Laughs, tears mix in “I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes” at Cleveland Public Theatre

Amy Schwabauer hopes her words make the world a less lonely place.

Schwabauer’s play, a dark comedy, “I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes” runs through Dec. 20 at Cleveland Public Theatre and explores her grief journey as she both laughs and cries while cleaning out her deceased sister’s house.

“Grief is universal,” Schwabauer said. “Everyone is going to go through it.”

“I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes” was the winner of the Char and Chuck Fowler Audience Choice Award at the Borderlight Theatre Festival in 2024. Schwabauer said a playwriting class in college at Cleveland State University inspired her to work in a more personal way.

“There is going to be vulnerability and comedy with me,” she said.

Throughout her theater career, Schwabauer said she has always defaulted to the strong family and Midwestern work ethic.

“I am a DIY theater person,” she said. “You figure out how to get things done.”

Schwabauer said she thinks it is important for grief to be shown. “I want people to feel seen more than anything.”

After shows, Schwabauer said audience members often share how her story resonates with them, and it makes them recall their own memories of family members who have died.

The thing that Schwabauer appreciates about the Cleveland Public Theatre production of her show is that she has more help than usual. She is especially happy that friend Ray Caspio is directing the show.

And Caspio feels he’s found a kindred spirit in Schwabauer.

Caspio first worked with Schwabauer when she became part of the ensemble for a show he conceived and performed in 2014 for Theater Ninjas called “TingleTangle.” The spine of this Weimar-esque cabaret experience was multiple monologues Caspio wrote and performed about being queer and married in Ohio.

“Amy was the only other artist who wrote and performed their own deeply personal monologue in that show,” Caspio said. “Hers was about becoming sober. She was one year into her sobriety then. The monologue came near the end of the show. It was beautiful, moving, raw, hilarious and honest. This was the first time she wrote and performed her own personal material. The monologue flowed out of her and she had instant rapport with the audience.”

Caspio said Schwabauer had planted the seed for him to direct other people’s work after they had seen a show together and were talking about the performance.  Prior to that, he had mainly directed his own works.

“A couple months later she invited me to a reading of “I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes” for Dobama’s Playwrights Gym,” Caspio said. “This was a few months before the show went to BorderLight. The script was gorgeous and raw: I was laughing, crying. It was so moving. That reading gave me deeper insight into someone I’d been friends with for nearly 13 years.”

Caspio originally recommended someone else to direct the play,  but that friend was not able to do it, so he offered to be a co-director. That led to him being director for the Cleveland Public Theatre production.

Schwabauer added she is happy that she has Kathalina Plummer Thorpe doing scenic design and TL Codella is handling lighting design for the show.

“TL Codella did an amazing lighting design for this show,” she said. 

Bringing the show to more people

Schwabauer appreciates Cleveland Public Theatre’s pay what you can program because it makes theater available to more people. Under this system, guests can set their own admission fee to the show. Attendees can pay as little as $1 to watch the performance, or pay more to cover costs for other guests. 

Schwabauer is also hoping that “I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes” might have a life outside of Cleveland and that she can maybe tour with it in other places.

Caspio also hopes “I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes” gets staged in other cities after its Cleveland Public Theatre production.

 “We’ve also spoken over the past year about collaborating on the creation of a new piece that’s been amusing both of us,” Caspio said. “My wish, overall, is that Amy continues to follow her artistic truth into whatever realm it takes her. She is a gifted playwright, actor, and visual artist. I trust that whatever life brings to her, she’ll be able to turn it into art that continues to allow us to look at ourselves in new ways through her experiences.”

“I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes” runs through Dec. 20 Cleveland Public Theatre, 6415 Detroit Ave., Cleveland,  Tickets are choose-what-you-pay from $1 to $80 with no handling fees. To purchase tickets, go to cptonline.org or call (216) 631-2727, Ext. 501.