"Near West Theatre has allowed kids to dream, excel, belong, cooperate, experience success and community"

Sandy & Tom Sullivan

"NWT's 30-year history of diversity--in race, age, and income level of its cast and audience participants--has become a key symbol of Cleveland's near west side."   

Ken Silliman, Chief of Staff, City of Cleveland

"I was completely entranced. The positive self esteem and confident poise-beyond-their- years beaming from the actors on that stage was incredible.   The Near West Theatre is clearly making a positive difference in this world..."

Margaret Weitzel, Senior Vice President, Administration, Wyse Advertising

"I was completely won over by the performance and the spirit and energy of everyone involved. ..This was a superb production of a demanding and challenging musical. I was overwhelmed by the general quality of the production -from performances right through to physical production standards...what made the production work especially well was the way the entire cast pulled together and had complete focus on telling the story and sharing their enjoyment of performance with the audience...This was a notable example of how an organization like this can lead the way for others and can run an integrated and inclusive program and at the same time set high professional production standards."

Ken Alexander, Artistic Director, Byre Theatre of St. Andrews, Ohio Arts Council site visit of My Fair Lady

"The transformations that occur are truly staggering: I have seen the wings growing.  I have watched them soar. "

 Mike Andrews-Hinders, NWT parent, volunteer, illustrator & actor

"…lives saved, families brought together, personalities born, burdens lifted, artistic expression unleashed, laughter, tears, futures created…growth for all involved…this culminates on stage with an incredible theatre production that families can afford."

Kevin Joseph Kelly, Actor/Director

"The Near West Theater is the perfect example of a community. There is no over-exaggeration in saying the Near West Theatre has achieved the best community for any person of any belief. ...I only wish I had discovered this theater sooner. Coming to this theater four times a week, I was able to overcome so many troubles. Just being in the theater gave me strength to face any problem that arose this summer. ...Through this theater I have experienced something, at only age 16, that changed my life. I truly feel this theater is the Kingdom of God. It is here, with all of us. I love the Near West Theater."

Tim Schuerger, teen participant

"The lives of so many deepened and expanded, enriched and empowered through the Near West Theater’s performing arts community building venture and adventure…What a spark of hope"

George Hrbek, Co-Founder

"People are always better here. I can't quite explain it, but they just are. Before I came to this theatre, I had such a rotten view on people. All I had ever gotten from them was threats and name calling for no reason. People here give me hope not just about people, but about life. We put art in life here. I think that is a very beautiful thing."

Anonymous

"It's the raw, empowering, gut wrenching, soul searching that we are uniquely called to do at NWT that sets us apart from other community theatres… W. 38 th & Bridge is truly my Stairway to Heaven."

Sharron DeCosta 

"On stage at least I find some form of peace and freedom.   I have become able to at least put up a fight against the incredible amounts of self-consciousness that I harbor inside.   In and out of every day, I constantly am thinking about how my actions and appearance are making me seem to the people around me, but for some reason, when in the NWT environment I am able to disregard all of that.   There have been moments, however fleeting, where I became so completely focused on what or who I was on stage that I forgot about the people around me and what they could be thinking about me.   I figure that those rare moments are as close to my true self as I have ever come, even though in a situation that most view as "less real" than reality."

Anonymous

"…art functioning as a salve, as an oasis of meaning, as community in a world of disconnection."

James Levin, Founder Cleveland Public Theatre/Ingenuity Festival

"Being in a play here at NWT is different...here you are not just in the play, you are living the play.   By that I mean the cast becomes your family.   Never have I been with a group of people that cares so much for each other.   I would look forward to everyday, knowing that I would come here and look upon smiling faces.   I never felt pressured to act a certain way here, I always felt that here I belonged, that people would accept me for who I am."

Katie McGuire, teen participant

"NWT is a place of passion, energy, love, and community.   It has done wonders for me and inadvertently, for the world.    I feel as much at home here as I do in my real home.   The friendships I've built are incredible because they are based on mutual passion, drive, and an open honesty that I've yet to experience anywhere else.   I think no matter how long it's been, or what has happened in my life, I'll be able to come back here and say. . . I'm home.   I love NWT!"

Anonymous

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