There will be two new celebrations of SWAN Day in Cleveland, Ohio this weekend.

Deborah Magid has designed SWAN Day CLE 2013 to celebrate and promote women playwrights, directors, and actors.  She has organized staged readings of eight short plays at two venues. On Saturday, March 30, there will be a 2 p.m. matinee at Convergence-Continuum at The Liminis, 2438 Scranton Road, Tremont, and there will be an 8 p.m. show across town at the Ensemble Theatre, 2843 Washington Blvd, Cleveland Heights.

Deborah Magid brings a rich background as an award-winning playwright, performer, director, composer, and producer to her work as a SWAN organizer.  Two of the plays she has selected are by women who have organized their own SWAN events – Kelly DuMar, who produces the annual SWAN Day “Our Voices” readings of women’s plays in the Boston area, and Joan Lipkin, the founder of the That Uppity Company in St. Louis, MO, a theatre with a long history of dedication to inclusion and activism.

The other playwrights who will be showcased are Eli Effinger-Weintraub, L.E. Grabowski-Cotton, Sharon Goldner, Katherine Koller, Claudia Barnett, and Stephanie Carrie. Admission is $5.

Sharron Foxx, Margaret, and Carla of Maiden Voyage Theatre Ensemble

Elsewhere in Cleveland this Saturday night, the Maiden Voyage Theatre Ensemble will be celebrating  SWAN Day with their debut performance at the Callaloo Cafe, 15601 Waterloo Road, Cleveland from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Maiden Voyage Theatre Ensemble is a company of women from the Cleveland area who are exploring the challenges and achievements of women of all colors in contemporary America. Their interactive production of monologues, music and movement will highlight the challenges of violence, racism, growing up and growing older, and the ways that women are meeting those challenges  and emerging as leaders, innovators, and artists.

Maiden Voyage Theatre Ensemble is asking for a $5 donation to support future performances.