Oak Park Festival Theatre Honors Local Students with Young Artist Awards

Oak Park Festival Theatre, Oak Park's only Equity theatre and the Midwest's oldest professional outdoor classical theatre, is proud to award the first annual Young Artist Award to two remarkably generous and gifted 2013 Oak Park River Forest High School (OPRF) graduates, Scott Daniel and Jake Shadrake. Festival Theatre audiences for TWELFTH NIGHT on July 26 will get a special treat - a short concert by the honorees and some of their gifted and generous friends. The performance will take place at 7:15 p.m. before the 8 p.m. show.

These two young men have distinguished themselves not only by their musical and musical theatre talents but also by their dedication to sharing their gifts with the community. Their donations of time and talent have brought entertainment to their audiences while raising considerable and much needed funds for local agencies.

Festival Theatre, which next year will celebrate 40 years of award winning professional theatre, shares this commitment of service, striving to be of their community not just in it. One of the many ways Festival Theatre works toward the commonweal is by its annual partnership with Prevail in a celebration of the December holidays. This year's MIDWINTER'S TALES will be December 7, 2013, at Unity Temple. Both recipients of this inaugural award have performed in that event as one of their many occasions on which they shared their prodigious talents for the benefit of others.

Oak Park Festival Theatre's TWELFTH NIGHT previews on July 18 and 19, and opens on Saturday, July 20, running through August 24 in the park at Austin Gardens, 167 Forest Avenue in Oak Park, IL. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 7:00 p.m. as well as Wednesday, August 21 at 8:00 p.m.Ticket prices are $25 for adults, $20 seniors (60 and over) and $15 for students with ID. Tickets also may be purchased by calling the box office at 708-445-4440, by e-mailing Tickets@OakParkFestival.com, or going online to OakParkFestival.com. Group rates are available.

ABOUT THE RECIPIENTS:

Scott Daniel, an Illinois State Fair Junior Fiddle Champion and Concert Master of the Chicago Youth Orchestra, has shared his violin skills with Festival Theatre and Prevail for the past six years, first in MRS. CONEY and later in MIDWINTER'S TALES. Among his other concerts for charity are his two sold-out Springtime performances with Ella Gill of "Songs of Hope and Struggle" at Fitzgeralds to benefit Prevail. At this year's Prevail event, Scott, Ella and fellow recipient Jake Shadrake raised $25,000. Scott shares his talents many Saturday mornings at The Farmers' Market playing Blue Grass, benefits for Oak Park Temple and OPRF High School student groups, Sundaymornings at the Church of Beethoven, and at an upcoming benefit to create a scholarship fund or Oak Park Fiddle Camp. His band, Snake Oil Salesman, frequently perform throughout the area, donating their talents to raise funds for local organizations. A Presidential Scholar (one of three in Illinois and 141 nationwide), Scott is off to Williams College to double major in music and computer science.

Jake Shadrake will be studying music composition at NYU's Steinhardt this fall. In addition to piano, he plays trumpet, mellophone and tuba. Jake received the Ann Monaco Music Scholarship, The Carl Krafft Fine Arts Scholarship for Music/Speech, the Miller, Cooke, Wood Theatre Scholarship, and the Steinhardt Scholarship from NYU. At OPRF he participated in Take 5 (a male a cappella singing group)show choir, marching band, and theater. He composed and arranged the first movement of a Requiemwhich was performed by the a cappella choir. Jake is a founding member of Monkey Stealing Peach, an alternative rock band (Battle of the Bands Champions in 2010) which has been featured at local benefits and events. He teamed up with pals Scott Daniel and Ella Gill at benefits for Prevail. Other community service includes performances for Intonations Music Workshop, a film for Sarah's Inn teen outreach, singing for the Lemon Aid for 9/11 benefit, and working as a mentor for PING!

Oak Park Festival Theatre - Oak Park's only Equity theatre and the Midwest's oldest professional theatre performing the classics outdoors - is currently celebrating its 39th year of theatrical excellence and is embarking on its third year-round season producing outstanding productions of the plays of William Shakespeare and other classical authors, as well as important contemporary plays by some of the world's greatest playwrights.