Theatrical Performance of ‘Everything That Rises Must Converge’ To Debut in Cleveland

Oct. 4 - 5 shows at Tri-C Eastern Campus part of U.S. tour by international theater collective

HIGHLAND HILLS — Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®) will host two performances of Everything That Rises Must Converge by Compagnia de' Colombari in Cleveland as part of a U.S. tour.

Written by Southern American author Flannery O'Connor and created for the stage by Karin Coonrod, Everything That Rises Must Converge is a tragi-comic interracial seat-shifting dance between Blacks and whites on a bus in America's deep south, performed verbatim as written in O'Connor’s original text.

The performances take place at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 4 - 5 at the Simon and Rose Mandel Theatre at the Eastern Campus (4250 Richmond Road, Highland Hills 44122).

Tickets are $5 and available online.

The event is sponsored by Tri-C and the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. The tour will also make stops in Milwaukee, Houston, Belmont, North Carolina, Ossining, New York, and Brooklyn, New York through October.

Everything That Rises Must Converge draws upon the platitudes perpetuated by an older culture and the misery of disenfranchised youth. The story examines and overturns cultural assumptions, putting them in a relief that exposes through comedy the necessity for a new consciousness.

This year marks Compagnia de' Colombari's 20th anniversary season. The company is an international theater collective whose performances combine different art forms, cultures, and traditions to offer new interpretations of written works. The show has toured the United States and internationally since 2009. Compagnia de' Colombari was founded in Orvieto, Italy in 2004 by Coonrod and is now based in New York City. Their work is based on the idea that great theater can be accessible to everyone and happen anywhere.

Coonrod is the sole adaptor of O'Connor’s works for theater, given permission directly from the estate. She felt called to bring the worlds and words of this compelling, courageous and controversial writer to the stage after encountering her stories at age 19 in an American literature class. To Coonrod, O'Connor is the American Dante, from the red clay of Georgia to the realm beyond.

September 10, 2024

MEDIA CONTACT: Anthony Moujaes, 216-987-3068 or anthony.moujaes@tri-c.edu