CMSD Presents All-City Musical: A Decade Of Dreams With Over 60 Students 5/29-31

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) will present its tenth annual All-City Musical, A Decade of Dreams to crown the District's 2008-09 series of All-City Arts Programming. An unforgettable collection of inspired musical theater, A Decade of Dreams features the exceptional talents of over sixty CMSD students from across the District in beloved scenes from the last nine years of All-City Musicals including Little Shop of Horrors, Once On This Island, The Wiz, West Side Story, Carmen Jones, Hot Mikado, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls and Dreamgirls. The production, directed by Tony Sias, director of arts education for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, will take place on the stage of the Hanna Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, May 29 - May 31, 2009. The production was conceived by Tony Sias and Bill Rudman, executive director of The Musical Theater Project.

The tenth annual All-City Musical, A Decade of Dreams, is presented with generous support from The Human Fund which has contributed between$100,000 -$150,000 to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District for a fourth consecutive year to fund its All-City Arts Programming. "It is truly exciting to fund things that introduce students to their creative possibilities. We look forward to expanding those possibilities as we work to create a new model in career development that hopefully other cities will emulate," said Human Fund co-founder and co-chairman, Heather Guess regarding the aim of the funds. Other partners for the All-City Musical include The Cleveland Music School Settlement, Great Lakes Theater Festival, The Musical Theater Project and PlayhouseSquare.

Dr. Eugene T.W. Sanders, CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District stated, "Through the District's All-City Arts Program, we have the unique opportunity to provide students an outlet for expression, while cultivating their creativity. We celebrate the program's meaningfulness, which has enabled us to provide important, standards-based arts education for our students. We are extremely grateful to The Human Fund and all of the All-City Arts Program's partners for their support over the past decade. The value of their support in providing educational opportunities for our students is immeasurable."

The 2009 All-City Musical will feature a Gala Benefit performance slated for Saturday, May 30 at 7:30 with a VIP cocktail reception beginning at 6:00 p.m. The Gala Benefit performance is designed to help raise the funds and awareness needed to ensure the viability and sustainability of the District's All-City Arts Program. In addition to a performance of A Decade of Dreams, the Gala Benefit will honor individuals who have been instrumental in supporting arts education for Cleveland's students. The honorees include: Ruthie Brown, director of community relations, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum; Kathleen Cerveny, director of evaluation and institutional learning, The Cleveland Foundation; Deena Epstein, senior program officer for arts, The George Gund Foundation; Andrew Rayburn & Heather Guess, founders of The Human Fund; and Thomas Schorgl, president and CEO of Community Partnership for Arts & Culture (CPAC). Event supporters include The Cleveland Foundation, The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland State University, The George Gund Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, National City (now a part of PNC), Ohio Business Machines, Ozanne Construction Company, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, The Sherwick Foundation and Young Audiences.

The All-City Musical is a rewarding experience for the students involved as well as for the professional artists that collaborate to produce the musical, according to Tony Sias, the director of the production for the seventh consecutive year. "The All-City Musical is an extraordinary program that provides students with a structured standards-based educational experience that develops individual talents, stimulates critical thinking, focuses creativity, strengthens social skills and affords students an informed perspective on the world that they might not have had if they were not involved in the program," said Sias in a recent interview about the upcoming production. "These young people are amazing. As a member of the production team, I find it immensely rewarding to witness and play a significant role in the growth and development that these students experience over our intensive All-City Musical rehearsal process. They work diligently, remain focused and emerge from the program with the ability to demonstrate the skill, discipline and creativity that it takes to be an artist in the theater and a successful member of our future workforce. It is deeply satisfying to be able to share this leg of their journey with them."

The production team for the tenth annual All-City Musical is a distinguished group of professional artists from across Northeast Ohio. Dr David Manning Thomas, a music teacher at John Adams High School, will serve as Musical Director for the production. An All-City veteran, Michael Medcalf, a renowned choreographer and dancer, will return to the production team for an eighth consecutive season to create A Decade of Dreams' choreography. The production's artistic team also features Terry J. Martin (scenic designer), Esther Haberlen (costume designer), Colleen Dowling (lighting designer) and Stan Kozak (sound designer).

Public performances of A Decade of Dreams are scheduled for Friday, May 29th at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, May 31st at 3:00 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for public performances of A Decade of Dreams are $15. Seating is general admission. Public performance tickets are available by phone at (216) 241-6000, online at www.playhousesquare.org or by visiting The PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office.

The Gala Benefit performance of A Decade of Dreams is scheduled for Saturday, May 30th at 7:30 p.m. with a special VIP cocktail reception preceding the performance at 6:00 p.m. Tickets for the Gala Benefit performance range in price from $125 - $225. Seating is assigned. All proceeds benefit the Cleveland Metropolitan School District's All-City Arts Program. For complete information about the Gala Benefit performance A Decade of Dreams, including information on how to purchase tickets or become a sponsor of the event, visit www.decadeofdreams.org or contact Andrea Wedren at (216) 272-1084 or via email at awedren@boomideas.com.

The primary goal of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is to become a premier school district in the United States of America.

 

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