theater

Midsummer Night Memories: Cain Park turns 70

By Faye Sholiton

Mention Cain Park to anyone who grew up on Cleveland’s east side and you will probably hear a nostalgic sigh. The bucolic setting in Cleveland Heights is where many hit their first home run – or at least got to first base. For the truly lucky, however, it is where they discovered the magic of theater. Those memories take on an additional glow this summer as Cain Park celebrates its 70th anniversary.

The dream began in 1915, when Frank Cain, mayor of the village of Cleveland Heights, led the drive to purchase 22 acres of undeveloped land along Superior Road between Lee and Taylor roads. Although the property was essentially an overgrown ravine with an odiferous creek, it had recreational possibilities. Before long, one hillside was cleared for a sled run.

In 1934, Heights High School drama teacher Dina Rees Evans got permission to stage Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the foot of the sledding hill. Her reportedly luminous production, which paired Heights High students with adult community actors, would open the next chapter in the park’s history. Mayor Cain saw a performance and declared that spot the future site of a city-owned outdoor theater.

Never mind that this was still the Great Depression; that such a municipal project had never been attempted; or that Cleveland’s weather could be problematic. Cain found labor from the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Board and later, the nascent WPA; 5,000 trees and shrubs from John D. Rockefeller; and donors for most of the building materials. No bond issue was required as the city was billed only $6,000. Cain covered the remaining costs – an amount he never disclosed – from his personal account. He never did figure out what to do about the weather.

By 1938, the park bore his name; a Greek-style amphitheater was the centerpiece of a four-acre theater complex; and “Doc” Evans (so named for her groundbreaking Ph.D. in dramatic arts) was named theatrical director.The following summer, 60 students were enrolled in an education program. By 1940, Cain Park’s reputation was sealed, drawing talent from all over the world. And in 1944, the city opened a second stage, named Alma, for Cain’s wife. During the 1940s, Cain Park staged a different play or musical for every week of the nine-week season, along with an array of other live entertainment.

North Olmsted resident Rosemary Corcoran recalls her “fairy tale” summers (1948-51), where she learned every facet of stagecraft at Cain Park. Including her commute from the west side, her days stretched between 11 and 16 hours.During that time, she says, she learned to “feed on the arts.” She shared the stage with future notables like Sheila Smith, who went on to play Mame on Broadway. Alan Schneider, her first Cain Park director, later joined New York’s Actors Studio and John Housman’s Acting Company.

One summer, she worked with a kid who couldn’t get enough laughs. Appearing in a show that featured live horses, this comedian invariably slipped the animals a quick meal before their entrance, knowing it would make them relieve themselves on stage.

Cain Park boasts too many distinguished alumni to count, but a short list includes Hal Holbrook, Ross Hunter, Carol Kane, Jack Weston, Pernell Roberts and Jack Lee – all during their formative years. Sets were designed by the likes of Cleveland’s beloved visual artist/inventor Viktor Schreckengost. One time stagehand David Shaber returned decades later to film the 1980 movie Those Lips, Those Eyes, starring Frank Langella. The legacy from that project was $100,000 in improvements to the amphitheater that now honors Doc Evans.

Evans’ departure in 1950 meant changes in the operation. Marvin Kline, her successor, mounted seasons of four large-cast musical comedies that filled the 3,000-seat amphitheater. Kline’s tenure ended in 1954, when New York and Hollywood came calling.

For the next two decades, the city fathers were simply focused on the bottom line. Parts of the property fell into disrepair. Summer fare included presented works: either one-night performances or summer stock with nationally known talent. Those who grew up in the Heights during the late ’50s through the ’70s can tell you which film and television idols performed in their neighborhood.They still have the autographs to prove it.

Susan Brooks Stone of University Heights recalls her brush with fame in 1960, when she volunteered at Cain Park: “We did whatever was asked of us during the day, swabbing the stage, helping in the backstage areas … cleaning up after the show, just to be near Johnny Mathis, Bob Hope,Sammy Davis Jr. and others.We would climb into the light towers on either side of the stage to watch the shows, then scamper down as soon as the show was over so we could play bodyguard, escorting them to their dressing rooms and ‘gophering.’” Stone recalls the thrill of being photographed by the Sun Press while walking Bob Hope to his red convertible. She still wonders when the photo will run.

For those who trained at Cain Park, the education was even more valuable than the theater credits. In the 1960s and ’70s, the education program had only one star: Heights Youth Theatre legend Jerry Leonard. He ran an extremely tight ship, but survivors learned everything they needed to know about theater.

Deborah Magid, who recently moved to Cleveland Heights after a career that included Broadway and the Santa Fe Opera, recalls her Leonard years in one telling phrase: “He was the most terrifying man I ever knew.” But after spending her eighth through 13th summers under his tutelage, she says, she was “set up for a life in theater.”

A vintage playbill from
Cain Park Production

His lessons went well beyond technique to developing a work ethic, she says.“Real true professionalism is about always honing your craft, always working on your lines, songs, character, motivation. Even if you’re sitting around during a rehearsal, you’re working.”

New York actor, director and acting coach Lester Shane learned that and more at Cain Park.When he wasn’t performing on the Alma Stage, he was assistant stage manager on some of the aforementioned star-studded productions. His responsibilities ranged from calling cues to wrangling tipsy stars (who were euphemistically “under the weather”). During a performance of West Side Story, he says, a piece of scenery collapsed on an actor just before a large dance number. At age 11, he found himself joining the line in mid-performance!

For Shane, the Alma Theater held all the magic. “When I was rehearsing my audition for Carnegie, I went to the Alma late one night and did my audition on that stage. It’s where I had seen Midsummer when I was three or four and fallen in love with theater. It’s where I did my acting.”

The only thing that has upstaged the performances and educational opportunities at Cain Park has been the forest setting itself. Both performance spaces, so vulnerable to Mother Nature’s whims, have prompted some of the company’s most memorable moments.

Nashua, New Hampshire, resident Rosalyn Waxman Citino lovingly recalls a performance of The Fantasticks in 1981, when actor El Gallo began “Soon It’s Gonna Rain“ under a sprinkle – and ended the song under a downpour.There wasn’t a dry eye in the place, she says, much of it from uncontrolled laughter.

The roof wasn’t added to the amphitheater until 1988, so there are too many weather stories to recount. But community services director Susanna Niermann O’Neil, who has been affiliated with the city since 1976, can remember when the staff spent the pre-show hours “looking up at the sky, worrying.” During one downpour that washed out the 1995 art festival, O’Neil found herself on the stage of the amphitheater calming patrons who were stranded on the nearby colonnade and terrace. Imagine her surprise when she descended the ramp and found herself knee-deep in water. That storm led to significant improvements to the park’s drainage system.

On a good night, however, the setting only added to the magic. Recalls Cleveland Heights resident Hester Lewellen,“We did Man of La Mancha [in 1981] in the amphitheater. [Director Tom Fulton] had us on stage the whole time, with a beautiful raked stage tilting up to the sky. …When Fred Reeder sang ‘The Impossible Dream’ to me, I could look up and see the unreachable stars.”

The park’s indigenous species have also kept performers on their toes. In a 1993 production of the Sondheim revue You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow, Adina Bloom entertained a family of raccoons who inexplicably took the stage – every night – for “Send in the Clowns.” But the show always went on.

The show continues to go on, with great success. Much of the credit belongs to artistic director Victoria Bussert, whose 1988 production of Follies gave an early glimpse of her vision and range. During that final season before the park’s $5 million upgrade, she chose a musical that celebrated the passing of the torch to a new generation. She cast a group of Cain Park veteran actresses – one of whom had already survived a stroke and needed a wheelchair at the airport – and soon had all of them tapping their hearts out.

Follies		Hal Holbrook on S.S. Washington

Now in her 22nd Cain Park season, Bussert presents two shows with ties to the 1970s: The Wiz appears in the Evans, nearly 70 years after Judy Garland first eased on down the Yellow Brick Road. In the Alma, look for Harold & Maude, An Intimate Musical, based on the ’70s classic cult film about an unlikely friendship between two disparate loners. On August 5, she presents The Stars of Cain Park, a benefit performance that celebrates the theater’s illustrious history.

None of this would happen without the City of Cleveland Heights, she hastens to add. “I don’t know another place that exists like this in the country,” she says. “The experience of walking down into the park…it’s like entering Central Park, but more magical. With the theater in such a prominent space, the city is saying ‘This is important.’”

Mayor Cain would be pleased to know that the slogan for Cleveland Heights is “Home to the Arts,” and that the government earmarks $200,000 each year to keep Cain Park the jewel in their crown. He would also be pleased that a youngster who saw Annie Get Your Gun more than three decades ago in the Alma Theater grew up to be Mayor Ed Kelley of Cleveland Heights, and one of the park’s biggest supporters.

“There is so much beauty, so much splendor, opportunity there,” says Kelley. “No matter who sits in my chair, there will always be a complete financial commitment to Cain Park. Anything else would be foolish.”

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