'Rust' makes world premiere at Dobama

To close out its 2024–25 season, Dobama Theatre will present the world premiere of “Rust: A Story of Steel and Grit,” directed by Laura Kepley. Performances are Thursdays through Sundays, April 25 through May 18.

The play, adapted by George Brant from the memoir by Eliese Colette Goldbach, is based on the true story of a young woman in Cleveland whose unanticipated slog in the bowels of a steel mill spurs a journey into the recesses of her own mind.

Dobama Theatre commissioned the play, reaching out in 2020 to Brant, a Cleveland resident at the time, to gauge his interest in adapting Goldbach’s celebrated memoir for the stage. After almost five years, two workshops, and numerous meetings and drafts, "Rust" will make its world premiere on Friday, April 25. The script is already receiving interest from other professional theaters across the country. 

Goldbach said she wanted to provide insight into a world that most people will never see, to offer an alternate and authentic perspective of the Rust Belt to outsiders, and share the unique perspective of a millennial woman steelworker. She said the mill’s identity is “not just economic: It’s about pride, relevance, country, union. The steelworkers are still so strong.”

Several of Brant’s works have been performed previously on the Dobama stage, including “Grounded,” “Grizzly Mama,” and “The Land of Oz;” the latter two also were world premieres. Recently, composer Jeanine Tesori adapted “Grounded” as an opera for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

The cast will feature actors familiar to Dobama audiences: Kelly Strand, Robert Ellis, Eric Fancher, and Kristie Lang, who will be making her Dobama Theatre debut in the show.

The “Rust” creative team comprises designers Michael Boll (lighting), Ben Needham (scenic), Megan Culley (sound), T. Paul Lowry (projections), Tesia Benson (costumes), and Julia Fisher (intimacy choreography). Joel Rathbone is the stage manager, and Camille Henderson is the assistant stage manager.

Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m., with matinees at 2:30 p.m. For a complete performance schedule, ticket prices, and reservations, call the Dobama Theatre Box Office at 216-932-3396 or visit www.dobama.org/rust.

Dobama offers pay-what-you-can tickets for anyone who cannot afford a full-price ticket. Any available seat can be purchased at a pay-what-you-can price at the box office beginning one hour prior to a performance.