Festival Filled with AHA! Moments

Books, theater, music, art, dance and ideas will again be celebrated during the Arts and Humanities Alive! (AHA!) Festival sponsored by CSU and Playhouse Square.

The second-annual event, made possible by a generous gift from former Clevelanders Myra and Darwin Smith, takes place Thursday through Saturday, June 7-9.

Actor Hill Harper

A Book Festival in the KeyBank State Theatre lobby kicks off the festivities. It will feature music and spoken word performers, book signings and displays by local and national publishers and community organizations. Free parking will be available.

AHA! headliners include NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who will discuss his latest book, Becoming Kareem, in a presentation in partnership with the Cuyahoga County Public Library. Dancing with the Stars champion Derek Hough will present two community dance workshops to hoofers of all ages and skill levels, and actor and activist Hill Harper headlines CSU’s Arts Education Day Luncheon.

The fest will also feature New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd; Carl Hulse, New York Times chief Washington correspondent; former New Yorker cartoon editor Robert Mankoff; astrophysicist, novelist and PBS personality Janna Levin; author Fredrik Backman (A Man Called Ove); Al Letson, host of the NPR show Reveal; John Frohnmayer, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts; a reading of the play Love Letters with Sen. Sherrod Brown and Pulitzer Prize winner Connie Schultz; and a production of Fahrenheit 451. Musical presentations will include a performance by ChamberFest Cleveland and a multi-night production of Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin in collaboration with Cleveland Play House.