The Roe Green Theatre is at the heart of the Maltz Performing Arts Center’s new wing. Between the front row of seats and the stage, there is an orchestra pit, making the Roe Green a suitable venue for future collaborations between the departments of theater and music. Photo by Roger Mastroianni
From the time he enrolled at Case Western Reserve in the fall of 2018, Sarthak Shah was committed to majoring in theater. (Eventually, he decided to study computer science as well, just in case a theatrical career didn’t pan out.) Drawn to both acting and playwriting, Shah began taking a variety of courses and settled into the theater department’s close-knit community. He performed in mainstage and black box productions in Eldred Hall, the department’s home for the past 90 years. He signed up for IMPROVment, an improvisational troupe that presented weekly shows before the pandemic struck. “It’s been wonderful getting to do a little bit of everything, and getting to know my professors really well,” he says.
Until last summer, however, Shah had one big unanswered question about his campus theater experience: Would he ever appear at the university’s Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center at The Temple–Tifereth Israel?
For most of his undergraduate career, the Maltz Center had been a work in progress. Phase I, completed in 2015, transformed the sanctuary of the historic Cleveland synagogue into Silver Hall, a magnificent venue for concerts, lectures and other public events. Phase II would include a new wing with two theaters, scene and costume shops, rehearsal space, a dance studio, classrooms and faculty offices. Lead donors Milton and Tamar Maltz, along with the Maltz Family Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, initially pledged $12 million to the project in 2010, but within four years they had increased the amount to $30 million.
Their generosity inspired other donors, including philanthropist Roe Green, who in 2018 announced a $10 million commitment toward a 250-seat proscenium theater. A ceremonial groundbreaking took place a year later, with the expectation that the facility would open by October 2021.
Shah was set to graduate in May 2022. A construction delay could have dashed his hopes—and, in fact, one almost did. Work halted on the project in the spring of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic raised health and safety concerns. But the contractors made up the lost time, completing the expansion ahead of schedule. And last August, Shah walked onstage in the new Roe Green Theatre and successfully auditioned for a role in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, playing a mathematician who performs computer-assisted calculations.
It was an even greater opportunity than he’d imagined. Shah found himself working with director Jerrold Scott, the department chair and Katharine Bakeless Nason Professor of Theater and Drama, for the first time. He joined a cast that featured not only current students, but also faculty member Christopher Bohan and three alumni, two of them graduates of the top-ranked CWRU/Cleveland Play House MFA Program in Acting. All of this came with being chosen for the inaugural production in what Shah calls “one of the most modern theater spaces in the country.” The whole experience, he says, was “like totally starting fresh.”
While Katie O. Solomon (GRS ‘16) was earning her graduate degree from the CWRU/Cleveland Play House MFA Program in Acting, she studied with instructor Christopher Bohan. But they never performed together until director Jerrold Scott cast them in “Arcadia.” Photo by Steve Wagner
Among theater people at Case Western Reserve, there’s a long-standing reluctance to speak unkindly of Eldred Hall. Third-year student Mariah Hamburg, another lead player in Arcadia, calls it “cute and quaint.” Shah says it has “character.” The late Ron Wilson, Scott’s predecessor and a key figure in the history of theater education at CWRU, once described Eldred as “charming but technically antiquated.” Although his description was more candid than most, “technically antiquated” was a bit of an understatement.
Actors in Eldred Theatre were unable to wait in the wings for their entrances—the stage had no wing space. To lift pieces of scenery out of sight or drop them into place, students on the tech crew hauled on rope pulleys, using sandbags as counterweights. To hang lights from the ceiling, they climbed 15-foot ladders. Audience members had to sidestep audio cables in order to reach their seats.
Other parts of the building weren’t any more sophisticated. The design shop was one floor below the theater, so sets had to be carried upstairs in pieces and assembled onstage. Equipment in the design and costume shops hadn’t been updated in decades. The black box theater was a cellar-like space without the flexibility such theaters are supposed to have; audiences sat on benches that were fixed in the same position for every show.
None of these challenges kept the department from mounting superb productions and offering students exceptional learning opportunities. But its facilities were no asset to its recruitment efforts. Associate Professor Jill Davis, the resident scenic and lighting designer, recalls leading tours for prospective students interested in technical theater. “They would look at Eldred and be pretty puzzled,” she concedes.
With its move to the Maltz Center, the department has entered a different century. On the stage of the Roe Green Theatre, for example, there are no sandbags. A student technician can move parts of a set—anything from a chandelier to a back wall—by pushing a button; motorized winches do the work, raising and lowering steel rods from which the scenic elements are suspended. Crew members step onto technical platforms above the audience section to install lights—no ladders required. Eldred’s incandescent bulbs have given way to LEDs that can turn a seemingly infinite variety of colors, or to halogen bulbs suited to illuminating skin tones. Audio cables are woven into the Roe Green’s walls: Plug an offstage speaker into a mounted panel, and the sound board operator can activate it on cue. In Arcadia, this system led audiences to imagine they were hearing gunshots from a pigeon hunt or music from an unseen piano room.
The rest of the new wing is equally adapted to the theater department’s needs. The Walter and Jean Kalberer Black Box Theatre, which hosted its first production this spring, has room for 100 movable seats. The Barbara and Stanley Meisel Set Design Studio is “bright and vast,” in Davis’ words, with an immense doorway that opens directly onto the Roe Green stage. The costume shop includes a specially ventilated room for dyeing fabrics. Both shops have state-of-the-art machinery, and classrooms on the ground floor are technologically enhanced. Third-floor offices accommodate the entire theater faculty and staff, who until now were dispersed—some in Eldred, others in Clark Hall.
Visitors have responded to the distinctly modern beauty of the new wing, which was designed by DLR Group | Westlake Reed Leskosky. Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer’s art and architecture critic, praised the addition for the “lean, elegantly detailed block-like forms” of its exterior and its “inviting, expansive, light-flooded lobbies and public spaces.”
Sarthak Shah played opposite Katie O. Solomon in several scenes of the play. As a double major in theater and computer science, Shah had an edge in understanding his character, a mathematician doing computer-assisted calculations. Photo by Steve Wagner
The Roe Green, too, has a welcoming ambience. “For as big a theater as it is, it doesn’t feel cavernous; it feels intimate,” Scott says. Davis notes that the architects struck a delicate balance. With its light wood walls and ascending rows of blue-upholstered seats, the Roe Green is a “beautiful house,” but it isn’t ornate; the stage, for instance, doesn’t have the kind of “fancy, framed proscenium” associated with the grand old theaters in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square. “That’s a style,” Davis says. “But these days, we want you to focus on the show.”
As Scott set about choosing a play for the inaugural production, he asked himself: “What can we do that would be a bit of an epic—something worthy of a grand opening?” A classical theater specialist, he considered doing a Shakespeare play or a Greek tragedy. But to his surprise, he says, “Arcadia kept popping into my head.”
First performed in 1993, Arcadia has been called the 20th century’s greatest play about science. And yet, along with characters such as Shah’s mathematician, it also features a literature professor, a landscape architect and a historian. “Arcadia covers so many disciplines in the College of Arts and Sciences, and in the university as a whole,” Scott says. “So, I thought, ‘This is an excellent play for the opening of an academic performing arts space.’”
Hamburg, a double major in theater and mathematics, says that by choosing Arcadia, Scott attracted a broad audience to the Roe Green’s debut. “We had people from the physics department and engineers come and see this production,” she recalls. “You could appreciate it if you were in English, history, math—anything. It was a play that a lot of people in the university community could bond over.”
Scott mentions another factor that drew him to Arcadia. For most of the play, the scenes alternate between the early 1800s and the 1990s, with two different sets of characters. As the action unfolds, the audience discovers unexpected continuities between past and present—recurrent ideas and phrases, enduring patterns of human behavior, objects retained or rediscovered across generations.
In every scene of “Arcadia,” student and alumni actors shared the stage. From left: Zion Thomas, Natalie El Dabh (CWR ’18), Mariah Hamburg, Oliver Schumacher and TJ Gainley (CWR ’08, GRS ’14). Photo by Steve Wagner
Scott decided to assemble a cast that would also link past and present. He recruited alumni TJ Gainley (CWR ’08; GRS ’14, acting), Katie O. Solomon (GRS ’16, acting) and Natalie El Dabh (CWR ’18) to share the stage with Bohan, who frequently performs at Cleveland Heights’ Dobama Theatre, and nine undergraduates. For the students, playing opposite actors with advanced training and professional experience could have been intimidating. But Scott watched them rise to the occasion.
“By opening night, the average person would have had a difficult time telling who was a professional and who was a student—which is what I hoped the result of the experiment would be,” Scott says. “The seasoned actors had a nuance and sophistication that the younger actors had to acquire very quickly. At the same time, the students had an enthusiasm that the more seasoned actors had to match.”
The members of the cast quickly developed mutual respect. Shah, who played several scenes with Solomon and Bohan, was impressed by how fully they inhabited their roles. “We’d be backstage, talking about whatever, whispering little funny jokes to each other,” he recalls. “And then we’d be onstage, and I’d look at them, and they’d be intensely focused and totally in character.”
Returning the compliment, Solomon notes that early in the rehearsal process, while she was still learning her lines, Shah had already memorized his. “He was so steadfast and so unbelievably present during our work together,” she says.
The entire cast refined their British accents with support from Professor Beth McGee, the department’s dialect coach. In addition, three of the undergraduates—Hamburg, Shah and fourth-year student Adam Benjamin—were taking McGee’s voice course last fall. She had them do a 30-minute warmup at the start of every class, and they followed the same routine before each performance. One evening, while they were waiting in the Krause Family Foundation Green Room for the show to begin, they watched a live feed from the stage. “TJ was up there, practicing his vocal warmup the exact way we were doing,” Shah recalls. McGee had once been Gainley’s teacher, too.
Appearing in a theater’s inaugural production is the sort of experience actors rarely, if ever, have in their careers. For the most part, Solomon observes, “theaters are very, very old,” and over the years they acquire “a specific energy, a specific feel—literally, tactilely. The floors feel a certain way when you work on a stage that has been worked on. Doors are creaky; doorknobs are shinier than they should be, because they’ve been turned so many times. There’s a smell that comes from a theater, from the lights and the excitement and the fear and the hair spray.”
The first time she entered the Roe Green, Solomon says, “That wasn’t there yet. But by the end of the run, it was—a little bit. I like to think that I get to be a part of that. I get to leave a little bit of the joy that I experienced, a little bit of the physical exertion that comes from doing Arcadia. To live in those walls a little bit, to be there forever, makes me feel good, because I know what I’m leaving is good stuff and can support whatever comes next.”
Actors who had occupied two different time periods during Arcadia came together for the curtain call. From left: Zion Thomas, Angela Howell, Oliver Schumacher, Adam Benjamin, Christopher Bohan, Katie O. Solomon, Natalie El Dabh, TJ Gainley, Mariah Hamburg, Sarthak Shah, Ethan Teel and Gabriella O’Fallon. Photo by Steve Wagner
Behind the Scenes
A stately curtain rose on the stage of the Roe Green Theatre on Arcadia’s opening night. No surprise there, you might think; how else would a play begin? But the old Eldred Theatre didn’t have a show curtain—stately or otherwise. When patrons arrived and took their seats, the set was already visible. Here, though, at the start of a new era for the performing arts at Case Western Reserve, the world of a play was suddenly revealed.
In the Barbara and Stanley Meisel Set Design Studio, students Victoria Cao (left) and Anna Giardina use a miter saw to cut lumber for the Palladian windows in the conservatory where “Arcadia” is set. Photo by Roger Mastroianni
Arcadia takes place in the conservatory of an English country house, and scenic designer Jill Davis wanted to invest the Roe Green’s expansive stage “with a bit of grandeur.” Her set included a trio of tall Palladian windows with graceful pilasters between them. Lexa Walker, scene shop manager and assistant technical director, carved the wood for these features of the room on a brand-new computerized routing table—technology precise enough to execute Davis’ design flawlessly.
Even the stage floor acquired a certain opulence for the show. Davis and Homer Farr, the department’s production and technical director, painted the plain wood surface to resemble decoratively inlaid stone or marble.
Because Arcadia’s characters often talk of landscape and gardens, Davis provided a backdrop of the English countryside, which she’d originally painted for another production. The audience could see it through the conservatory windows, where it hung two feet behind a black mesh curtain, or scrim. Visiting lighting designer Kevin Frazier was able to work apparent magic with these backstage properties; the scrim became invisible during daytime scenes but cloaked the landscape in darkness by night.
For associate professor and resident costume designer Angelina Herin, Arcadia required versatility: She had to dress half the characters in early 19th-century garb, and half in casual 20th-century attire. Students produced both styles of garments on state-of-the-art sewing machines and sergers. Supply chain disruptions almost prevented costume shop manager Rainie Jiang from obtaining the model of sewing machine she wanted, but she went online and found a store in Indianapolis with several in stock. “We drove out there and purchased them,” recalls director Jerrold Scott. “If we had ordered them, we would never have gotten them.”
Costume shop manager Rainie Jiang (left) cuts out brown-paper patterns while student Clara Johnson (near the windows) sews a mockup of a costume for a character in “Arcadia.” Photo by Roger Mastroianni
The new wing’s advanced technology proved to be a magnet for students, including Nolan Sayer, who was in his first semester as a double major in theater and mechanical engineering.
For Arcadia, Sayer learned to run the sound board. Once Walker gave him his first lessons on the equipment, he came in early most days “to play around with it and figure out how it worked.” Sayer views theater and mechanical engineering as related pursuits. What draws him to both, he says, is “the problem solving, the elements of creativity and technical knowledge working together.”
This spring, Sayer is advancing to the role of sound designer for a production of Stop Kiss, by the American dramatist Diana Son, also in the Roe Green. He says Arcadia gave him an enjoyable start. “It’s one of my favorite plays I’ve ever worked on,” he explains. “It’s such an interesting play, and really well performed.”
Milton Maltz, seated onstage with Barbara R. Snyder during the dedication of Phase II of the Maltz Performing Arts Center, announced a $5 million commitment to name the facility’s Grand Atrium in her honor. Photo by Roger Mastroianni
Speaking at the dedication of Phase II of the Maltz Performing Arts Center last October, philanthropist Roe Green paid tribute to President Emerita Barbara R. Snyder, whose dream, she said, had now become a reality. “What we see right now was her vision. I’d like to thank Barbara for her passion, her leadership, that brought us to this day.”
The roots of the Maltz Center project date back to a 2007 conversation between Snyder and Richard Block, then the senior rabbi of The Temple–Tifereth Israel. Then came negotiations, contracts and, in 2010, the announcement that Milton and Tamar Maltz had pledged $12 million to the project. As the Maltzes’ aspirations for Phase II grew, so did their commitment—and other benefactors joined them.
Philanthropist Roe Green, who made a $10 million naming gift for the proscenium theater, praised Barbara R. Snyder for envisioning what the Maltz Performing Arts Center could be. Photo by Roger Mastroianni
Finally, 14 years after those early discussions, the entire project was complete. Snyder had stepped down in the fall of 2021 to become president of the Association of American Universities in Washington, D.C., but she returned to Cleveland to help celebrate the moment.
Expressions of gratitude came from Fred DiSanto, chair of the university’s board of trustees; Frank Linsalata, his predecessor; and President Eric W. Kaler, who said, “Barbara, I hope you understand and feel the remarkable respect and admiration and love this community has for you.”
Milton Maltz used the occasion to announce a surprise for Snyder: His family had made a $5 million commitment to name the Grand Atrium of Phase II in her honor.
As she had so many times during her tenure, Snyder quickly deflected credit. “I didn’t make any of this happen,” she said, citing the project’s many donors. “All of you made it happen.” She reserved special praise for the Maltzes, recalling “their faith in this project, their vision for what it could do for our university, for the Temple and for this community.”
Then, addressing them directly, she said, “I hope we’ve made you proud.”
