Shaker Heights actors to star in Zoom play: Press Run – cleveland.com

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- These days, many of us are experiencing online meetings via Zoom. Weve had concerts brought to us online in recent months, too. So, why not a play?

Thats what the Shaker Arts Council is figuring as it gets ready to bring to us the play Love Letters via Zoom.

The two-person play stars Shaker residents and married couple Anaya Farrell and Donald Carrier. The play involves letters exchanged between two people over a lifetime. It takes place beginning at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 8 and is a part of Stay-in-Place Productions, the arts councils response to COVID-19.

The performance is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. For more information and to register, visit shakerartscouncil.org.

Carrier is an actor, teacher and director who has worked extensively in theater and film across North America. He is the director of the Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House MFA Acting Program.

His career includes leading performances at the Stratford Festival, the Old Globe, the Shaw Festival and at Cleveland Play House. Carrier has appeared in Lincolnesque, Noises Off!, Ten Chimneys, In The Next Room, Yentl, The Little Foxes, The Crucible, Luna Gale, All The Way and Shakespeare in Love.

His many film and TV credits include Twice in a Lifetime, The Passion Of Ayn Rand, Hollywood Off-Ramp, The Wives of Windsor, Ready or Not, Dead By Monday and Earth: Final Conflict.

His directorial resume includes work at numerous theaters nationally and local work at CWRU, Dobama Theatre, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Beck Center.

Farrell is a professional actor and teacher with extensive film and theater experience. Her credits include leading roles at the Grand Theatre, the Neptune Theatre, The National Arts Center and The Ford Center for the Performing Arts, among many others.

As a writer and composer, Farrell has had a number of her works performed, including the musical Evangeline, for which she wrote the music and co-wrote the book and lyrics. Evangeline was developed and presented in concert form by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Her Jessie-nominated play The Love Stories has been performed in Canada and the USA. Farrell has performed in over 70 film, television, radio and commercial projects and has worked opposite such actors as Brian Dennehy, Treat Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Christopher Plummer and Sam Waterston.

Farrell is a lecturer in the Case Western Reserve University Department of Theater.

Drive-in ballet: Above, we talked about Zoom theater, so lets take it another coronavirus-inspired step further and discuss drive-in ballet.

Arts in August has re-conceived its annual festival into a drive-in performance featuring Shaker Heights Verb Ballets. It will take place at 7 p.m. Aug. 8 at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 2187 W. 14th St. in Clevelands Tremont neighborhood.

Being that the Zoom theater production of Love Letters is taking place at virtually the same time as drive-in ballet, you may have a choice to make.

The free community ballet performance will feature audience favorite Bolero, delivered with the energy, propulsion and intensity of Ravels famous crescendo.

In addition, Verb will remount Tommie-Waheed Evans Surge.Capacity.Force., a moving work with a fierce, physical language that communicates relevant statements about social justice. Plus, there will be a new work by company dancer Kate Webb that was created as a response to the isolation of COVID-19 and showcases the power of art to get us through this time.

Arts in August performances are free and open to the public. A free ticket is required per car through Eventbrite.

Vehicles will be directed to parking to allow for social distancing. If guests sit outside of a car, they are required to wear a mask and maintain at least 6 feet social distance from other audiences members.

If guests are sick with COVID-19, have symptoms or have been in contact with someone who has COVID-19, it is important to stay home for the safety of all.

Arts in August is presented in partnership by Tremont West Development Corporation, LAND Studio, Cleveland Public Theatre and Cleveland Ward 3 Councilman Kerry McCormack.

Get your lectures here: CWRU Lifelong Learning has announced some of its upcoming lectures for August and September. The lectures are being held these days remotely but, as always, they cover varied topics. Here they are:

-- From 7 to 8:30 p.m. Aug. 18, Lifelong Learning will present From the 19th Amendment to the Occupy Movement and Black Lives Matter: 100 Years of Womens Social Movement Activism.

-- Light for the Dead in Ancient Egypt will be presented from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 19.

-- From noon to 1 p.m. Aug. 22, the presentation will be Is That Photo for Real?

-- At 7 p.m. Sept. 2, the topic will be Fall Kick-Off: Isaac, Ishmael, and Jesus: Jews, Christians and Muslims on the Binding of Isaac.

-- The Nineteenth Amendment: 100 Years of Women in Politics will be presented at 7 p.m. Sept. 9.

For more information and to learn about additional courses, visit case.edu/lifelonglearning, or call 216-368-2091.

College news: In news from colleges about our local students, we note that three Sun Press coverage area students made the deans list for the 2019-20 academic year at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. They are Beachwoods Olivia Hahnemann-Gilber, Shaker Heights Lily Roth and from Cleveland Heights, Lucy Feldman.

Also, over at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, Shaker Heights residents Sam Poulos and Elliott Vahey earned deans list recognition for the fall semester.

Masks on campaign in University Heights: In his daily COVID-19 update of July 30, Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan wrote that University Heights residents are encouraged to show that they care about their neighbors and that they want to end this pandemic by wearing masks.

Pictures of residents wearing masks are being featured in our #MasksOnUniversityHeights campaign. Photos are being shared on social media and in a future issue of the Heights Observer and (the citys) Mosaic magazine, Brennan said.

If you live in UH and would like to be featured in the campaign, send a photo of yourself wearing a mask to info@universityheights.com. If youd like the city to take the photo for you, theyll do it. Just let them know via the same email address.

Playtime for adults: The City of Shaker Heights offers a #ShakerPlays program, but it isnt only for the kids. Thats right, the city offers free adult fitness classes twice a week.

Join Dawn Rivers from 6 to 7 p.m. every Thursday for Yoga in the Park. Classes rotate between Gridley Triangle Park and Horseshoe Lake Park.

Or, if yoga isnt your thing, you can join Agata Wojno from 7 to 8 p.m. every Wednesday at Sussex Park for Boot Camp Conditioning.

COVID-19 protocols require registration and participation be limited to nine people. You can reserve your spot for this free program by going to bit.ly/shakerplaysfitness, clicking on catalog, then on #ShakerPlays.

You can also follow Shaker Rec on Facebook and Instagram to see the schedule of #ShakerPlays youth programs, including DIY sidewalk chalk and upcycled T-shirt bracelets. Weekly schedules are posted every Monday afternoon.

Noble Gardeners Market: Noble Gardeners Market will again host its hyper-local market this year from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays beginning Aug. 1 and continuing through Sept. 19 at the Roanoke Mini Park, located at the corner of Noble and Roanoke roads in Cleveland Heights.

The market will be following all safe practice guidelines, and requests that all who attend wear a mask and bring change and small bills.

Only fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers will be sold. For details about being a seller, visit nobleneighbors.com/noble-gardeners-market.html.

School substitutes wanted: The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools are hiring substitutes for the 2020-21 school year.

Available positions include custodians, cleaners, lunchroom monitors, security monitors, educational aides, teachers and administrative assistants. Registration is preferred, but not required. Call 216-767-5611 to register.

If you would like to see an item appear in Press Run, send me an email, at least 12 days prior to an event, at jeff.piorkowski@att.net.