Monthly Archives: March 2019

March 14, 2019 · 12:14 pm

CAA Announces 2019 Overture Award Winners

CAA_Overture Awards$45,500 Awarded for Excellence in the Arts
Arts Educator Award Winner Also Announced    

CINCINNATI, OH – The Cincinnati Arts Association is pleased to announce the winners of its Overture Awards Competition, held on Saturday, March 9, 2019 at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater, and the winner of its Arts Educator Award for Excellence in Arts Instruction. The competition awarded $4,000 to six area students for education and training, with 18 runners-up each winning $1,000, while the Arts Educator Award winner received $2,500 and two finalists were awarded $500 each.

The Overture Awards recognizes, encourages, and rewards excellence in the arts among Tri-state students in grades 9-12 and is the area’s largest solo arts competition. Students are nominated by their schools and/or private studios to compete in one of six disciplines: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theater, Visual Art, and Vocal Music. There are three levels of competition: Regional, Semi-Final, and Final.

The Arts Educator Award promotes and rewards excellence in arts instruction throughout Greater Cincinnati. An educator who teaches any of the following arts disciplines may be nominated: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theater, Visual Art, and Vocal Music. They can be a high school arts specialist, teaching artist working with high school students, or an arts professional or educator providing private lessons or instruction. Nominations for the award must come from students between the ages of 14-19 who are currently enrolled in high school. The Arts Educator Award finalists and winner are selected by a panel of judges who are arts professionals.

2019 OVERTURE AWARD WINNERS

CREATIVE WRITING: Maura O’Dea – grade 12, Ursuline Academy
HOMETOWN: Blue Ash, OH – Maura spends her time working backstage as a stage manager, editing the creative writing section of the newspaper, and running the writing club she co-founded. Maura’s plans for the future include pursuing an English degree and publishing something beautiful one day.

DANCE: Jordan Slemons – grade 12, Anderson High School / Just Off Broadway
HOMETOWN: Anderson, OH – Jordan has been dancing for fifteen years at Just Off Broadway. She couldn’t be happier to have been given this amazing opportunity to be a an Overture Awards finalist. She wants to thank her family, teachers, and friends for always supporting her.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: Simon Bakos – grade 11, William Mason High School / DCG Studio
HOMETOWN: Mason, OH – Simon has been studying clarinet and bass clarinet for the past five years. He currently participates in the clarinet section of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra. He was principal clarinet in the 2019 Ohio All-State Orchestra, and has performed with the William Mason Wind Symphony at the Midwest Clinic. He enjoys performing with his high school marching band, and looks forward to enjoying and supporting music in the future.

THEATER: Jonah Sorscher – grade 11, Indian Hill High School / Musical Arts Center
HOMETOWN: Camp Dennison, OH – Jonah is thrilled to perform at the Overture Awards! Besides performing, he loves to write his own theater, producing an original musical, Alibi, this summer. He thanks the Cincinnati Actor’s Studio & Academy, Musical Arts Center, Becky Childs, and his family and friends for their love and support.

VISUAL ART: Alyson Power – grade 12, Lakota West High School
HOMETOWN: West Chester, OH – Alyson’s mother, an art teacher, introduced her to art very early. Alyson has explored art her whole life. She will be majoring in Fine Art at either Miami or Ohio University. She’s won twenty Scholastic Art awards, including one National Medal, five Governor’s Art Awards, and has displayed work at The Xavier Juried Exhibition.

VOCAL MUSIC: Lauren Maynus – grade 12, Ursuline Academy / Alison Acord
HOMETOWN: Amberly Village, OH – Lauren studies voice with Dr. Alison Acord, is a section leader with the Pleasant Ridge Presbyterian Church choir under the direction of Dr. Tom Merrill, is on the Student Board at TX, and is honored to participate in the Overture Awards Finals again this year! Lauren has been selected for the Met’s High School Opera Singer Intensive program this winter, will attend Schmidt Vocal Institute this summer, and plans to study Vocal Performance in the Fall.

2019 ARTS EDUCATOR AWARD WINNER

Benita Tse- Leung, Leung Studio
Discipline: Piano
Nominated by Jenny Hu

The Overture Awards Regional Competitions were held on January 26 at the Immanuel School of Music, Northern Kentucky University, and Mount Saint Joseph University. The top twenty percent of competitors in each discipline advanced to the Semi-Finals, which were held at the Aronoff Center on February 7-9.

Now in its twenty-third year, The Overture Awards was launched in 1996 by the Cinergy Foundation (now Duke Energy) and Leadership Cincinnati (a program of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber). The Overture Awards is funded and administered by the Cincinnati Arts Association, which operates and manages the Aronoff Center and Music Hall. The Overture Awards also relies on hundreds of volunteers from the community who help raise funds, adjudicate, and manage the competitions, and nurture the program.

THE OVERTURE AWARDS ARE ENDOWED BY THE OTTO M. BUDIG FAMILY FOUNDATION.

Overture Awards Presenting Sponsors: TriHealth; The Eleanora C.U. Alms Trust, Fifth Third Bank; Trustee; Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc.; Otto M. Budig Family Foundation; Summerfair Cincinnati

Scholarship Sponsors: Arthur Murray – Cincinnati; Doreen Beatrice; Douglas Beal; Bonita Brockert; Brandon Etheridge; Jozsef Parragh; Pebble Creek Group; Phoenix Rising Ballroom; Summerfair Cincinnati; Josh Tilford; Western & Southern Financial Fund; The William O. Purdy, Jr. Foundation

Competition Sponsors: Immanuel School of Music, Northern Kentucky University, Mount Saint Joseph University

Printing Sponsor: Graphic Village

THE 2019 OVERTURE AWARDS FINALISTS
Winners listed in bold 

CREATIVE WRITING

  • Sam Bowden – grade 11, Wyoming High School
  • Iris LeCates – grade 11, Walnut Hills High School
  • Maura O’Dea – grade 12, Ursuline Academy
  • Molly Tierney – grade 12, Beechwood High School 

DANCE

  • Krupa Hegde – grade 10, Larry A. Ryle High School  / Cultural Centre of India
  • Hanna Hopple – grade 12, Saint  Ursula Academy / McGing Irish Dancers
  • Ava Sine – grade 11, School for Creative & Performing Arts / Just Off Broadway
  • Jordan Slemons – grade 12, Anderson High School / Just Off Broadway

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC  

  • Simon Bakos – grade 11, William Mason High School / DCG Studio
  • Liam Hedrick – grade 12, Homeschool / UC-CCM Preparatory
  • Kasey M. Shao – grade 10, Walnut Hills High School / CCM
  • Andrew Yang – grade 10, Seven Hills School / CCM 

THEATER  

  • Eleanor Donnelly  – grade 12, Wyoming High School / Bill Seale
  • Jake Jervis – grade 10, Sycamore High School / McCready Voice Studio
  • Maxwell Metsch  – grade 12, School for Creative & Performing Arts / Lincoln Chapman Studio
  • Jonah Sorscher – grade 11, Indian Hill High School / Musical Arts Center 

VISUAL ART  

  • Geneva Huffman – grade 12, School for Creative & Performing Arts
  • Alyson Power – grade 12, Lakota West High School
  • Trey Small – grade 12, Lakota West High School
  • Grace Vanderwoude – grade 12, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy

VOCAL MUSIC  

  • Reed Gnepper – grade 12, School for Creative & Performing Arts / UC-CCM Preparatory
  • Amy Helms – grade 12, Kings High School / Musical Arts Center
  • Sarah Koopman – grade 12, Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy / Karl Resnik Studio
  • Lauren Maynus – grade 12, Ursuline Academy / Alison Acord

 

2019 ARTS EDUCATOR AWARD FINALISTS
Winner listed in bold

Lincoln Chapman, Private Teacher
Discipline: Vocal Music
Nominated by: Maxwell Metsch 

Catherine Keen, The Keen Voice Studio
Discipline: Vocal Music
Nominated by: Grace Caccavari

Benita Tse-Leung, Leung Studio
Discipline: Piano
Nominated by: Jenny Hu

Founded in 1992, the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) is a not-for-profit organization that oversees the programming and management of two of the Tri-state’s finest performing arts venues – the Aronoff Center for the Arts and Music Hall – and is dedicated to supporting performing and visual arts. Each year, CAA presents a diverse schedule of events; serves upwards of 700,000 people in its venues; features the work of talented local, regional, and national artists in the Weston Art Gallery (located in the Aronoff Center); and supports the work of more than one dozen resident companies. Since the inception of its acclaimed arts education programs in 1995, CAA has reached more than 1.7 million students. 

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March 13, 2019 · 2:47 pm

See Know Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director in Rare Solo Performance in SAND, March 28 – 30

KTC_Sand posterSee Know Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director in a rare solo performance in
SAND
the US premiere of a devastating new play by
Nick Gill

SPECIAL LIMITED RUN: March 28 – 30

“so you want to build a simple nuclear bomb”

Join us at Your Theatrical Playground, Know Theatre, for a rare chance to see our Producing Artistic Andrew J. Hungerford onstage in the solo performance of an unforgettable new play, in its US premiere.

It’s now the sixth of August 1945.
She is alone.
god, my head.
At 8.15 in the morning, everything is quiet.
The house is still.
Thirty one thousand and sixty feet above her, there is a single aircraft.
In forty three seconds, the bomb it has released will have fallen around twenty nine thousand feet and will detonate above the city.
In forty four seconds, seventy thousand people will be dead.

and the world turns.

            – excerpt from SAND by Nick Gill

 

At Know Theatre for a special limited run, March 28 – 30, SAND is a riveting new work of theatre that combines fiction, science, and history to explore the threat of nuclear weapons and the devastation of nuclear war. It’s a fractured collection of narratives that jump across the stories of a dozen women over a century-long timeline, building to an inevitable breaking point.

SAND is an intense, poetic dive into the frightening power that humanity wields against itself. A version of the play was shown at the Royal Court Theatre on June 17, 2013, directed by Vicky Featherstone and performed by Eileen Walsh & Toby Jones.

Acclaimed director and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music professor Brant Russell (The Man-Beast) helms a script-in-hand staging of the show for the US premiere of this powerful new script.

SAND also offers a rare chance to catch a performance by Producing Artistic Director Andrew Hungerford, last seen in a dramatic role on Cincinnati stages in his 2010 Cincy Fringe Show, “Of People and Not Things.”

Says Hungerford,

“I first read this script just a few weeks ago, and instantly knew we needed to produce it. For one, it’s a perfect fit for the SecondStage of our season examining fear itself.

From a personal perspective, I was plagued by nightmares and anxiety attacks about nuclear war as a kid growing up at the tail end of the cold war.

In the 90’s, it felt like the world began to come to its collective senses as disarmament began to take hold. But now as non-proliferation treaties are scrapped, as countries ramp up missile production and nuclear programs, it’s vital for us to consider the ramifications of those choices, to take a hard look at the nuclear powder keg our modern world sits atop.”

As a small but nimble professional Theatre, Know Theatre is uniquely suited to take a show from page-to-stage both rapidly and effectively – especially when a story is as relevant to this moment as Nick Gill’s SAND is.

Join us for a gripping night of hot-off-the-presses theatre, in a special limited run from March 28 – 30 – only at Your Theatrical Playground, Know Theatre of Cincinnati.

Cast

  • Starring Know Theatre Producing Artistic Director Andrew J. Hungerford

Production Team

  • Director –  Brant Russell
  • Scenic & Lighting Designer – Andrew J. Hungerford

Calendar Listing

Production:  SAND by Nick Gill – a US premiere

When: 8:00 pm March 28, 29, and 30

Where:  Know Theatre of Cincinnati. 1120 Jackson Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202. In historic Over-the-Rhine.

Tickets:      

  • $15 regular price tickets
  • $25 “Living Wage” tickets, supporting working artists in Cincinnati
  • $10 Rush tickets at the door 10 minutes prior to curtain (when available)

Tickets can be purchased by visiting knowtheatre.com or calling 513.300.5669 (KNOW).

Season Design sponsorship provided by Travis McElroy.

Know Theatre is Cincinnati’s Theatrical Playground. The Know showcases unexpected voices, new works, and plays that embrace the inherent theatricality of the live experience. Know Theatre seeks to be a place where artists and audiences feel welcome to take artistic risks, creating work that is cutting edge and accessible.

Know Theatre’s work is made possible, in part, by the generosity of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign.

The Ohio Arts Council helps fund Know Theatre with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Know Theatre is also supported by The Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, helping to change our communities for the better through collaboration and innovation, and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, which provides a simple, powerful, and highly personal approach to giving.

Know Theatre is a member of Theatre Communications Group and an Associate Member of the National New Play Network.

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March 13, 2019 · 12:01 pm

Get Your Star Wars Geek On with ALL CHILDISH THINGS at Sinclair

SCCT_All Childish Things promo

Anthony Dell’Aria, Joseph Herzog & Vincent Klosterman. Photo by Patti Celek.

Get your Star Wars geek on with Sinclair Theatre’s hilarious production of All Childish Things opening April 5th through the 13th in Sinclair’s Black Box Theatre, building 2, of the downtown Dayton campus.

Written by Joseph Zettlemaier, it’s the story of 3 Star Wars enthusiasts who create a “can’t fail” plot to raid a toy warehouse for collectibles. One lives in his mom’s basement where the scheme is hatched amongst an amazing array of Star Wars collectibles and memorabilia. Another pressures the gang to include his girlfriend, who’s not quite into the fandom of “the force”.

Directed by Nelson Sheeley, the cast includes Anthony Dell’Aria, Joseph Herzog, Vincent Klosterman, Rachel Charles, Chase Niemitalo with special “appearances” by Christopher Goetz.

Performances are at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, April 5, 6, 12 & 13. There is one Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. on April 7th and a Thursday, 7 p.m. performance on April 11th. ASL performances are on Sunday and Thursday.

Limited general admission tickets cost $10 and are available online at: www.sinclair.edu/tickets.

Sinclair’s Black Box Theatre is located on the fourth floor of building 2 (401 West Fourth St.). Take the elevator to the third floor and follow the signs to the half flight of stairs leading up to the theatre. A chair lift is available for anyone who needs assistance on the stairs leading to the Black Box Theatre. Doors open 30 minutes before curtain and early arrival is requested as no one can be seated after the production begins.

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March 13, 2019 · 11:06 am

AHS Film Department Showcases Student Talent with 2 MARS

AHS_2 Mars promo

The cast of Anderson Film’s 2 MARS includes Junior Oliver Baumgartner, Junior Riley Orth, Junior Jack Chandler, Senior Adam Radcliffe, Senior Hailey Mauk, Junior Caitlin Walsh, Senior Corinne Baumann, and Senior Claudia Wright.

On April 5 and 6 at 7 pm, Anderson High School will premier a feature-length film that has been written, performed, filmed, and scored by students in the Film and Music Departments. Each showing will also feature the AHS Symphony Orchestra playing the film score live.

Chad Weddle, Film Teacher and the Director of the project, says “this level of film collaboration among students is not being done anywhere else in the country. Not even colleges are trying this at this level, so we are very much ahead of the curve.”

Anderson Theatre has seen success in the past with student-written productions (2012’s “Robin Hood: A Monk’s Tale”) and student-composed scores (2014’s “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”), but this marks the fist time they have combined these with student Filmmakers and Musicians as well.

Senior Hailey Mauk wrote the screenplay last summer, with support from Weddle and his staff. Junior Ian Baker has spent this winter composing the musical score, supported by Dr. Eric Knechtges, recently an Associate Professor of music theory and composition at NKU.

“Ian Baker is a highly gifted and motivated student,” says AHS Orchestra Director Felipe Morales-Torres. “It was only natural to let him take the reigns for this project. Giving our students the opportunity to compose and perform for film puts them at the very edge of the evolution of orchestral music.”

“Our belief in creation and collaboration make it possible to push the boundaries of film education at the high school level,” say Weddle. “I am eager to showcase the talent of these students. Anderson township should not miss this event, because this is the future. Audience members can say that they were here when history was being made.”

Tickets for 2 MARS are $10 and can be purchased at the door or through www.ShowTix4U.com.

AHS_2 Mars poster

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March 13, 2019 · 10:50 am

Cast Announced for MAMMA MIA! at Dayton Playhouse

DPH_logoThe cast includes:

  • Denise A. Schnieders as Donna
  • Lilly Robillard as Sophie
  • Lindsey Cardoza as Rosie
  • Amy Askins as Tanya
  • Naman Clark as Sky
  • Brad Bishop as Bill
  • Ron Mauer as Harry
  • Ted Eltzroth as Sam
  • Paul Dunn as Pepper
  • Ryan Petrie as Eddie
  • Kailey Yeakley as Lisa
  • Shana Fishbein as Ali
  • Mart Wirtz as Father Alexandrios/Ensemble Male
  • Male ensemble: Juangarbriel Encarnacion & Casey Dillon
  • Female ensemble: Shanna Camacho, Anna Ryan Kolb, Kaylee Maple, Jillian Mitchell & Amber Pfeifer/Dance Captain

Directed by Richard Lee Waldeck & produced by Tim Rezash. Performances run May 3-19.

For more information visit www.wordpress.thedaytonplayhouse.com.

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