Theater

Who needs Broadway when you have Playhouse Square?

In fact, our storied and world-renowned theater district is so much part of the fabric of the American stage that Broadway comes to us.

Every year, more than one million theatergoers visit Playhouse Square, the 11-venue complex that features historic and beautifully restored vaudeville-style theatres. Just behind Lincoln Center, Playhouse Square is the second-largest performing arts district in the nation — you know, not to brag. Hit musicals, ballet, standup legends — Playhouse Square brings in all the top touring acts and theatrical productions. Located on the east side of Downtown Cleveland, it’s not hard to find — just look for the iconic outdoor chandelier hanging over Euclid Avenue.

But The Land doesn’t sleep on the classics, either. For fans of Shakespeare, it gets no better than the Great Lakes Theater — just ask Oscar-winning GLT alums Tom Hanks and Olympia Dukakis or any of the numerous stars of stage and screen who have passed through over the years. Take in original productions at the Cleveland Play House — the first professional regional theater in the U.S. — or try something modern at the Beck Center for the Arts or Cleveland Public Theater.

Cleveland also is home to Karamu House, the oldest African American theater in the U.S., where people from different races, religions and economic backgrounds come together through the arts, and whose most famous former resident is poet Langston Hughes.