Tag: Theater

Episode 28: Empowering Youth to Fix the World Around Them

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

Enchanted Circle Theater is a community-based arts organization in Holyoke, MA, that works with students, teachers, and social services – in the mental health field, in the foster care world, everywhere and anywhere – using theater arts as a dynamic teaching tool. Executive Director Priscilla Kane Hellweg says they’re developing whole human beings, who can think creatively, act creatively, and solve problems creatively.

Priscilla Kane HellwegPriscilla Kane Hellweg is the Executive Director of Enchanted Circle Theater (ECT), a non-profit, multi-service arts organization in Holyoke, Massachusetts.  She has written, directed, and performed educational theater, and taught arts integrated curricula extensively throughout New York and New England for over thirty years.  Under Hellweg’s direction, Enchanted Circle has become the regional leader in arts integration, working district-wide in public schools throughout Western Massachusetts, and collaborating with over 60 community partner organizations, developing work that bridges arts, education and human services.
Continue reading “Episode 28: Empowering Youth to Fix the World Around Them”

Episode 16: Youth Finding a Voice, Finding a Stage

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

Through Barrington Stage Company’s creative youth development program, Playwright Mentoring Project, theatre is used as a catalyst to help under-served youth learn skills to aid them in developing positive self-images. Artistic Director Julie Boyd speaks to the cathartic nature of this work and to how their programs in education and theatre-making interweave.

Julianne BoydJulianne Boyd co-founded the Barrington Stage Company (BSC) in January 1995. She has directed many productions at BSC, including the world premieres of Mark St. Germain’s Dancing Lessons, Dr. Ruth, All the Way, and Best of Enemies. She also directed the critically acclaimed productions of An Enemy of the People, Much Ado About Nothing, The Crucible, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Streetcar Named Desire, West Side Story, Follies, The Game, Mack and Mabel, Cyrano de Bergerac, and The Importance of Being Earnest. In 1997 she directed BSC’s smash hit production of Cabaret, which won six Boston Theatre Critics Awards and transferred to the Hasty Pudding Theatre in Cambridge for an extended run.
Continue reading “Episode 16: Youth Finding a Voice, Finding a Stage”

Episode 12: Creating Pathways for the Contemporary Performing Artist

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

Performing arts education pioneers Berklee College of Music and The Boston Conservatory are merging, creating a comprehensive training ground for music, dance, theater, and related professions. Richard Ortner, president of The Boston Conservatory, and Roger Brown, president of Berklee College of Music, discuss what it means to create an institutional platform for collaboration, to get students to the next level of career preparedness, and to employ music as a tool for social change.

Roger Brown (left) & Richard Ortner (right)Roger H. Brown is Berklee’s third president in the institution’s history. Under his leadership, the college has expanded scholarship support by 400 percent; created an international campus in Valencia, Spain; built its first ground-up custom facility boasting 173 residence hall rooms, a state-of-the-art recording complex, and a dining hall/performance venue; and established a suite of institutes including the Berklee Global Jazz Institute under the direction of jazz pianist Danilo Pérez. The college has expanded its global reach to attract students from 105 countries, markedly improved gender diversity, dramatically increased admissions selectivity, and created the world’s largest online music education system. During his tenure, the City Music Program, which offers educational opportunities to economically disadvantaged young musicians, has expanded outside of Boston, now serving more than 29,000 young middle school and high school-aged young people. Brown has also been a leader in humanitarian initiatives in Africa and Southeast Asia. He is an avid drummer.

Born in Great Neck, NY, Richard Ortner has shared his lifelong passion for music and advanced training in the performing arts with the most renowned senior professionals of our age, the best and brightest young artists and students, and the widest possible audiences.
Continue reading “Episode 12: Creating Pathways for the Contemporary Performing Artist”

Episode 10: The ART Leads the Audience

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is serious about audience development. A.R.T. Executive Director Diane Quinn says everything they do is with an eye to what audiences will see once they pass the theater doors. She discusses their mandate to expand the boundaries of theater – both physically and through the content itself.

Diane QuinnDiane Quinn is the Executive Director of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) A veteran of the arts, her many positions have included Founding Producer of Soulpepper Theatre Company and Festival of Classics, Coordinator of the Arts Administration Program at the University of Toronto, and Executive Director of Toronto Women in Film and Television.  Most recently she served as Senior VP of Creative and Artistic Operations at Cirque du Soleil and was responsible for managing the artistic quality of all shows globally.
Continue reading “Episode 10: The ART Leads the Audience”