Oh, what a beautiful day!
Performers ages 9 to 19 help each other triumph in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic Oklahoma!
JUNE 15, 2012 – The SFArtsED Summer production of Oklahoma! on Monday, July 23, 2012 will be rousing, beautiful and everything this classical musical should be. Accompanied by the 42-piece UC Berkeley Summer Symphony, the young performers, ranging in age from 9 to 19 will make this one of the can’t-miss events of the summer. The show is at 7:30 p.m. at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St., San Francisco.
What’s really interesting about this one-night-only benefit production is what’s going on behind the scenes.
The end result of an intensive summer program, this Oklahoma! features a wide array of San Francisco Arts Education Project students.
- In the lead roles are alumni of the Artists-in-Residence programs in San Francisco public schools as well as from after-school and extracurricular programs. As returning older students, some in high school, some in college, they serve as mentors to the younger students.
- In supporting roles are members of the SFArtsED Players, a youth musical theater program.
- And in the ensemble are students from the SFArtsED Summer 2012 Broadway Bound program, some of whom are making their stage debuts.
The young performers, all 70 of them, are accompanied by the 42-member UC Berkeley Summer Symphony Orchestra conducted by Music Director Henry Shin. The production is directed by Danny Duncan, a celebrated local director and writer who has worked with the SFArtsED Players for more than a decade.
The creative team includes veterans of SFArtsED programs: SFArtsED Artistic Director Emily Keeler, accompanist Sean Forte, choreographers Natalie Greene and Erin Hewitt and costume designer Linda Ricciardi.
“Bringing our SFArtsED alums back to star in our summer show with the Berkeley Summer Symphony, our current Players and summer campers closes a circle,” Keeler says. “The older performers are the leads in the show but also serve as models and mentors for the younger kids. That synergy in the process gives the summer performances a special sense of family, of continuity and magic. The directors and I always look forward to this reunion each summer with our past students because they remind us all how important it is to create and support artists with skills and generosity of spirit.”
SFArtsED alumnus Deionté Coates is back for the summer, working with students before he heads into the Navy as a nuclear technician. He’s assisting the performing arts teachers at summer camp and will perform in Oklahoma!
“SFArtsED meant a lot to me,” Coates says. “It taught me how to be a better performer and how to interact with many different kinds of people. Without it, I don’t think I would have the courage to be so open to so many people.”
Working with the students, he adds, makes him happy. “Seeing them in the shoes I once wore, young and eager to perform, lets me know that one day, these kids will come to appreciate performing on the same level that I do now. I also realize this experience contributes to your growth no matter what career path you choose.”
Alex Colter, who is going into his junior year at the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts (SOTA) as a classical voice major, says his time with SFArtsED was a “passageway from youth to professional artist.” Colter will be in the ensemble of Oklahoma! and serve as the company’s dance captain.
“Without SFArtsED,” Colter says, “I would not be who or where I am today. Coming back to teach really opens my eyes to how we were treated so professionally, like real performers. So being on the other side at camp, I feel like it’s my duty, like it was for the teachers who taught me, to teach these kids how to be stars.”
Anisa Henry, entering her sophomore year at SOTA this fall, remembers looking up to the returning alumni when she performed with them in previous summer productions of Carousel and Guys and Dolls.
“I have always wanted to be that person that the kids look up to and now I’m one of them,” Henry says. “It may sound a bit conceited, but it’s true. Being one of the people whom young performers want to be like is an extraordinary thing. I was the kid who admired so many others and who wanted to be exactly like all the alumni who were in Carousel and Guys and Dolls. I can’t wait to work with all the young performers on Oklahoma!”
About SFArtsED
For nearly five decades, the San Francisco Arts Education Project has provided hands-on art experiences that expand minds, open hearts and ignite creativity. Since its founding in 1965 by acclaimed artist Ruth Asawa, SFArtsED has touched the lives of more than 200,000 children in the Bay Area through teaching artists in the public schools, after-school programs, internships, summer camp and musical theater troupe. Today, SFArtsED works with more than 70 professional, mid-career artists, making the organization one of the largest employers of artists in San Francisco. In the 2011-12 school year, SFArtsED had Artist-in-Residency programs in 25 public schools.
About The SFArtsED Players
The SFArtsED Players is a musical theater company that reflects San Francisco in all its diversity. Hailing from the neighborhoods of the City and from around the Bay, the SFArtsED Players comprises 50 theater performers who come from SFArtsED’s performing arts residencies as well as from SFArtsED Summer camp. The young performers are selected for their talent, enthusiasm and commitment for the musical theater form. They work with directors of the company 10 hours each week, training as triple-threat actors-singers-dancers – and rehearsing for their performances. The company performs original musicals and revues as well as Broadway classics. The 2011-12 troupe represents 32 different Bay Area schools, including 18 public schools.
For more information or to set up interviews, photos or a rehearsal visit, please call 415 551-7990, e-mail chad.j@sfartsed.org or visit www.sfartsed.org. Right click on images below to download.
| Oklahoma!
FACT SHEET |
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| WHAT | Oklahoma! A vibrant cast of young performers celebrates Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway classic with the UC Berkeley Summer Symphony under the direction of Henry Shin. The cast includes alumni of SFArtsED programs; current members of the SFArtsED Players, the youth musical theater troupe; and students from SFArtsED Summer 2012’s Broadway Bound program. |
| WHO | The San Francisco Arts Education Project |
| WHERE | San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concert Hall 50 Oak St., San Francisco, CA 94102 |
| WHEN | Monday, July 23, 7:30 p.m. |
| TICKETS | $25 – $45 |
| INFO | SFArtsED | www.sfartsed.org | 415.551.7990 |
SFArtsED summer musical: Can you say Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!? Oklahoma! brings together alumni, Players, summer campers
For a third summer, SFArtsED presents a glorious classic musical performed with a symphony orchestra. Following in the footsteps of Carousel and Guys and Dolls, SFArtsED is plea sed to present Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! performed one night only in a benefit for SFArtsED. Click to order tickets.
Please note: the July 23rd performance is very close to selling out!
The cast includes alumni of SFArtsED programs, members of the SFArtsED Players youth musical theater troupe and students from the Broadway Bound program of SFArtsED Summer 2012. They will be accompanied by the UC Berkeley Summer Symphony under the direction of Henry Shin. Danny Duncan returns to direct the production. Tickets are on sale now.
Oklahoma!
Monday, July 23, 2012
7:30pm
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco
Tickets are $25-$45
Call City Box Office at 415.392.4400
www.cityboxoffice.com
[as of Friday, July 20, tickets are in extremely limited supply]
