Raue Center Announces Enhanced Educational Offerings

Raue Center For The Arts is excited to announce it will be tripling its offerings for area youth in 2019 - 2020. Raue Center's arts education outreach program, Sage Studio, will offer a newly expanded class schedule, the continuation of a youth theatre production established last year, and an enhanced relationship with in-house professional theatre company, Williams Street Repertory.

The enhanced relationship between Sage Studio and WSRep will allow young local talent to pursue professional experiences in union productions, including "Emma! A Pop Musical," "Disney's Freaky Friday," "The Addams Family" and "Matilda The Musical." Sage Studio students will also have the opportunity to participate in an expanded educational production of "A Christmas Carol: A Holiday Pantomime."

"The educational programs continue to grow at Raue Center in classes and on stage through Sage Studio and shows like 'A Christmas Carol: A Holiday Pantomime," which was wildly successful," says Executive Director, Richard Kuranda. "The enhanced partnership with Williams Street Repertory will allow young local talent to be considered for professional work," he continues. "For the first time, area students Will Able to pursue their interest in classes, refine their craft on stage and potentially be hired for professional work with some of Chicago's finest."

The full-scale educational production which premiered in December 2018 was the first for Sage Studio's brand-new Sage on Stage production program, which gives students the opportunity to build performance fundamentals taught in the classroom and put those skills into practice for an audience in a full-scale production on the Raue Center stage. Last year's co-production of "A Christmas Carol: A Holiday Pantomime" featured an impressive cast of 48 local actors between the ages of 7 - 18 from Sage Studio's performance education workshops and seven adult professional actors.

"Our production of A Christmas Carol' last season was a joy in so many ways. Our Sage Studio students were thrilled for the opportunity to take the stage at Raue Center and collaborate with professional actors, with the full support of the institution behind them. We were overwhelmed and delighted by the positive response from our community," says Sage Studio Program Manager, Amanda Flahive. "The whole team put their hearts into the project. We are excited for the opportunity to showcase the work of our education program in this collaborative setting, and can't wait to make this part of Crystal Lake's holiday tradition for years to come!"

This expansion to its arts education came during a season of great growth for Raue Center following the retirement of its $8.8 million debt as well as the establishment of a 25-year sponsorship with Home State Bank. Raue Center is excited to continue expanding Sage Studio during the 2019 - 2020 season, as it offers the ultimate learning experience to young students interested in the world of theatre.

"Change is never easy, and while it was a joy to employ local dancers for our annual production of 'The Nutcracker,' it is in Raue Center's best interest to redirect those funds to our internal programs," says Kuranda of the shift in Raue Center's holiday programming. "'A Christmas Carol' has a wonderful appeal to the public and provides a better residual return to our educational programs and community."

The adult educators featured a fantastic performance by WSRep Ensemble Member Mark R. Mahallak as Scrooge. Mahallak most recently appeared at Raue Center in WSRep's productions of "Little Shop of Horrors," for which he earned a BroadwayWorld Chicago Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical (Resident Equity). He has also served as a director and choreographer of a number of WSRep productions and is set to direct "All Shook Up" this summer.

Additional support was provided in the classroom and on stage by WSRep Ensemble Member Chris Davis, whose most recent appearances at Raue Center include WSRep's productions of "Little Shop of Horrors," "Guys and Dolls" and "First Date." The production also marked the debut of local actress and singer-songwriter Lara Bell, who previously opened for Megon McDonough at Raue Center and frequently performs at Raue Center Café.

The public showing also featured actors new to Raue Center's stage, including Amanda Batcher (Fireside Theatre, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, Stage 773), Tony Calkins (Surging Films and Theatrics, Alphabet Soup Productions, Steel Beam Theatre), Trent Dahlin (Utah Shakespeare Festival, Lyric Repertory Theatre, The Shakespeare Project) and Erin O'Brien (Woodstock Opera House).

The students in Sage on Stage are able to gain the experience, confidence and knowledge needed to go on to audition for professional shows, including those produced by WSRep. One of these students is Mya Berg, who first found her love for the stage by participating in Sage Studio classes. Berg has been able to put her theatre education into practice on Raue Center's mainstage, landing roles with WSRep including "Gypsy" and, most recently, "Emma! A Pop Musical."

In addition to Sage on Stage, Sage Studio will also be offering a variety of exciting classes this summer, including the Junior Musical Theatre Workshop, High School Dance Intensive, High School Musical Theatre Workshop and the High School Vocal Intensive. Registration for Sage Studio's 2019 summer session is now open to the public at rauecenter.org.

Students will also be able to put the experience, confidence and knowledge they gain in Sage Studio classes into practice by auditioning for WSRep's 2019 - 2020 season. The upcoming season will feature multiple productions with prominent roles for young actors, including "The Addams Family" in the fall of 2019 and "Matilda The Musical" in the summer of 2020.

Information about auditions, performance dates and ticketing for Raue Center and Sage Studio's "A Christmas Carol: A Holiday Pantomime" and WSRep's productions "The Addams Family" and "Matilda The Musical" is forthcoming. Please visit rauecenter.org this spring for these updates as well as Raue Center's End of Fiscal Year Appeal, which will support Raue Center's arts education programs.