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September 17, 2026

Dear Campus Community,

������Ƶ and Cleveland Play House are pleased to announce a transformational alliance that will deepen the relationship between our organizations. This alliance, which begins immediately and will develop over the 2026-27 academic year, will create new applied learning opportunities for students across many degree programs, not only those in the performing arts. This alliance will bolster and maintain the artistic mission that has defined Cleveland Play House for more than a century.

Our organizations are no strangers to one another. For more than 15 years, ������Ƶ and CPH have collaborated on programs that bring professional theatre and public higher education together, and now, students will gain unprecedented access to learn directly from artists and practitioners in the field. Students interested in the technical aspects of theatre production will be connected with today’s professionals to experience first-hand how productions develop, and CPH will introduce students to a network of arts administrators, marketers, events managers and others who support the operations of regional theatre behind the scenes.

������Ƶ is delighted to welcome Rachel Fink, CPH’s CEO and Managing Director, as a University Executive-in-Residence. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Theater Management from the Yale School of Drama (now the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale) and has held leadership roles in highly regarded theatres across the country, including Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago and Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California. As a strong proponent of Ohio regional theatre and an advocate for access to the arts, she is well positioned to serve both organizations. In her dual role, Rachel will both lead CPH as an independent regional theatre while closely working with ������Ƶ to enhance degree programs and student experiences.

������Ƶ is Cleveland’s University, proudly in and of the city. This strategic alliance creates an exciting opportunity to work even more closely with a Tony Award-winning theatre that has a mission to “inspire, stimulate and entertain diverse audiences across Northeast Ohio by producing plays and theatre education programs of the highest professional standards.”

Cleveland, which already features a thriving arts district, will also be a center of learning for the performing arts and arts management. We will share more information as this alliance continues to develop and grow. 

Sincerely,

Laura Bloomberg, PhD
President

Rachel Fink, M.F.A. 
CEO and Managing Director, Cleveland Play House
Executive in Residence, ������Ƶ