(*) Profile of Playhouse San Antonio and 'Ragtime' by Leezia Dahlain, The Rivard Report, August 9, 2013

 
For The San Pedro Playhouse, The Show Must Go On

Posted on August 9th, 2013
By Leezia Dhalla

(Photo: Gregg Eckhardt)

In San Antonio, theater is thriving. With more than a dozen venues dedicated to the performing arts, the city is steadily becoming known as one of Texas’s most colorful havens for the premier theatrical experience.

Responsibility for boosting the local arts reputation belongs in part to The San Pedro Playhouse, the oldest municipally built theater in the United States.

Situated in picturesque San Pedro Springs Park, The Playhouse opened its doors just 90 days after the 1929 crash of the stock market with a performance of Ferenc Molnar’s “The Swan.” It continues to be an important piece of the performing arts puzzle in San Antonio more than 90 years later, with a slew of educational programs that offer hands-on internships and on-site training classes in auditioning, stage combat, choreography and improv, among others.

The theater has grown to serve more than 50,000 people through various educational outreach programs, performances, events and classes.

In her first year as president and CEO, Asia Ciaravino has breathed new life into the venue. In addition to updating the theater’s social media and branding efforts, Ciaravino retooled the education programming into the likes of a conservatory, where students can learn the practicalities of equity, contracts and cattle-call auditions as professional actors in the working world.

The Playhouse also continues to donate production tickets to thousands of students each year, especially at schools where theater programs are being eliminated due to budget constraints.

“Our thrust is in building communities and education. I feel like we’re at the point of exploding because there’s so much happening and so many good things going on in the community,” Ciaravino said. “(I’m glad) we’re able to do so much outreach. On a community level we really impact children and adults, and that’s what theater, in my mind, is supposed to do.”

Read more at The Rivard Report . . . .

Playhouse San Antonio Shifts 'Ragtime' to Empire Theatre, July 26 - August 18, 2013

Received July 12 from Playhouse San Antonio:

As you may know, our beautiful, historic Russell Hill Rogers Theater sustained considerable damage during the storms and floods of late May, forcing us to cancel several performances of Spring Awakening. The City of San Antonio took action immediately, engaging architects and engineers to assess the building and provide us with a game plan for continuing with our mission to provide our community with high quality, live theatre - without interruption.

This week, we began the process of repairing our beloved building and have found it necessary to close the Russell Hill Rogers Theater temporarily. While this is unfortunate news, we are delighted at the promise of a brand new roof and ceiling! Thanks to the support of the City of San Antonio, our Summer Feature: Ragtime, will continue as scheduled, but will be presented at The Charline McCombs Empire Theatre (226 N St Mary's St, San Antonio, Texas 78205). We will be contacting each individual who has made a reservation to provide further information and update seating. If you have not yet purchased tickets, we encourage you to do so and join us for this beautiful story of hope in the face of change.

We are grateful to the City of San Antonio, especially the City Manager's Office, Parks and Recreation Department, and Department of Culture and Creative Development, for their continued support and for facilitating both the repair process and the move to The Empire. We are also grateful to The Charline McCombs Empire Theatre for welcoming our team into their venue. We are especially thankful for your patience and understanding as we move forward. We trust that you, our loyal patrons, know that each decision our team makes is for your benefit and the benefit of live arts entertainment in our community.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to call us at 210-733-7258.

We look forward to seeing you at the theater soon!

Summer Feature: Ragtime
	Friday July 26, 2013 to Sunday August 18, 2013 Ragtime musically weaves together the stories of three extraordinary families, who confront history's timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair and what it means to live in America.

(*)Deobrah Martin Reports: Storm Damage at Playhouse San Antonio Forces Friday Cancellation, San Antonio Express-News

Report by Deborah Martin on her arts blog at the San Antonio Express-News:

 

Storm damage claims another ‘Spring Awakening’ performance

Posted on 05/29/2013 by Deborah Martin

Days after last weekend’s storm, the Playhouse is still drying out and coping with the damage. It has also had to cancel a third performance of “Spring Awakening.”


The storm sent chunks of plaster from the ceiling plummeting to the seats in the Russell Hill Rogers theater upstairs sometime late Friday or early Saturday (May 24 or 25), said Playhouse CEO and President Asia Ciaravino.


“The plaster that’s on the ceiling has been saturated with water,” Ciaravino said. “When that plaster is wet, it dissolves. ”

Chunks of plaster fell onto seats in the Russell Hill Rogers theater at the Playhouse. Photo courtesy of Asia Ciaravino

There was also standing water in the theater. And so, every piece of electrical equipment in the space — and it’s a lot of stuff, given that “Spring Awakening” is a high-tech show — had to be unplugged and stashed in the lobby. That included everything in the orchestra pit.

“We had a structural engineer come in from the city — we had a lot of people come today (May 29) to assess it. And we are structurally sound,” Ciaravino said.

Hot air is being pumped into the Russell Hill Rogers theater to dry it out after last weekend’s storm. Photo courtesy of Asia Ciaravino

But it will take a few more days to dry out the space, clean everything up and re-install all of that equipment, she said. And she doesn’t expect to get the “all clear” from the city until sometime Friday afternoon.

And so, Friday’s (May 31) performance had to be cancelled. Instead, once the theater gets the OK that the space is useable, the cast, crew and musicians will use that night as a rehearsal. They will have been away from the show for a week — all but one of last weekend’s shows were cancelled due to the storm damage. They’ll also use that time to make sure that all of the tech equipment is ship-shape.


“The city (which owns the building) is going to be working on funding the repairs for this, which we are so grateful for,” Ciaravino said.


The situation does illustrate the need for an endowment fund to cover maintenance for the building, she said.

“This is an old building; there’s always going to be a need for repairs,” she said. “Lets say the air conditioning goes out. We don’t have the reserve that we need to be able to pay for those things.


“It’s constantly a struggle. But it’s worth it.”


The theater is creating a fund — called (what else?) Can’t Rain on Our Parade — to help offset costs of the storm damage, including clean-up. Information will be posted on the Playhouse Web site.

Playhouse San Antonio Seeks Designers, Education/Outreach Director, Box Office Staff, Sound Tech, Music Directors

Announced by Asia Ciaravino, artistic director of The Playhouse, San Antonio:

Playhouse San Antonio Employment Opportunities

Education and Outreach Director: The Playhouse San Antonio, the city’s most accomplished and oldest theater, opens its search for an experienced and innovative Education & Outreach Director who is enthusiastic about developing a comprehensive youth and adult education program for a growing theater. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, building curriculum for youth and adult classes, teaching theatre classes for students of all ages, administering The Playhouse Conservatory programs, securing teachers for all educational programming, developing outreach opportunities locally as well as cooperative relationships in all school districts, and creating educational material that enhances students’ experience at The Playhouse’s season productions. In addition, the Education & Outreach Director must successfully manage project budgets, possess strong writing skills, be a team player, and have the ability to effectively motivate staff. This position reports to the CEO and will directly supervise part-time teaching artists. The successful candidate will have at least five years of experience, preferably in a cultural non-profit, and will have demonstrated success in performing arts education. Bachelor’s degree required, Masters preferred. The Playhouse offers a competitive benefits package, and salary is commensurate with experience. Send cover letter, resume, salary requirements, and three references to resumes@theplayhousesa.org No phone calls please. Deadline to apply: March 8, 2013, 5:00 PM.

Scenic Techincian/Theatrical Sound Engineer: The Playhouse is in need of an experienced theatrical sound engineer capable of assisting with scenic technician duties. Part- to full-time. See full job description and requirements here. Qualified candidates should send their resumes to resumes@theplayhousesa.org. No phone calls please.

Box Office Attendants: The Playhouse is looking for friendly, outgoing people to staff the Box Office! Applicants should have customer service experience, a professional demeanor (both in person and on the phone), and a passion for making every patron’s experience a pleasant one. Preference will be given to applicants with previous Box Office/ticketing experience. Hours will be mainly evenings and weekends. Apply today by emailing your résumé to our Box Office Manager, Casey Weed, at cweed@theplayhousesa.org. No phone calls please.

Designers: Set, Lighting and Costume Designers are needed for shows in the The Playhouse Russell Hill Rogers and Cellar Theaters for shows this season and next. Designers are contracted for each show. Please submit resume and photographic samples of your work or drawings to info@theplayhousesa.org or mail to The Playhouse San Antonio, P.O. Box 12356, San Antonio, TX 78212. No phone calls please.

Music Directors: Music Directors are needed at The Playhouse for upcoming and future shows. Music directors are contracted for each individual show. Please submit a resume to info@theplayhousesa.org or mail to The Playhouse San Antonio, P.O. Box 12356, San Antonio, TX 78212. No phone calls please.

(*) 2013 Season for The Playhouse, San Antonio, via Deborah Martin in the San Antonio Express-News

Playhouse to open season with 'Les Misérables'

By Deborah Martin, January 18, 2013

Playhouse President and CEO Asia Ciaravino read a lot of plays before hitting on what she thinks is the best lineup for the 2013-14 season.

She was looking for pieces that lent themselves to community outreach for the theater, including talk-backs and performances outside the space. And she looked for works that would stretch the artists.

“It's a really good opportunity for our talent to shine,” she said.

To that end, the Russell Hill Rogers stage upstairs will offer:

“Les Misérables”: The sprawling musical, which spawned the current big-buzz movie, spins a tale of redemption, romance and revolution. The Playhouse will be the first non-school in the city to produce the piece; the North East School of the Arts staged the school edition in 2011.

“Guys and Dolls”: The 1950 musical offers up the lively story of gamblers trying to keep a game going and the women who exasperate and enchant them. The score includes such classics as “Adelaide's Lament,” “Luck be a Lady,” “Sue Me” and “Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat.”

“Company”: Stephen Sondheim's 1970 musical drama follows a man as he reflects on his relationships and the fact that he's never married. The score includes “Another Hundred People” and “The Ladies Who Lunch.”

“Funny Girl”: The musical digs into the life of performer Fanny Brice. The score includes “People,” “Don't Rain on My Parade” and “The Music That Makes Me Dance.”

“Tommy”: The rock opera brings The Who's 1969 double album about a “deaf, dumb and blind kid” who “sure plays a mean pinball” to the stage. The score includes “See Me, Feel Me,” “Listening to You” and “I'm Free.”

As for the Cellar season, it holds:

“Wittenberg”: David Davalos' comedic drama brings together Hamlet, Faustus and Martin Luther for a piece exploring philosophical concepts.

“The Waiting Room”: Lisa Loomer's comedic drama explores shifting ideas of female beauty and the cost of that pursuit.

“Venus in Fur”: David Ives' drama is set at an audition for a theatrical adaptation of the erotic novel “Venus in Fur.” The playwright/director and an unlikely contender for the role find themselves drawn to each other, and lines between the play and reality begin to blur.

“Dead Man's Cell Phone”: Sarah Ruhl's exploration of technology and metaphysics begins with a woman snatching up an incessantly ringing cellphone that turns out to belong to a dead man. She starts taking messages and, eventually, sets out to try to make things right on that stranger's behalf.

“Clyborne Park”: Bruce Norris' 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner updates “A Raisin in the Sun,” exploring race and gentrification in both 1959 and in the 21st century.

dlmartin@express-news.net

Interview with Asia Ciaravino, Artistic Director of The Playhouse San Antonio, San Antonio Business Journal, December 21

Friday, December 21, 2013

As CEO of The Playhouse (formerly San Pedro Playhouse), Asia Ciaravino has landed the role of a lifetime, a theater part she’s been preparing for her entire life.

A story in the upcoming Dec. 28 print issue will explore her strategic plans for the Playhouse in more depth.

The Business Journal recently conducted an email interview with Ciaravino focused on her personal experiences.

The early years: I was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., and grew up all over the Midwest. My mother was a professional singer; father was a professional photographer. I was the oldest of three kids. From an early age, I was encouraged to be creative, and I was only 5 years old when I decided I wanted to do theater. All week, we would plan our show and on Fridays, we would perform.

Describe your job: Right now, I’m building infrastructure within the organization, setting up policies, standard operating procedures, and restructuring the staff so they are in positions where they can use their strengths. The Playhouse has to function as a highly oiled machine, as a business, but the transition to that mind set takes a lot of time. I’m out in the community, trying to get word out about what we do. I am also really passionate about customer service, and we have a trainer coming in to work with the whole team. I work a lot with donors, create appeal letters and marketing plans and talk to media.

Read more at the San Antonio Business Journal . . . .

Tech and Staff Opportunities at The Playhouse, San Antonio

Just announced by The Playhouse, San Antonio:

 

 

Employment Opportunities

Join Our Team!

Marketing and Development Coordinator: Click here for full description and submission guidelines. Submissions accepted through January 3, 2013.

Designers: Set, Lighting and Costume Designers are needed for shows in the The Playhouse Russell Hill Rogers and Cellar Theaters for shows this season and next. Designers are contracted for each show. Please submit resume and photographic samples of your work or drawings to info@theplayhousesa.org or mail to The Playhouse San Antonio, P.O. Box 12356, San Antonio, TX 78212. No phone calls please.

Music Directors: Music Directors are needed at The Playhouse for upcoming and future shows. Music directors are contracted for each individual show. Please submit a resume to info@theplayhousesa.org or mail to The Playhouse San Antonio, P.O. Box 12356, San Antonio, TX 78212. No phone calls please.

San Antonio: Asia Ciaravino from Classic Theatre to Take Direction of San Pedro Playhouse

Reported by Deborah Martin of the San Antonio Express-News via www.mysanantonio.com:

Ciaravino moving to San Pedro as new CEO

Posted on 04/05/2012 by Deborah Martin

Asia Ciaravino, co-founder and executive director of Classic Theatre, is making the move to the San Pedro Playhouse.

Ciaravino will take over as the president and CEO of the theater, which begins its 100th anniversary season this fall, on May 1.

Her hiring comes at the end of a nation-wide, seven-month search to fill the slot left vacant when Di Ann Sneed left the theater last fall.

Ciaravino said she wasn’t looking for a new opportunity, but when she was approached about the possibility, she agreed to meet with folks from the theater. She was impressed with the direction they’d like to see things head, and they were impressed by her combined theater and business skills.

Ciaravino, who is finishing up her master’s degree in non-profit management, said she’s looking forward to putting all of that together.

“I knew this was my next step,” she said. “I knew that I needed to match my passion with my skill set. Every single person I’ve told on the Our Lady of the Lake campus (where she works now) has said, ‘Finally, you get to work 24 hours a day for your passion.’

“If you can marry your passion with your job, it’s pure beauty. I feel so lucky.”

[image: Asia Ciaravino as Hedda Gabler (Dwayne Green for Classic Theatre, San Antonio)]

Upcoming: Hedda Gabler, Classic Theatre, San Antonio, May 12 - 29

Mr. and Mrs. George Tesman return to Norway after six months of honeymoon in Europe. In their absence family friend Judge Brack has arranged the purchase of a city mansion at great expense and furnished it lavishly. Ibsen's Hedda Gabler opens on the morning after their arrival at the new residence and a new domestic life.

Allan S. Ross designed this set with meticulous detail. The audience has the time to study the heavy furniture, carpets, framed engravings, views into three additional rooms and a barely glimpsed horizon through the windows. As one listens to a querelous duet between piano and cello, the roseate illumination brings out the reds and purples. At stage right, rear, in his own pool of light, bearded and wearing his military decorations, the late General Gabler stares serenely out from his portrait.

This is a house, not a home. Everything is in its place, according to good taste, discreet expenditure and bourgeois standards. In the action that Ibsen unfolds for us, Hedda Gabler as the new mistress of the house is guarded in her reactions to everyone in these new circumstances. Having passed the age of coquettery, she married George Tesman for lack of anything better to do; now, having involuntarily made her nest with a passing comment about this particular manor, she finds herself obliged to live in it.

Asia Ciaravino is haunting in the title role. That quiet, watchful oval face is almost unblinking, She has the unconscious beauty of a woman who little cares whether others look at her or not.

In one sense, in Hedda Gabler Ibsen wrote a great thumping melodrama and resolved all the conflicts with a couple of pistol shots. One occurs far from the house and is described for us as the Greeks used to do at the conclusions of their tragedies. The second takes place in the final moments just behind a curtain in one of those alcoves as Hedda takes her own life. That's hardly giving anything away -- although the program states that Hedda Gabler was first presented in Dublin in 2008, that's referring to this adaptation by Brian Friel for the Gate Theatre. Hedda has been putting the pistol to her head since 1891, and many spectators echo the scandalized reaction of Judge Brack: "But people just don't do things like that!"

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Hedda Gabler, Classic Theatre, San Antonio, May 12 - 29

Received directly:

The Classic Theatre, San Antonio,

presents

Henrik Ibsen’s

Hedda Gabler

In a new version by Brian Friel

directed by Tony Ciaravino

May 12-29

Thurs, Fri, Sat at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.

All shows are performed at the Sterling Houston Theatre (Jump-Start Theatre) in the Blue Star Art Complex (click for map)

Call 1-800-838-3006 for reservations. www.classictheatre.org

General Audience tickets are $20.00, Seniors/Military $15.00, Students $10.00

Group rates/ Season Passes available

Hedda Gabler is a tour de force about a brilliant woman struggling for power in a man's world. This classic tale of intrigue and manipulation keeps you on the edge of your seat and the ending leaves you breathless.

The Classic Theatre of San Antonio produces classic plays of yesterday, today and tomorrow; that stimulate, celebrate and enhance the understanding of others and ourselves through the expression of universal themes.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .