Puppetry, physical theater, dance, audience immersion, improvisation, burlesque, aerial arts, clowns, storytelling, comedy, poetry, and scripted plays—BorderLight Theatre Festival is not your grandma’s theater.

From Wednesday, July 24 through Saturday, July 27, BorderLight returns to the Playhouse Square District for its fourth in-person festival, with performances running afternoons and evenings at various indoor and outdoor venues.

“I think theater usually implies a scripted play that takes place over one or two acts, where you sit in a dark room in the evening,” says artistic and executive director Dale Heinen. “We blow that apart. None of that is really typical of a BorderLight production.”

Performances will take place across 20 stages and will include four acclaimed international shows; nearly 40 Fringe (self-produced) shows from local, regional, and nationwide artists; workshops; and a family day.

“[The performances] may take place in a non-theatrical space, not a theater at all,” Heinen shares. “It could be in a hallway; it could be on the Hermit Club patio. It could be in a tent on US Bank Plaza, it could be in Parnell's upstairs in a little room.

“[They’ll] never have an intermission,” Heinen continues. “It could only be 10 or 15 minutes long. And it could take place in broad daylight outside. For all those reasons, it's not a typical theater experience.”

Indigenous EnterpriseFestival roots

The BorderLight Theatre Festival debuted in 2019, the brainchild of Heinen and co-founder Jeffrey Pence.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Heinen attended Northwestern University, where she immersed herself in Chicago’s theater scene. She eventually ran a theater company for nine years before a 15-year stint in Europe. Overseas, Heinen experienced the three-week-long Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which first introduced the concept of Fringe performances in 1948.

“The Edinburgh Festival is like the mother of all Fringe festivals,” Heinen explains. “It’s enormous—almost too big these days. It's become a real marketplace for theater around the world.”

Heinen says she realized that a theater festival like this could work well in Cleveland.

“It’s an economic driver for Edinburgh, which is not unlike Cleveland in that it was a depopulated steel town back in the 40s when it started,” explains Heinen. “It’s become this huge success story. That couldn't help but draw my attention because festivals like this actually do better in smaller cities, like Cleveland, rather than a place like London or Chicago, which are already saturated.”

When Heinen moved back home to Cleveland in 2014, she partnered with Pence to make her dream a reality. They considered how they could combine Cleveland’s strengths with Heinen’s theater background and knowledge.

She says she envisioned BorderLight being a collaborative, inclusive platform for local artists—avoiding the elitism of performance art and training seen in other cities—a very Cleveland mentality.

Additionally, Heinen says the artists keep 70% of box office sales from their performances.

“It’s an opportunity to be an artist-entrepreneur— they’re not incurring the cost of producing their own work, which is such a barrier. We provide the venue, the box office, the staff, and marketing support.”

Paper CutEasy access

The BorderLight organizers are dedicated to making the festival accessible and inclusive for all audiences by bringing performances into public spaces, offering a mix of free shows and tiered pricing to fit budgets, and working to meet the needs of all attendees.

Heinen says the entire festival was conceived to bridge cultural and social divides hosting a diverse group of performers who share stories that illustrate empathy and understanding.

The theatre and events guide includes a list of performances that are ADA accessible. The HeArd will provide sign interpretation of “Poems of an Angry Feminist” at Cibrèo Privato, 1501 E. 14th Street, on Thursday, July 25.

Another part of BorderLight’s inclusivity goal is the introduction of Family Day on Saturday, July 27 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“You cannot celebrate diversity and the human experience without including families,” explains Josy Jones, BorderLight’s associate producer and director of community building. “Families are their own culture, and [provide the] opportunity to interact with theater as theatergoers, but also provide all of these very diverse opportunities in the festival.”

Jones says if she were a kid, she’d most look forward to the Tribe of Elijah G. Drum Circle and some of the workshops, like Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center’s Latin Social Dance Group or Afghan Kite Making, tailored for the whole family.

For a successful festival experience, Jones recommends exploring multiple shows and utilizing the festival's user-friendly website to filter performances by day, venue, genre, cost, and interest. “A typical day at the festival can be a full-day adventure or a more selective experience,” she says.

Tickets to Family Day are $15 for guests aged 17 and older; $10 for kids aged six to 16, and children under five can attend for free. 

Perhaps, Perhaps... QuizasInternational Highlights

Four international performances—from Flamencodanza with Aylin Bayaz with award winning dance to “Perhaps, Perhaps… Quizás,” a clown performance that explores themes of loneliness, hope, love, and the quest for Mr. Right.

Here are a few shows that caught our attention.

• “Indigenous Liberation” is a powwow dance company with dancers from the Navajo Nation performing 15-minute shows daily at US Bank Plaza. “I saw them perform at Biden's inauguration... They were just amazing,” Heinen shares. “Plus, it’s only 15 minutes long!”
• Heinen describes “The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much” as an acrobatic, energetic piece by a French-British-American ensemble, making its American premiere. “It won a lot of acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival. They created this story that is hugely entertaining and pretty virtuosic in the way that they perform physically,” she says.
• “Paper Cut,” a can’t-miss Israeli object theater show featuring a one-woman performance with paper cutouts, is sponsored by the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection. “We don’t see much object theater here in Cleveland. [The artist] built a whole world out of paper cutouts of magazines from the 40s— she’s a secretary, she's lonely, she's at work, and this whole kind of dark fantasy spins out from there. This has toured everywhere. I think she's performed this 300 times around the world, multi-award winning,” says Heinen.
• “Sancho & Me— For One Night Only” is a play by best-selling author and movie star Patterson Joseph (he recently played opposite Timothée Chalomet in “Wonka”) about Ignatius Sancho, a historical British figure who was also the subject of Patterson’s 2022 acclaimed novel, “The Secret Diaries of Ignatius Sancho.” Joseph is now working on turning it into a Broadway play. “It is not actually one night only, it's for two nights,” jokes Heinen. “Don’t be misled by the title!”  
• “Perhaps, Perhaps…Quizas” is a physical clown performance by Gabby Munoz, known for its poignant and interactive nature. “She is an absolutely brilliant clown,” Heinen says. “This is another form of theater we do not often see in our region. She’s a multi-award-winning performer who does not speak a word during this performance. It’s a physical performance. She wears a crazy outfit. She's dressed like a bride waiting for her husband who never shows up.”

The Fringe portion of the festival offers 43 fringe shows, including immersive experiences like “Immersive Rituals” from Chicago, where audience members become part of the hero's journey.

“Just Go With It” invites participants to join an ensemble of singers. Poetry Free Cleveland will feature personalized poems written on-the-spot. A range of dance performances includes Cleveland's burlesque dancers; the 20-minute shadow performance “Shadow,” traditional flamenco from Spain, and Latin American tango.

Circus fans can enjoy performances like Fly Girl and those looking for laughs can check out comedy shows hosted by Snowflake Comedy Club and the Cleveland Comedy Festival.

Sky Circus SpectacularWorkshop Highlights

Eight workshops will offer hands-on experiences in dancing, writing, and other artistic outlets—many with an international flair.

The Sky Circus "Spectacular's Circus Skills" Workshop, which focuses on building strength and appreciating circus artists; a free Ukrainian Christmas Carol workshop led by a Northeast Ohio artist with Ukrainian heritage; and "Dancy Fans," a fan dance technique class taught by a burlesque performer emphasizing shapes and flow, are just some of the workshops, with an additional group of international workshops.

“Even if you’re not necessarily an artist, but you're looking to dip your toes into performance or just want to better understand the world of performance,[these workshops are] a great opportunity,” says Jones. “You’ll gain a new respect for what artists can do.”

Find your groove

With the scope and variety of performances at this year’s BorderLight Theatre Festival, there’s bound to be a program, workshop, fringe performance or other show that appeals. For instance, check out Cleveland Comedy Festival showcases of the stand-up comedy event’s past 16 years at Cleveland Comedy Festival Presents Thursday, July 25 through Saturday, July 27 at 9 p.m. at Kennedy’s Theatre.

For complete listings, download the BorderLight Theatre Festival Guide.

Ticket prices are on a tiered scale, based on what guests are comfortable paying. Concession tickets are $12, standard tickets are $15, and pay it forward prices, which help underwrite the free shows and cover the concession ticket prices, are $20.    All tickets are general admission.

Discounted Binge on the Fringe ticket bundles range from four to 16 ticket packs and run between $55 and $192.

And there are many free shows and workshops to ensure everyone can participate.

Jones recommends guests explore multiple shows and use the BorderLight website to filter performances by day, venue, genre, cost, and interest.

“A typical day at the festival can be a full-day adventure or a more selective experience,” she says.