A part of the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project

Four stainless steel sculptures have been installed on Euclid Avenue near the East 14th Street station of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's (RTA's) HealthLine. This is the primary stop in the Playhouse Square theater district. The title of the work is Chorus Line Luminaries.

How it Started

Cleveland Public Art was hired by RTA to work with its Arts in Transit Committee, community members, and the Euclid Corridor design team to develop a public art master plan for the new bus rapid transit route, now completed and known as the HealthLine, that was planned for Euclid Avenue between Public Square and the Louis Stokes rapid transit station at Windermere in the city of East Cleveland.

The plan explored public art opportunities along Euclid Avenue and set up a strategy for implementing public artwork along the corridor. Chorus LIne is one of three large freestanding art pieces installed as part of the project; several smaller integrated works were also installed.

Other Facts

The Playhouse Square district is the second-largest theater complex in the United States, after New York City's Lincoln Center. The whole area was constructed in only nineteen months in the early 1920s. In the middle of the last century, the district and its five grand theaters began to decline and, had it not been for an uprising of concerned citizens who recognized the importance of Playhouse Square, the whole district may have been lost. Instead, the theaters and their associated buildings were saved and restored and now strike a magnificent collective pose at the eastern end of downtown Cleveland. The playful Chorus Line, with its continuously changing colors and light patterns, pays homage to the district's theatrical past, present, and future.

More information about the neighborhood can be found on Playhouse Square's website.

The Outcome

The four steel sculptures abstract the kicking legs of a Broadway chorus line, a kinetic symbol of the district and counterpoint to the sculptures and plants in Star Plaza. As transit vehicles approach the RTA station, the lights on the "dancers" alternate in a motion reminiscent of the animated signs that were an early feature of the Great White Way.

The LED lighting used on the sculptures also ties in with the verticle marquees and lights on the Playhouse Square buildings, adding more movement and color to the spectacle of the Theater District.
Stainless steel was used on the sculptures to match the new RTA bus stations.