ARE WE NOT STRANGERS?
Are We Not Strangers?
Beta testing at Cleveland Public Theatre’s SoftLaunch Festival
January 15 – 17, 2026
Will you be present?
A chalk circle, an unmarked door, a basement room of gathering strangers. No stage, just invitations: unwrap this, read that, meet someone’s gaze. You choose how far to step in. Slowly, the room shifts, and you with it. A secret assembly disguised as theatre, practising connection like it’s contraband.
Are We Not Strangers? is a new work of participatory theatre by Naomi Lord, making its first public appearance at SoftLaunch before evolving through a multi-year research trajectory in Cleveland. This beta version is the seed of a larger civic-performance project—one that will grow into community walkshops, verbatim storytelling, site-responsive installations and a major participatory event.
Join us in the basement. Bring your attention. The rest we’ll make together.
THE CREATIVE TEAM
Naomi Lord is a multidisciplinary artist, theatre-maker and cultural strategist creating participatory works in unconventional spaces. With over two decades in socially engaged performance, installation and civic art, she turns shared experience into the artwork itself. Her practice blends research, community collaboration and design to explore connection and collective agency.
Naomi works where art meets public life, using creative research and social design to spark new forms of exchange and civic possibility.
Isaiah Burns strives to stimulate imagination and build community through a range of art forms. His work explores relatable themes such as family dynamics, class, history and interpersonal relationships, often with a clever, surrealist slant.
Across all platforms, Burns’ goal is to spread warmth and representation at times when audience members may not feel it for themselves.
Kelly DiTurno is delighted to return to performing in the Theatre of the Oppressed tradition during the SoftLaunch season. Kelly first engaged with the work of Boal and Freire through Miami University’s Freedom Summer ’64 Project, where she also developed a lasting research interest in the life and work of Ella Baker. Favourite onstage roles include Viola in Twelfth Night, Mary Flynn in Merrily We Roll Along, Shelley in Batboy: The Musical, and Fraulein Kost in Cabaret.
Kelly is a social worker and trauma therapist in the greater Cleveland area, specialising in narrative exposure therapy and complicated grief across the life course. Kelly’s family—biological and chosen—are her whole world.
Isaiah Burns strives to stimulate imagination and build community through a range of art forms. His work explores relatable themes such as family dynamics, class, history and interpersonal relationships, often with a clever, surrealist slant.
Across all platforms, Burns’ goal is to spread warmth and representation at times when audience members may not feel it for themselves.
Kelly DiTurno is delighted to return to performing in the Theatre of the Oppressed tradition during the SoftLaunch season. Kelly first engaged with the work of Boal and Freire through Miami University’s Freedom Summer ’64 Project, where she also developed a lasting research interest in the life and work of Ella Baker. Favourite onstage roles include Viola in Twelfth Night, Mary Flynn in Merrily We Roll Along, Shelley in Batboy: The Musical, and Fraulein Kost in Cabaret.
Kelly is a social worker and trauma therapist in the greater Cleveland area, specialising in narrative exposure therapy and complicated grief across the life course. Kelly’s family—biological and chosen—are her whole world.
Isaiah Burns strives to stimulate imagination and build community through a range of art forms. His work explores relatable themes such as family dynamics, class, history and interpersonal relationships, often with a clever, surrealist slant.
Across all platforms, Burns’ goal is to spread warmth and representation at times when audience members may not feel it for themselves.
Kelly DiTurno is delighted to return to performing in the Theatre of the Oppressed tradition during the SoftLaunch season. Kelly first engaged with the work of Boal and Freire through Miami University’s Freedom Summer ’64 Project, where she also developed a lasting research interest in the life and work of Ella Baker. Favourite onstage roles include Viola in Twelfth Night, Mary Flynn in Merrily We Roll Along, Shelley in Batboy: The Musical, and Fraulein Kost in Cabaret.
Kelly is a social worker and trauma therapist in the greater Cleveland area, specialising in narrative exposure therapy and complicated grief across the life course. Kelly’s family—biological and chosen—are her whole world.
Rebecca Groth is an interdisciplinary artist, producer, curator and community weaver whose practice spans experimental storytelling, immersive installation, film and community-centred work. She is drawn to regenerative and holistic practices, sustainability, identity, spirituality and connection. Her work brings people, ideas and environments together to create spaces for reflection and collective possibility. Recent projects include last year’s Soft Launch, the DreamShop at IngenuityFest, No Two Flowers with Wayne Smith III, Impart216, and the Upcy:cle Collective.
Rebecca explores the threads that link imagination, human connection and transformation, crafting opportunities for dialogue, wonder and collective possibility.
Sam Munro is a Cleveland native with a deep fascination for conversation, curiosity and the stories we carry as strangers.
Professionally, Sam works in public and community engagement, where listening, asking meaningful questions and learning from people is central to the work. That passion translates naturally into the soft launch of Are We Not Strangers?
Having attended many Cleveland Public Theatre productions over the years, Sam is grateful and excited to be part of this special collaboration.
Rebecca Groth is an interdisciplinary artist, producer, curator and community weaver whose practice spans experimental storytelling, immersive installation, film and community-centred work. She is drawn to regenerative and holistic practices, sustainability, identity, spirituality and connection. Her work brings people, ideas and environments together to create spaces for reflection and collective possibility. Recent projects include last year’s Soft Launch, the DreamShop at IngenuityFest, No Two Flowers with Wayne Smith III, Impart216, and the Upcy:cle Collective.
Rebecca explores the threads that link imagination, human connection and transformation, crafting opportunities for dialogue, wonder and collective possibility.
Sam Munro is a Cleveland native with a deep fascination for conversation, curiosity and the stories we carry as strangers.
Professionally, Sam works in public and community engagement, where listening, asking meaningful questions and learning from people is central to the work. That passion translates naturally into the soft launch of Are We Not Strangers?
Having attended many Cleveland Public Theatre productions over the years, Sam is grateful and excited to be part of this special collaboration.
Rebecca Groth is an interdisciplinary artist, producer, curator and community weaver whose practice spans experimental storytelling, immersive installation, film and community-centred work. She is drawn to regenerative and holistic practices, sustainability, identity, spirituality and connection. Her work brings people, ideas and environments together to create spaces for reflection and collective possibility. Recent projects include last year’s Soft Launch, the DreamShop at IngenuityFest, No Two Flowers with Wayne Smith III, Impart216, and the Upcy:cle Collective.
Rebecca explores the threads that link imagination, human connection and transformation, crafting opportunities for dialogue, wonder and collective possibility.
Sam Munro is a Cleveland native with a deep fascination for conversation, curiosity and the stories we carry as strangers.
Professionally, Sam works in public and community engagement, where listening, asking meaningful questions and learning from people is central to the work. That passion translates naturally into the soft launch of Are We Not Strangers?
Having attended many Cleveland Public Theatre productions over the years, Sam is grateful and excited to be part of this special collaboration.
Wayne Smith III is a Cleveland-based storyteller, auteur and entrepreneur working across film, theatre and interdisciplinary art. His documentary Where We Overlap (2023) premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and in 2024 he created No Two Flowers, an immersive documentary-exhibit exploring masculinity, disability and nature, presented at BorderLight Fringe and IngenuityFest.
In 2025, Wayne directed his first devised theatre work, Dementia’s Web, at Cleveland Public Theater and continued developing his stage practice through CPT and Dobama Theater. He is the founder of Liaison Media LLC and Narrative Roux.
CARAMEL (Angus K. Williams) is a Cleveland-based performer, composer and director, and a classically trained pianist who studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music for ten years. He has composed for string quartets, gospel and jazz choirs, and jazz bands, and founded Living In Color, a cross-disciplinary platform for Black student artists at Boston College.
Recent work includes performing in Playhouse Square’s workshop of Sankofa: An Epic Adventure, serving as assistant music director on The King of Harlem in New York City, and working as administrative assistant at Karamu House. He is honored to be sound designing for Naomi’s project, Are We Not Strangers?
Wayne Smith III is a Cleveland-based storyteller, auteur and entrepreneur working across film, theatre and interdisciplinary art. His documentary Where We Overlap (2023) premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and in 2024 he created No Two Flowers, an immersive documentary-exhibit exploring masculinity, disability and nature, presented at BorderLight Fringe and IngenuityFest.
In 2025, Wayne directed his first devised theatre work, Dementia’s Web, at Cleveland Public Theater and continued developing his stage practice through CPT and Dobama Theater. He is the founder of Liaison Media LLC and Narrative Roux.
CARAMEL (Angus K. Williams) is a Cleveland-based performer, composer and director, and a classically trained pianist who studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music for ten years. He has composed for string quartets, gospel and jazz choirs, and jazz bands, and founded Living In Color, a cross-disciplinary platform for Black student artists at Boston College.
Recent work includes performing in Playhouse Square’s workshop of Sankofa: An Epic Adventure, serving as assistant music director on The King of Harlem in New York City, and working as administrative assistant at Karamu House. He is honoured to be sound designing for Naomi’s project, Are We Not Strangers?
Wayne Smith III is a Cleveland-based storyteller, auteur and entrepreneur working across film, theatre and interdisciplinary art. His documentary Where We Overlap (2023) premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and in 2024 he created No Two Flowers, an immersive documentary-exhibit exploring masculinity, disability and nature, presented at BorderLight Fringe and IngenuityFest.
In 2025, Wayne directed his first devised theatre work, Dementia’s Web, at Cleveland Public Theater and continued developing his stage practice through CPT and Dobama Theater. He is the founder of Liaison Media LLC and Narrative Roux.
CARAMEL (Angus K. Williams) is a Cleveland-based performer, composer and director, and a classically trained pianist who studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music for ten years. He has composed for string quartets, gospel and jazz choirs, and jazz bands, and founded Living In Color, a cross-disciplinary platform for Black student artists at Boston College.
Recent work includes performing in Playhouse Square’s workshop of Sankofa: An Epic Adventure, serving as assistant music director on The King of Harlem in New York City, and working as an administrative assistant at Karamu House. He is honoured to be sound designing for Naomi’s project, Are We Not Strangers?