CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Dobama Theatre’s “The Hobbit” doesn’t just spark your imagination; it depends on it. Director Erin E. Dolan invites audiences to help picture what can’t fully appear in a 139-seat black box: galloping horses, dozens of characters and creatures, a dragon bigger than the theater itself. The result feels like a bit of stage magic, conjured in real time by everyone in the room.

• Preview: Dobama Theatre’s ambitious ‘The Hobbit’ brings Tolkien’s epic tale to an intimate stage

Running through Jan. 4, “The Hobbit” is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic adventure about a resourceful but reluctant homebody named Bilbo Baggins (Cody Swanson). Seeing potential in him, the wizard Gandalf (Matthew Wright) recruits Bilbo to leave the Shire and join 13 dwarves on a quest t

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