Heights Youth Theatre News

 

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Oh say can you see the performers from the Heights Youth Theatre shaking
things up on the main stage at the 2010 Star-Spangled Spectacular, on
Thursday, July 1 at Cleveland’s Public Square?  This free public program has become an Independence Day celebration staple, featuring the Cleveland Orchestra and a fireworks show, but this year the show will also highlight the performance skills of regional youth talent, including more than a dozen performers from HYT.

The primary sponsor for this year’s show is Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC), which was created by the voters of Cuyahoga County in 2006 to provide public funding arts programs all over the county.  HYT, the orchestra, and all of the
other groups performing at the Star-Spangled Spectacular are recipients of CAC
funding this year.  “We were very excited to be able to sponsor the Spectacular this year,” said CAC Executive Director Karen Grahl-Mills.  “We thought this would be an excellent opportunity to share the spotlight with some of the
talented youth performers that we help fund.  It was hard to narrow the selection to just four, because there are so many wonderful performance groups, but we feel the lineup really represents a great variety of the great young people we’re
helping to support.”

The pre-concert youth performances begin at 5:00 p.m. and the HYT Musical Theatre Ensemble will take the stage at 6:45 p.m. to do a selection of numbers from great shows, including Carousel, Once on This Island, Pippin,
Seussical, the Wizard of Oz and the Wiz. 

“We’re thrilled to be part of the Star-Spangled Spectacular, and we greatly appreciate the support that Cuyahoga Arts & Culture has provided us” said HYT Executive Director Pamela Fine.  “We’ll be featuring performers ranging in age from 10-19, who come from a variety of communities all around Greater Cleveland. We know they’ll put on an entertaining show and demonstrate the value and importance of the investment that the voters of this county have made to the performing arts, through CAC.”

This year, HYT received a grant of more than $18,000 to fund its theatre
program for children from ages 6 -18.

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Nathaniel Motta, director of Oliver! during our 2009-2010 season, has developed a
new program at Dobama called the DOBAMA EMERGING ACTORS PROGRAM
for students entering 9th grade thru college undergrads. 
There is a facebook page and you can also check out the website (link below):

http://web.mac.com/nathanielmotta/iweb/dobamaprogram.org/Home.html

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Steph Geber , an HYT alum, is a singer/songwriter in NYC and recently
released her first full-length album, "Songs About You." To listen to some
of her songs or to purchase her music, go to:

www.myspace.com/stephaniegeber
http://cdbaby.com/cd/stephgeber
also available on iTunes!

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Youth theater much more fun than TV

by Susie Antonelli

At Heights Youth Theatre we've got cable, though not TV. That's why you
won't see The Wire, just Peter Pan connected to it. Because while we've also got
The Sopranos singing, American Gladiators moving heavy scenery, and a veritable Lipstick Jungle in our make-up room, our shows aren't taped for
the tube. They're staged up-close and in-person, each one that can't
quell-that-smile kind of entertainment all ages love. Sure beats
a day at The Office.

Click on the link below to read the full article in the Heights Observer

http://www.heightsobserver.org/read/1/7/youth-theater-much-more-fun-than-tv

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HYT alum Ben Fankhauser is appearing in the national tour of
Spring Awakening as Ernst. Congratulations Ben!

HYT alum Andrew Kober and Carnegie Mellon University graduate appeared
in the national tour of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, the Public Theater revival of Hair in NYC with Jonathan Groff, then on Broadway and is currently performing in London. Andrew recently visited HYT to do a
masterclass with our youth participants

Click here to read a review of Hair

Congratulations Andrew!

HYT alum Leah Joseph is currently touring with the National Tour of Mama Mia.
Congratulations Leah!