The task of theater to continually reinvent itself takes place on several fronts. Theaters have to develop new audiences. They need to develop new material to speak to new audiences. And if there's to be a body of work that anyone remembers, the repertoire of new plays can't be allowed to languish after their premieres: They need to be produced again.

All that sounds prescriptive and academic, but in the performing arts world - where artistic directors are pulled financially toward the tried and true, and audiences are pulled toward increasing home entertainment options - it's both a basic truth and an enormous challenge. With the third edition of Fusion Fest, Cleveland Play House artistic director Michael Bloom is taking it up on all those fronts.

For example, he describes the Play House's own centerpiece production this year, All Hail Hurricane Gordo, as "a slacker comedy," a term appropriated from both its main characters and its target audience. "It really is about the arrested development of two brothers living on their own after being abandoned by their parents, and about how one is the caretaker of the other," Bloom says. The story is driven by the arrival of a young woman as a possible renter in the house the brothers grew up in. Bloom hopes the play - written by 24-year-old playwright Carly Mensch about 20-somethings - will attract new people to the audience.

"We're really taking a risk with material that is an attempt to appeal to more than just our loyal audience," he says.

Co-producing the world premiere of Gordo with Louisville Actors Theater's Humana Fest has given a boost to the theater's profile nationally, according to Bloom. As the major festival of new American plays, Humana has premiered the work of such writers as Arthur Kopit, Tony Kushner, Marsha Norman, Donald Margulies, John Patrick Shanley and Sarah Ruhl. The festival attracts audiences from around the world, and three of its plays have won Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. "It's a huge coup for us," says Bloom.

This year's Fusion Fest also beckons new audiences with star power: A one-woman production called A Handsome Woman Retreats - which came to Bloom's attention by way of Iona Morris, whose one-woman show For You had a spot in last season's Fusion Fest - was written and will be performed by TV's In Living Color star Kim Wayans. Actress, comic and writer for Rosie O'Donnell Judy Gold brings another one-woman show, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother. And former Houston Oilers safety Bo Eason - who retired from his professional football career to become a performer and playwright - will close his production of Runt of the Litter at an Off-Broadway theater to bring it to the Bolton.

"This is another coup for us," Bloom says. "It's a very compelling piece about sibling rivalry and the violence of pro football. I think men will be startled by it. Eason was the smaller of two brothers growing up, and he wanted to play football, but his parents told him he couldn't because he was so small, which only made him want to do it more." Eason plays himself in the autobiographical play. (The last time Eason was in Cleveland, he says he was pelted by dog biscuits from the Dawg Pound.)

Bloom and company will also introduce new works through a series of readings, three of which are adaptations of well-known novels: My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok, adapted by Aaron Posner; The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, adapted by Cleveland playwright Margaret Lynch from Laurence Sterne's 18th century novel; and Heaven's My Destination, an adaptation by Lee Blessing of Thornton Wilder's novel.

Audiences who have read those novels - or perhaps wish they had - are likely to be attracted to those performances. But a fourth in that series should have particular appeal to any who follow public discussion about Cleveland, particularly as it relates to our physical surroundings. Commissioned by the Cleveland Play House, Keith Reddin's The Will to Art explores the life and politics of architect Philip Johnson.

Born and raised in a family home on Overlook in Cleveland Heights, Johnson left the area to go to Harvard. Bloom says the play is largely driven by the "extreme" political views he held in early life. He was an admirer of Adolf Hitler's will to power (hence the name of the play) and marched with the German army as an observer in 1937. By his role as one of three architects who organized a seminal exhibit of the "International Style" of architecture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Johnson helped bring the likes of Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe to the attention of the world. Here in Cleveland, that modern, Bauhaus-influenced school of architecture most recently came to light in the debate over the fate of the Ameritrust Tower at East 9th and Euclid, which was designed by their brutalist disciple Marcel Breuer. Johnson's own work, though, is manifest in his hometown only in one place: the Cleveland Play House.

The architect who held such sway over the shape of mid-century buildings around the world was commissioned to design the Play House's 1983 addition, which consists of the Bolton Theater and the lobbies that wrap around the old Sears and Roebuck building that is its main physical plant.

Bloom says the script is an early draft of what should be an important play, especially to local audiences. "I thought it was time to look at the life of Philip Johnson. He's one of Cleveland's most famous artists. There are a couple of biographies, so there's a lot of information on the record. But the average Clevelander doesn't know anything about him."

FUSION FEST FACTS

In addition to exploring new theatrical works, the Cleveland Play House Fusion Festival also showcases new works of film, poetry and dance in collaboration with several Cleveland area companies, including Cleveland Public Theater, Karamu, Verb Ballets and several student groups. A listing of this season's productions follows:

All Hail Hurricane Gordo
Co-produced with The Humana Festival
April 18-May 11, Drury Theatre

New Play Film and Poetry Festival
Students from Cleveland School of the Arts
April 23-25, Brooks Theatre

Verb Ballets Performances

World premier of Hernando Cortez' Yellow River
April 25-26, Bolton Theatre

New Play Reading Series
Four new plays, including The Will to Art
April 28-May 10, various theatres

In the Continuum
A collaboration with Cleveland Public Theater
April 29-30, Brooks Theatre

A Handsome Woman Retreats
Starring In Living Color's Kim Wayans
April 30-May 4, Bolton Theatre

Dorothy Silver Award Winner
Presented by the Mandel Center of the JCC
April 30, Studio One Theatre

Runt of the Litter
Ex-NFL safety Bo Eason in the story of his life
May 1-3, Bolton Theatre

Peaches Plums and Pontifications
Collaboration with composer Olu Dara inspired by African-American folktales
May 2-3, Brooks Theatre

Frankenstein: A De-Monstration
Presented by New World Performance Laboratory
May 5-6, Bolton Theater

Before I Die: The War Against Tupac Shakur
Karamu presents a new play by Clevelander Michael Oatman
May 7, Studio One Theatre

25 Questions for a Jewish Mother
Judy Gold's one-woman, Off-Broadway show
May 8-10, Bolton Theatre

The Cleveland Plays-Part 1: Migration
Dobama presents Eric Coble, Nina Dominguez and Eric Schmeidel's tale of Cleveland
May 8-11, Brooks Theatre

Distinguished Gentlemen of Spoken Word
Boys from Hough present their poetic voice
Supported by Cleveland UMADAOP
May 10, Studio One Theater