The BorderLight Theatre Festival is set for July 8-11 across 14 stages in seven venues in the Playhouse Square District.
This year’s program showcases a diverse roster of local, national and international works. More than 120 performances of 43 unique and compelling shows, representing 12 states and three countries, will take to the stages during the festival’s four-day run.
From scripted plays and musicals to dance and physical theatre, audiences can also experience immersive and interactive works, puppetry, circus and aerial arts, storytelling, cabaret, spoken word, comedy,and multimedia performance.
The lineup highlights a wide range of voices and perspectives, including artists from varied cultural backgrounds and LGBTQ+ artists, alongside family-friendly programming and boundary-pushing hybrid forms that reflect the festival’s global spirit and commitment to artistic innovation.
Festival Guides will be available in early June at coffee houses, restaurants, and businesses
throughout downtown Cleveland and surrounding neighborhoods. In the coming weeks, the
Festival Guide will also be available in digital form on the BorderLight Theatre Festival website.
BORDERLIGHT THEATRE FESTIVAL
Founded in 2015 by Dale Heinen and Jeffrey Pence, BorderLight Festival is a nonprofit whose
mission is to present innovative theatre that inspires, builds cross-cultural understanding, and
celebrates the diversity of the human experience. Since debuting in 2019, BorderLight has
welcomed thousands of arts enthusiasts to downtown Cleveland and showcased hundreds of
international and domestic performances.
HOPE photo by Alisa Mandel, courtesy BorderLight Theatre
