For the second time this season, Cleveland Play House is canceling an upcoming production. “I’m Back Now” was slated to premiere Feb. 4 and run throughout the month. The world premiere production was commissioned by the Roe Green Fund for American New Plays.
A spokesman declined to comment Monday on why it was canceled. A Facebook post Tuesday morning cited "a series of events impacted the community of artists involved with the production."
Set in Cleveland, the play follows a woman discovering her family's past as slaves, going back to the Civil War era. It was written by Charly Evon Simpson, who has also worked on HBO’s “Industry” and Showtime’s “American Rust.”
Ticketholders are eligible for a refund or credit for "I'm Back Now."
This is the second such production change in recent weeks at the Play House, after its “Light It Up!” holiday program was canceled “at the request of the creators due to their own schedule and creative conflicts,” according to CPH. Alternate holiday programming was arranged in partnership with Karamu House and Apollo’s Fire.
Cleveland Play House is slated to hire a new creative director following the departure last March of longtime leader Laura Kepley. Additionally, the company is hiring for a managing director after Collette A. Laisure stepped down in October.
The Play House has also been in the news in recent weeks as its former home on the East Side is being demolished by the Cleveland Clinic. The complex began life in the 1920s and grew until the 1980s. The Cleveland Clinic purchased the property in 2009, and the Play House moved down Euclid Avenue to Playhouse Square in 2011.
