Welcome

Dear Friends,

On behalf of our artists, staff and Board of Trustees, welcome to the conclusion of Great Lakes Theater’s 60th anniversary season! Our mission to bring the pleasure, power and relevance of theater to the widest possible audience guides our mainstage productions, as well as our educational programming. We believe theater holds the capacity to illuminate truth and enduring values, celebrate and challenge human nature and actions, and provide our student audiences a glimpse of a broader world and the wellspring of learning made possible through the arts.

We are so pleased you have joined us for the finale of our 60th season, Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps. This production marks the directorial debut of GLT Artistic Associate, Jaclyn Miller, whose tremendous work as Choreographer/Movement Director/Assistant Director is familiar to our audiences from many Great Lakes Theater productions, including The Music Man, Julius Caesar and Mamma Mia!. This uproarious show combines all the best parts of the thrillers you love with a dash of romance and incredible laughs. The madcap, fast-paced, Tony Award-winning show is a truly fitting way to end this momentous season. We are extremely grateful to Fifth Third Bank and FirstEnergy Foundation for their generous support of this production.

As we open Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, we have begun work on our next season of six spectacular productions. The 2022-23 season begins September 16 with the delectable musical, Little Shop of Horrors. The world’s most enduring love story, Romeo & Juliet, follows closely after with an October 21 start. Our holiday celebrations kick off on November 25 with the opening of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in the Mimi Ohio Theatre. In February, we are back in the Hanna Theatre with the delightfully Austen-tatious romantic comedy, Sense & Sensibility by Kate Hamill, based on the novel by Jane Austen. We follow that up with Shakespeare’s enchanting romantic comedy As You Like it in March, and close our 61st season in May by bringing you the long-awaited, jazzy musical celebration of Fats Waller, Ain’t Misbehavin’. We hope you will join us again next season by purchasing a season subscription to three or more of our productions!

With so much to celebrate in this milestone season, we especially wish to honor those who supported us over the past two years as we weathered this unparalleled storm. As you read your program and look around the theater tonight, you will see the names of many friends, partners, corporations, and foundations whose support makes all of this possible. We encourage you to join the Great Lakes Theater family with your gift. We extend our sincere gratitude to all of our sponsors and Annual Fund donor/members, with continued appreciation to our partners of 40 years at Playhouse Square, and the tireless efforts of our Board of Trustees, dedicated administrative staff, gifted artists and the tremendous generosity of this community.

We thank you for your patronage and hope to see you in our audience again next season!