The BorderLight Theatre Festival has announced its 2026 lineup, with more than 120 performances across 14 stages in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square District. The four-day festival, running July 8–11, will present 43 shows representing artists from 12 states and three countries.

The program spans a wide range of performance styles, including scripted plays and musicals, dance and physical theatre, puppetry, circus and aerial arts, storytelling, cabaret, spoken word, and multimedia work. The festival has structured its lineup to include diverse voices, LGBTQ+ artists, family-friendly programming, and hybrid performance forms that blend disciplines.

“At its core, BorderLight is about connection—across cultures, across disciplines, and across our own community,” said Executive Director Dale Heinen. Performances will take place across seven venues within the Playhouse Square District. Festival guides will be distributed in early June at downtown Cleveland businesses; a digital version will also be available at BorderLightCLE.org.

BorderLight was founded in 2015 by Dale Heinen and Jeffrey Pence as a nonprofit focused on innovative theatre that builds cross-cultural understanding. The festival held its first edition in 2019.

Source: BroadwayWorld