Playhouse Square’s first self-produced family show hits the stage

CLEVELAND — Playhouse Square has produced a family show that it produces for the first time.

It is currently being played to student audiences and will be opened to the public this weekend. But there’s another reason why this production is so important to Cleveland’s nonprofit performing arts center.

What does it mean to be real? For Clayten Yoder, being on stage is all that matters.

“It’s very liberating,” Yoder said of his latest role on stage. “So liberating! I can get emotional. “There are a lot of similarities between him and me.”

Yoder plays Velveteen Velveteen, A New Musical: A refreshingly modern adaptation of the classic children’s story The Velveteen Rabbit.

The stuffed rabbit famously asks what it means to be real, and this comes through through themes that are still relevant today.

News 5 Anchor Katie Ussin asked Yoder, “What do you hope people take away from this performance?” he asked.

“You are real,” he said. “You are enough.”

Yoder, a kid from rural Ohio who followed his dreams, said he hopes others will be inspired and know that self-worth can’t be found online.

“A lot of times we get lost in that comparison and fall down the rabbit hole of one algorithm or another,” said Yoder, who is also an art teacher. “It’s just pure, raw, reality. Understanding who you are. You are enough and you need to go through and experience all the real things in life to create the building blocks that make up you.”

For Playhouse Square, Velveteen is a dream finally come true.

“We think we have something really special,” said Daniel Hahn, Playhouse Square’s vice president of education.

He told Katie he had been working to make this a reality for several years, and this was the first time Playhouse Square had produced a family show of its own.

Katie asked why this hadn’t happened before. Hahn said it takes a long time to produce work. He said they want to do it right and well, and he believes it’s the right time and story for everything to come together.

“This beautiful 50-minute play with just toe-tapping, heart-warming songs will bring it all home,” Hahn said of the journey to get here. “It’s going to be truly magical for Cleveland.”

Velveteen is also entirely made in Cleveland. Everyone is local, both onstage and backstage.

“This is very exciting,” Hahn said. “There’s a buzz in the air!”

CorLesia Smith, who plays Gran/Clover and does a lot of work at Karamu House, said Velveteen shows the breadth and depth of Northeast Ohio’s talent in the industry.

“It was magic,” he smiled.

News 5

Smith told Katie he couldn’t wait to see the magic on the faces of the kids in the audience.

“They bring a whole new dimension to how fun and magical the production is because they bridge the gap with imagination, and it’s great to see them working so wonderfully there,” he said.

Smith said her son watched parts of the show and loved the music.

There are many songs that are earworms and will have you singing along after you leave the theatre.

“It’s surreal and so beautiful,” Velveteen composer Molly Andrews-Hinders said. “It tells me there is something here and something that will go home and continue to live with families.”

During the interview, sitting at his piano was his childhood rabbit, a gift from his grandmother, which he said inspired him during his songwriting process.

Especially when writing a song titled I Know You Know.

He said it was about the strong bond between Velveteen and the child.

“I remember as a little kid having really big emotions and not being able to explain to the adults in the room why I was feeling that way,” Andrews-Hinders said. “And the stuffed animal was that witness. That being accepts me as I am. So the song is all about the boy telling Velveteen, ‘I know you know what I’m thinking.’ I know you know why I giggle. ‘I know you know what I feel and it feels great to know that I know you know.’ The feeling that I don’t have to explain anything and that you will accept me no matter what situation I am in.”

He said he hopes his music moves people to action.

Catchy lyrics and melodies bring to life the timeless story that reminds us of what it means to be real and the true power of love.

“It’s such a gift to have these local artists come together on this piece to show Cleveland and the nation who we truly are and what we have to say,” Andrews-Hinders said.

Hahn said he hopes Velveteen could be the first of many upcoming self-produced shows for Playhouse Square.

He said he’s also invited some top family show representatives to give feedback on the possibility of taking Velveteen on tour.