[NEohioPAL] CMSD Presents 10th Anniversary All City Musical - A Decade of Dreams

Tue May 5 08:15:09 PDT 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2009

Cleveland Metropolitan School District
Students Present 10th Anniversary All-City Musical
A Decade of Dreams
The 10th Anniversary All-City Musical features a special Gala Benefit
Performance to support the District's All-City Arts Program.

CLEVELAND, OH - (May 5, 2009)  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
<blocked::http://www.decadeofdreams.org/>  or contact Andrea Wedren at
(216) 272-1084 or via email at awedren at boomideas.com
<blocked::mailto:awedren at 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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Media Contact:
Todd Krispinsky
Marketing and Public Relations Director
(216) 241-5490 x317
tkrispinsky at greatlakestheater.org

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