'American Parade' marches forward local professor's second life as playwright

Jul. 29—Tennessee Williams. Arthur Miller. Steve Cleberg.

The latter of that bunch may not be in quite the same esteemed company as the former two just yet, but he's been making the most of his free time to get there.

Cleberg, who retired from Somerset Community College as the head of the school's drama program in 2019, is the writer of the new play "The American Parade," currently making its world debut with Flashback Theater Co.

And to say "world debut" isn't stretching things when considering the reach a play by Somerset resident Cleberg might have. During his time at SCC, he created and staged a series known as "Radio Suspense Theater," with a number of productions using the same concept and characters — an audio drama company from the Golden Age of Radio, who we see actually perform their in-show mysteries in between their personal drama behind the scenes of the radio show.

Cleberg made those plays available to be performed by other groups outside of Somerset, although they all debuted here, on the stage of Stoner Little Theater on the SCC campus. To date, his "Radio Suspense Theater" series has been performed 100 times by others, all over the U.S., Canada, and even in the United Kingdom. Its simple-to-produce format and wholesome nostalgic content has made it popular among high school drama programs.

Currently, Cleberg is working on getting another of his SCC originals — "Tin Pan Alley Tavern," his first musical, originally produced in 2014 — ready for a similar widespread audience, developing the prohibition period music into a more comprehensive score. But the play of the moment for Cleberg is "The American Parade," which began its run outdoors at Rocky Hollow Park in the Joe Ford Amphitheater last weekend, and continues this weekend on Friday and Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, performed by local actors with the homegrown non-profit Flashback Theater Co.

"It's an interesting process, because I wasn't directing it this time," said Cleberg, an easygoing South Dakotan who came to Somerset in 1986 and quickly put down roots, perhaps becoming the bearded face of the local theater community and directing plays annually featuring generations of SCC students and community members.

"Everything I've written before, whether it was a play or a screenplay, I've directed it; I'm talking about the original productions," he added, distinguishing those from the extra use "Radio Suspense Theater" has received. "This one, (I turned) it over to Sommer Schoch (of Flashback Theater Co.), who directed it. That gave me some insight as a playwright."

Still, "it was hard," he laughed. "We went through the original table work for the play (where actors read through it and offer constructive criticism), and a lot of times I had to sit there and bite my tongue. Sommer said, 'You actually did pretty good. You didn't try to take over.'"

A fan of the classics, Cleberg drew on the work of the French playwright Molière when creating "The American Parade." The play centers around an artist who served in World War I, and has responded to the horrors of war that he witnessed by creating a painting that makes a bold — and unpopular — statement in an area when patriotism is running high in the U.S. This takes place within a circle of New York artists at the time, touching on issues like the 1918 influenza pandemic, censorship, and alcohol prohibition — as well as romance, sexual politics, and life in the big city theatre scene.

And despite all of that, Cleberg reminds the audience that the play is, in actuality, a comedy, even if it might not sound that way — a reality that the actors achieve with crisp reactions and deliveries to wit-stuffed lines.

"After I retired and I started looking for independent projects to work on one of the things we did was a film adaptation of Molière, based on 'The Imaginary Invalid' inspired by a lot of what was going on at the time with Covid and everything," said Cleberg. "After we were done with that, I said, 'I'll try the same idea with a stage play.' So I looked through my Molière canon and came up with 'The Misanthrope' and said, 'Well, this would be perfect, to base a play on this guy who is just dissatisfied with everything and explore that through the prism of what was going on in American culture at the time.'"

As Cleberg wrote, the concept evolved from a simple modernization of the original character and concept to something else, more the story of an artist searching for truth in a difficult age.

"I set it right as World War I was coming to an end and the Spanish Influenza was going on," he said. "I was seeing a lot of parallels between was going on during Covid and what was happening then, and I used that to mirror the two time periods and that whole approach, mirroring characters, mirroring scenes."

Another topic of the modern age which saw parallels in the period piece was that of "cancel culture," and trying to shut down someone's expression because it's politically unpopular. In the play, that's reflected in the reaction to the protagonist's painting perceived as unpatriotic — a response to values that were at the forefront of American life at the time.

"That's kind of what I tried to do, to show the flip side of (cancel culture) to a certain extent," he said. "We act like it's this thing that just started, but it's been going on for all time, really. It also gave me an opportunity not to take sides by virtue of showing the other side of the coin. It gave me the opportunity to explore some of these questions without really having to take sides."

"The American Parade" will be staged at 7:30 p.m. this Friday, July 29 and Saturday, July 30 at the Joe Ford Amphitheater in Rocky Hollow Park. There will also be a 6 p.m. show on Sunday, July 31, with a special junior cast featuring younger talent. Tickets are pay-what-you-can and all major credit cards are accepted (tickets typically cost $20 to cover production costs and $15 for students). They can be reserved in advance by calling 888-394-FbTC, or by visiting www.flashbacktheater.co/events), or in person at 400 East Mt. Vernon Street in Somerset. As the event is outdoors, it is subject to weather. If a cancellation occurs due to weather, you can present your ticket for any following performance and it will be honored. Alternatively, you can request your ticket to be converted to a donation or refunded by calling the box office during regular box office hours.

Though he retired three years ago, leaving the SCC drama program in the hands of Julia Chereson, Cleberg has stayed busy — writing, filming material, and spending time with his family and grandchildren. He said that "retirement has been great," and the day the Commonwealth Journal talked to him, he had been working with a local film crew making a movie out of one of his screenplays — except, once again, he was not directing it himself for the first time.

The experience has been a positive one for Cleberg though, giving up a little control to be a part of a theatre production and gain a new perspective, and he hopes people will get to see "The American Parade" this weekend — perhaps the first of countless audiences around the world.

"'Radio Suspense Theater' was really geared to a broader audience. 'The American Parade' speaks to all times, but will probably have a different audience. If it gets done, it will probably be done in college settings or professional theatre settings," he said. "I'd love to see that. I love seeing the play come to life in Somerset, but it would be great if it found life after that like 'RST' did.

"I'm hearing from people who have seen it, and everyone comes away with something different," he added. "It's very gratifying for me, people are finding very personal things in it. I encourage people to come out and enjoy it."