McCallum Fine Arts Theatre Program Profiled in BroadwayWorld.com, October 25

Jeff Davis's feature on the Mac Theatre program:

Young Artists Thrive at McCallum Fine Arts Academy in Austin TX

 

by Jeff Davis, October 25, 2012

There’s no doubt about it. Educational arts programs are almost always in crisis mode. No matter what city or state you’re in, arts courses always seem to be under-funded and in dire need of support, and sadly the lack of funding usually has a disastrous effect on the student population. Some get far less exposure to the arts than they want or need. Others get no exposure at all as their school’s arts programs vanish.

McCallum High School in Austin is a rare exception. Its unique Fine Arts Academy thrives despite the current economic pinch.

The Fine Arts Academy program at McCallum provides high school students with both a traditional high school education and a fine arts focus. Students are broken up into majors, including Band, Choir, Dance, Classical Guitar, Orchestra, Theatre, and Visual Arts. While they may specialize in arts courses, the students are required to take the standard core classes with the general school population. By doing so they add an element of creative thinking which benefits the entire McCallum student body, whether they be artistically inclined or not.

Read more at www.austin.broadwayworld.com

Profile of Joshua Denning: Defying Labels by Christian Carbone, L Style G Style Magazine, Austin

Defying Labels

by Christian Carbone

When Joshua Denning was earning his stripes as a young actor at Jeffersonville High School in Indiana, he was the lead in many productions—Peter Pan, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Fame—but the production of a show with a message of inclusivity, called School Colors, was by far his favorite.

The premise was straightforward, yet rather groundbreaking: Each actor improvised scenes out of his or her own experiences on the topic of racism. His vignette—at that time, his knowledge about his ancestors was not what it is now—involved the sketches of his Uncle Preston, an artist whom his relatives said he resembled.

“People think that a mixed-race person needs to choose sides or needs to connect with their White side or represent themselves as culturally Black, and my whole scene was about how I’m mixed,” said Denning. “I claim both and I’m just as White as I am Black—and that’s how it is and you need to deal with it.”

The production resonated because the cast members were honestly invoking their ancestors: In fact, they were later invited to perform at various corporate diversity seminars. “Everything about it was real,” he added. “It wasn’t staged or canned or prerecorded.”

As a child in southern Indiana, Denning would follow his older sister, who took dance classes, and hang out backstage when she performed. He developed a fascination with the mystery of theatrical spaces, with their spiral staircases, weird sets, and nooks and crannies. His parents allowed his burgeoning creativity to flourish, encouraging him to take things apart, paint them and even construct an actual theater, complete with lights and orchestra pit, in their garage. Was he more driven than the average theater-loving child? Most definitely: voice lessons, dance classes, and performing in every single play he could squeeze into his schedule.

“You come up on all these different styles with these roles, and they really make you self-reflect. That part was difficult for me, to be taken apart and prodded,” said Denning. “What are you? Who are you? Especially when you’re young and you don’t know all the answers to those questions yet.”

After earning his BFA on a full scholarship to Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, Denning moved to New York City, where he lived and worked in his field both inside the city and abroad. He appeared in many shows, including a German production of Disney’s The Lion King, in which he played Simba for two years in Hamburg.

Read more at L Style G Style. . . .

Upcoming: Disney's Beauty and the Beast, MacTheatre, McCallum Fine Arts Academy, September 6 - 9

McCallum Theatre, 5600 Sunshine Drive, presents

Disney's Beauty and the Beast

 Step into the enchanted world of Broadway’s modern classic, Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Become transported to the heart of provincial life in a lovely French town. When Maurice becomes lost in the woods on the way to the fair, he seeks shelter in an old castle, but the master of the castle is a horrible beast that takes him captive. Maurice’s daughter, Belle, must then give up her freedom to save his life.

Belle’s taming of the unfortunate Beast and his ultimate transformation back into a handsome prince enthralled Broadway audiences for over 13 years. This “tale as old as time” is filled with spectacular costumes and sets and brings the entire community together for family theatre at its best.

Click for additional information

(Click to return to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Images by David Ponton for ongoing: The Sound of Music, Zilker Productions, July 6 - August 11

Images by David Ponton, used in e-mail publicity by Zilker Productions:

UPDATE: Feature by Michelle Villalpando for the Austin Statesman, June 30

presents

(image: David Ponton)

The Sound of Music

July 6 - August 11, Thursdays - Sundays 

(approx. 8:30pm; at dusk) Admission: FREE! [parking: $3/car]

Beverly S. Sheffield Zilker Hillside Theater,

Located in Zilker Park across from Barton Springs Pool

[click for theater info and map]

(poster: www.zilker.org)

Click to view additional images at AustinLiveTheatre.com

McCallum Appoints Joshua Denning as Director of Performance Theatre

From McCallum Fine Arts Academy:

April 1

The Fine Arts Academy welcomes Mr. Joshua Denning as our new Director of Performance Theatre. After a national search for a new director, the committee selected Mr. Denning. You may remember him as Jim Conley in the Royal Court Players fall production of Parade or as Seaweek Stubbs in Hairspray at ZACH. As a director and choreographer Mr. Denning has staged 19 productions including more than a dozen theatre for youth productions at ZACH Theatre and Center Stage Texas and a fully staged production of the musical Jon & Jen. He has international credits, including Simba in The Lion King in Hamburg, Germany. His BFA is in Musical Theatre from Wright State University.

Next to Normal, Zach Theatre, January 25 - March 4

Zach's staging of the Tom Kitt/Brian Yorkey work Next to Normal is stunning -- but not in the usual reviewer-speak meaning of the word. The intensity of the emotion, the huge volume of sound, the zig-zag of florescent lighting on the back walls of the set and above all the pitiless focus upon the mental illness of a suburban wife and mother -- all of these foster a numbness of mind that leaves you feeling as if you had swallowed a 200 mg capsule of Thorazine at the opening of the show.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. It shows that the Zach succeeds in setting the opera's message deep into the brain,down there where the limbic system controls emotion, memory and cognition. For a musical work about grief, disorientation and pharmacology, that's exactly the intention.

The Pulitzer committee that awarded the New York production of Next to Normal the drama prize for 2010 called it "a powerful rock musical . . . . that expands the scope of subject matter for musicals." My experience of the Zach production -- my trip along with housewife Diana and her family into her hell -- left me feeling that "rock musical" was an inadequate term for the evening. It isn't "rock" in the Elvis Presley sense or even the Pink Floyd sense, and although it was told almost entirely in sound and song, one couldn't really classify it as corresponding to most of the conventions of most American musical theatre. The score and story are complex and contemporary, all too relevant to our American experience. Let's be frank: let's call it a contemporary opera, even though that designation might be a drag at the box office.

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

Upcoming: Next to Normal, musical, Zach Theatre, January 28 - March 4

Found on-line:

presents

Next to Normal

the 2010 Pulitzer Prize musical

Music by TOM KITT | Lyrics by BRIAN YORKEY

Directed by DAVE STEAKLEY | Music Direction by ALLEN ROBERTSON

Starring MEREDITH MCCALL, JAMIE GOODWIN (The Drowsy Chaperone), ANDREW CANNATA (Rent), JOSHUA DENNING (Hairspray), JOHNNY NEWCOMB (Spring Awakening) and KELLI SCHULTZ.

January 25 - March 4, Tuesdays - Wednesdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
Kleberg Stage, Zach Theatre, 1421 Riverside Drive at South Lamar (click for map)
Tickets $25 to $55 -- click to reserve and purchase on-line

Student Tickets: $18 One Hour Before Showtime (with Valid ID)
Bar opens 1 hour before showtime. Drinks welcome inside the theatre.Please come early for parking

GLBT Wilde Party is Thursday, Feb. 9

Next to Normal is an inventive, emotional powerhouse production about one family who is about to face the music. This multiple Tony Award-winning, groundbreaking work features a thrilling contemporary score. ZACH’s Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley says, “I am so thrilled that we’ll produce the Central Texas premiere of what I think is the best piece of theatre in the past five years. Next to Normal is one of only three musicals to ever win the Pulitzer Prize – It knocks me out!”

Production Sponsors: Maria and Eric Groten - Farmer’s Insurance

For real-time updates on ZACH Theatre news, events and happenings, visit http://www.zachtheatre.org/blog, be a fan of ZACH Theatre on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/zachtheatre, and follow ZACH on Twitter @zachtheatre http://www.twitter.com/zachtheatre.

About ZACH Theatre ZACH Theatre is Austin’s leading professional producing theatre. Founded in 1933, ZACH is the longest running theatre company in Texas, serving more than 170,000 adults and youth annually. ZACH creates its own nationally recognized dramatic, musical and comedic productions that elevate, motivate and stimulate the human spirit under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley and Managing Director Elisbeth Challener. Now in its 78th season, ZACH continues to expand and engage with Austin, adding a third theatre to its Central Austin performance campus. The 420-seat, 26,000-square-foot Topfer Theatre will nearly double ZACH’s capacity while retaining its hallmark intimate theatre-going experience upon its completion in the fall of 2012 following a $22 million campaign. Visit www.zachtheatre.org for more information.

ZACH Theatre is sponsored, in part, by Applied Materials, Austin American-Statesman, Time Warner Cable, Austin News TV 36, The Dell Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Strong Events, OnRamp, The Mitchell Group Consulting, Kirk Tuck Photography and Holiday Inn, Lady Bird Lake. Also, by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division, which believes an investment in the arts is an investment in Austin’s future. Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.

Arts Reporting: Joshua Denning Accepts Interim Post at McCallum Fine Arts Academy

Posted today at the MacTheatre blog, McCallum Fine Arts Academy:

Award-winning Actor, Director Josh Denning Accepts MacTheatre Interim Post

Maybe you saw him as Angel in ZACH Theatre’s RENT or as Seaweed in last summer’s HAIRSPRY. Or maybe your first look at his incredible artistry was when he blew it out the rafters as Jim Conley in MacTheatre’s PARADE last month.

Now, the very talented JOSHUA DENNING is appearing in classrooms at the McCallum Fine Arts Academy, leading performance theatre instruction while the search continues for a permanent hire to be named next spring.

Mr. Denning, who holds a B.F.A. in Musical Theater from Wright State University, brings to this new role teaching and directing experience at Zach Theatre, as well as broad international and regional stage experience.

His international credits include The Lion King (Simba) Hamburg, Germany; We Will Rock You (Brit), Zurich, Switzerland; Best of Musical (Principle Soloist), Vienna, Austria. Mr. Denning’s regional theatre credits include Seaweed J. Stubbs in Hairspray at ZACH Theatre, also at ZACH Theatre: Angel in RENT (for which he won the Austin Critics’ Table Award for Best Supporting Actor); Carousel (Billy Bigelow), Mary Moody Northern Theatre; In The Blood (Reverend D), Altered Stages; Rent (Benny), The Weston Playhouse; Miss Saigon, Theater Under The Stars; West Side Story and A Little Night Music, The Human Race Theater Company.

His film work includes Convergence (Michael), Abrupt Decision (Aaron), Sick Daze and Bernie.

He’s also performed in Hot Summer Nights, Stage One, The Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, and Seaside Music Theater.

Upcoming: GiggleHouse Live, Zach Theatre, May 7 and 14

Found on-line:

Zach Theatre presents

Gigglehouse Live!

a family musical production for ages 5 and up

featuring ZACH Pre-Professional Students ages 8-12
Story & Script by Joshua Denning
Directed by Joshua Denning | Musical Direction by Sylvia Casper

Live on ZACH's Kleberg Stage, Toomey St. at Lamar Blvd (click for map)

Saturdays, May 7 at 1:00 pm & 3:00pm and May 14 at 2:30pm.

Tickets on Sale: (512) 476-0541 ext 1.

ZACH Performing Arts School presents Gigglehouse Live! Fast-forward, rip, zip, rewind and freeze-frame through a rocking journey with Austin's new favorite kids TV stars! All mayhem breaks loose on set when Amanda Indiana, the show's star, is kidnapped moments before the final broadcast. Join us as the Showbiz Kids deliver a truly unforgettable performance and save the day. As the old adage says: The Show Must Go On!

Carousel, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, April 7 - 17

Carousel is a gorgeous thing out of another time. The story is simple. So are the characters, who for the most part good folk of the land, just as in Oklahoma!, the hit just two years earlier by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Carousel is a story of courting, disappointment in marriage between carnival tough Billy Bigelowe and bright-eyed local girl Julie Jordan, a robbery attempt and the bad end of the Bigelowe, then, unexpectedly, a counseling session in the afterlife, giving him a chance to redeem himself.

Carousel opened in New York in April of 1945, as the war in Europe was ending. More than 13 million Americans served in the military and more than 400,000 Americans had died in combat. The nation was ready for some redemption about then, for some celebration and for reunions. Carousel provided some of the theme music -- If I Loved You, June Is Bustin' Out All Over, and that stirring song of consolation for the bereaved, You'll Never Walk Alone.

The Mary Moody Northen Theatre is an engaging and cleverly designed theatre-in-the-square, but the playing space is not immense. Director Michael McKelvey fills it up with that energy-filled cast of twenty, most of them frisky and flirty young characters and actors, playing this story to the accompaniment of the seven-piece orchestra tucked away behind curtains in the high northwest corner of the theatre. They're probably student musicians -- at times, the notes from the horns were wobbling a bit -- but they're live and loud, and the cast sings strong and true.

In this show you get a busy visit to the traveling fair where Bigelowe operates the carousel and flirts with the girls, as well as the imagined carousel itself, imagined, taking up the full stage as the players whirl in a circle to the Carousel Waltz. There's wild frolic as boys and girls tease one another while the month of June is bustin'; more frolic in Act II with A Real Nice Clambake. In both those numbers, opera professional Cara Johnston is aunt Nettie Fowler, joyously keeping them all in line.

The culmination comes as Billy looks on from the afterlife, in a lengthy sequence featuring his 15-year-old daughter Louise, whom he has never seen before. Hannah Marie Fonder plays Louise as a feisty little thing while dancing with the other kids. Then she partners with Kyle Housworth, a boy from the carnival, for an throbbing, exhilarating extended pas de deux that reinforces the message that life goes on, bursting forth in every new generation.

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

Upcoming: Carousel, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, April 7 - 17

Received directly:

38^th ANNIVERSARY SEASON AT THE MARY MOODY NORTHEN THEATRE

CULMINATES WITH THE MUSICAL

CAROUSEL

by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

directed by Michael McKelvey

Featuring Equity Guest Artists Joshua Denning, Cara Johnston and J. Ben Wolfe.

Based of Ferenc Molnar’s Play, Liliom, as adapted by Benjamin Glazer

Choreography by Danny Herman and Rocker Versatique. Original Dances by Agnes de Mille.

April 7 – 17, Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

Special added performance on Wednesday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m. - tickets for students with ID are half-price

Reserved Seating. Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, 3001 S. Congress Avenue (click for map)

TICKETS available through the MMNT box office at 448-8484.

Advance $18 ($15 students, seniors, St. Edward’s community); All tickets $20 at the door.

Box office is open 1-5 p.m. Monday–Friday and 1 hour prior to curtain.

Mary Moody Northen Theatre, the award-winning producing arm of the St. Edward’s University Theatre Program, presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel April 7 - 17, 2011.

When mill-town girl Julie Jordan meets carnival barker Billy Bigelow on a carousel ride, her life is changed forever. Flirtation gives way to the unexpected power of love as the two are irresistibly drawn to each other in this glorious tale of love and redemption. The Tony-award-winning musical features June is Bustin’ Out All Over, You’ll Never Walk Alone and If I Loved You. With its splendid score and brilliant lyrics, Carousel was dubbed “the best musical of the Twentieth Century” by Time Magazine.

Scenic Design by Lisa Laratta, Lighting Design by Megan Reilly, Costume Design by Susan Branch, Choreography by Danny Herman and Rocker Verastique.

“Magnificent.” – The Los Angeles Times

About St. Edward's University. Founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, St. Edward's University is named among the top five "Up-and-Coming Universities" in the Western Region by its academic peers in a 2011 U.S. News & World Report survey. For eight consecutive years St. Edward's has been recognized as one of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S. News & World Report. St. Edwards’ has also been named one of “America’s Best Colleges” by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability. St. Edward's is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university of more than 5,400 students located in Austin, Texas. For more information on St. Edward’s University, visit www.stedwards.edu.

Rent, Zach Theatre, September 16 - October 31

Rent is the sort of production the Zach theatre uses to pay the rent: the staging of a familiar rock and roll work with appeal for the young, for the young professionals, for the creatives and for the club goers. Seen as daring at its 1996 debut, Rent has become sufficiently mainstream that it can be staged in community theatres, summer theatres, and, this past February, even by the kidsActing studio here in Austin.

Director Dave Steakley gets a powerhouse performance from a cast consisting redundantly of "local Austin artists."

You just can't help being seduced by the spotlight numbers in this show: winsome Andrew Cannata and Kristen Bennett doing the wickedly funny Tango Maureen, the irrepressibly strutting Joshua Denning as Angel the drag queen extraordinaire in the damn-your-eyes-love-me glitzy Today 4 U (Tomorrow 4 Me), and Ginger Leigh's leering, laughing physicality in the trippy story about the cow that jumped Over the Moon.

Multi-talented Jonathan Larson did book, music and lyrics for a story that he based loosely on Puccini's La Bohème, the elegantly sentimental 1896 opera portraying a bunch of down and art artists in Paris and the doomed romance between a writer and Mimi, the street waif who dies of tuberculosis in the last act.

Puccini's work has been called the most popular opera of all time, and Larson's use of it is a savagely ironic premise. No doubt all those affluent parents in Scarsdale and similar well-trimmed suburbs (West Lake Hills, for example, or Lakeway) had the cash and leisure to buy opera tickets, as their neglected children grew up unguided and then slipped off to the grim-smeared once-upon-a-time low-rent districts of the Bowery.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .