declined the opportunity to participate. She was busy working and caring for her two children after moving to Cleveland – where she met her husband – in 1996, she says. But, she did not miss the opportunity to see the budding company’s first show.
“I was just blown away by what I saw,” she says. “… I said, ‘I’m doing this. This year, next year, I’m going to be there.’”
There were more than a dozen actors onstage during the production, and not all of them had a background in theater. They were a tapestry of different identities and cultures – Colombian, Puerto Rican, Uruguayan, Panamanian, Mexican, Guatemalan – Olivera says. The theme was touching “so close to home,” and at the end of the play, the ensemble sang “En Mi Viejo San Juan.”
“I remember the ensemble started singing that and then I started singing it and suddenly a good amount of the audience was singing the song,” she says. “This is from Puerto Rico, I am from Peru, and it was so emotional because the song talks about how much it means being home in your country and it’s something that we all experience in a similar way.”
Since then, Olivera has participated in at least 15 productions with Teatro Público in different roles including director, stage manager, sound and her favorite – actor. Her first time ever onstage during the production “A Recipe para la Vida” was one of the “most satisfying and happiest experiences” in her life, she says.
Through Teatro Público workshops, Tania Benites, who studied theater arts with a focus on performing at Cleveland State University, was also empowered to pursue different aspects of theater. She wrote an original play, “Alter,” a horror/thriller workplace dramedy performed by Teatro Público to sold out crowds in 2023.
“That has by far been my favorite experience,” says Benites, who was also born in Lima. “It was such an honor to have my work produced. … Playwriting is not something that I explored previously, I’ve always just been an actor.”
And as an actor, Benites never had the opportunity to portray a Latin American woman onstage prior to Teatro Público, she says. In 2015, she played Johanna Orozco in “Johanna: Facing Forward,” inspired by the true story of Orozco – a Cleveland teen who survived a gunshot wound to the face by her boyfriend in 2007, and whose story built a movement drawing attention to teen domestic violence.
Benites recalls the program was well-received, and Orozco attended opening night.
“We had community support because it was a local story, but also it’s something that is hard to talk about because, in a way, a topic like that is something one can be embarrassed about,” Benites says. “But I think it’s important to tell those stories because I think it helps people to kind of see themselves onstage, but also to help raise awareness about things like that.”
She has since been involved in more than a dozen Teatro Público productions through which she has been able to explore her culture, identity and “really revel” in being Peruvian – something Benites was always proud of but values even more through her theater experience, she says.
“By just existing, (Teatro Público) provided such a gift to those of us in the community,” she says. “It allowed for us to have a platform to not only perform and express ourselves through theater but also to tell our own stories.”
Olivera shares a similar sentiment, as Teatro Público has allowed her to explore her emotions, culture and appreciate the diversity within the Cleveland Latinx community.
“We are all different and we are all so worthy of being appreciated, individually … in our rich diversity, sharing our differences, opening the doors to art at different levels” Olivera says.
CAUSE AND EFFECT / CAUSA Y EFECTO
Since Teatro Público was founded over a decade ago, it has directly and indirectly contributed to “so many amazing things,” Bobgan says.
The “broadly inclusive” company led by the people involved has empowered leaders, made cross-cultural connections, reduced stereotypes and fear, and created greater tolerance, he says. Teatro Público even added English subtitles to reach a wider audience.
Additionally, Bobgan has seen more roles for Latinx characters and organizations popping up throughout the city’s theater scene, such as LatinUs Theater Company, which formed in 2018.
“We went from a community that had almost no Latinx theater makers to being in a community where there are now different theaters,” Bobgan says. “… So, we really spawned this kind of movement here in Cleveland. That’s leadership.”
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:
• “El Coquí Espectacular: And the Bottle of Doom” – March 20 – April 5, 2025. This play follows the journey of a struggling comic book artist, Alex, who grapples with self-doubt and the allure of a steady job in advertising alongside his brother, Joe, when fate brings him to take on a secret identity of his own. Now, Alex finds himself encountering challenges and finding his way through the uncertainty of what it means to become a hero – not only on the page, but off the page. For more information, visit teatropublico.org.
• “Grandeza” – Dates TBD in 2025: By Ernesto Luna Camargo, a Teatro Público member, “Grandeza” will be performed in the company’s play development series, Test Flight. The satire is based on popular novellas, or Latin American soap operas. A teenager decides to come out of the closet and realizes the entire world lives inside a closet, clinging to cultural traditions that have been wrong all their lives. For more information, visit teatropublico.org.
