[NEohioPAL] Shaker Theatre Presents The Spring Ensemble Show

[McBurney, Christine]

The Shaker Heights High School Theatre Arts Department proudly presents the Spring Ensemble Show.

The Senior Ensemble will be joined by the Junior and Advanced Ensembles on the Shaker Heights High School stage in the renovated and restored Large Auditorium. The production is directed by Ensemble Program Director Erik Johnson, also a 1998 Shaker Theatre alum.  Ensemble performances are considered “devised” theatre, where you are creating as well as rehearsing a show. Working with a few themes, the performance will combine poetry, song, and original movement and dance pieces created by students from workshops with guest artists and alumni.

This year’s production follows the journey of a human being – breath, daily life, childhood, love, conflict, grief, family care, death, and a sense of awe at the infinite world. It continues the exploration of myth and archetype found in the fall play, Metamorphoses, a romantic look at the world, where the events of the soul are visible. Not without its humor – a major influence on our year was a workshop on Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin – we aim for a show that is “hopeful, if not flat out happy,” to quote one of our students.

Poetry may include selections from e.e. cummings, Pablo Neruda, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Shaker Theatre parent Martin Kohn. Music may include selections by David Byrne of the Talking Heads, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Mike Marshall, Leonard Cohen, Zoe Keating, Son Lux, Ben Zebelman & Lorenza Ponce, Vienna Teng, and Shaker Theatre student Eleanor Baum.

Audience members are often surprised and delighted by the Ensemble show – an oft-heard response is that it is “one of the most encouraging experiences I’ve had in a long while.”

Ensemble in the Community


Over the last seven years, a major focus of the Ensemble Program has been reaching out to the community through touring performances.  These have included FusionFest at the Cleveland Play House, the iNGENUiTY festival downtown, participating in alum Jon Leiken’s Cleveland: The Musical in 2010 and A Concert for Cleveland’s Future in 2009 in the newly restored Hanna Theater downtown, collaborations with Hathaway Browns’s Department of Dance, a benefit for the Ludlow Community Association, a performance and workshop at Mercer and Onaway Elementary Schools, performances at the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes and Sunrise Assisted Living Center in Shaker, and annual performances at A Night for the Red and White and Shaker Middle School.  The Ensemble continues its outreach to the community at the annual Senior Adult Preview on Wednesday, April 27th at 2:00 p.m.


Staff, Guest Artists, and
Alumni Artistic Development

Shaker Theatre Students are fortunate to have two full time staff members and a wide range of professionals to support their work.  Along with Ensemble Program Director Erik Johnson, Department Chair and Junior Ensemble co-instructor Christine McBurney continues to enhance the Ensemble’s work.  Long time associate artist Wendy Lynne, who studied corporeal mime in Paris under Etienne Decroux, has been a major contributor to the growth of this ensemble and the program as a whole. This year’s performance will feature her work as well as pieces featuring the work of alumni Alex Goggins ’04 and music selections from Aaron Dunn ’08, who is now studying at the Conservatory of Music at Baldin Wallace College. Other staff for this performance includes local poet Katie Daley, costumer and choreographer Megan Pitcher of MegLouise Dance, Rick Jennings as Stage Manager, Box Office Manager Julia Rossi and Technical Director and Lighting Designer Chuck Tisdale.

Over the past four years, a number of other artists have made major contributions to the growth of these students, made possible largely by donations through our Patron Program. The founder of the program, James Thornton, and his son Matthew Thornton ’92 have both had major residencies. Matthew along with his wife Alicia is co-founder of Agua Dulce Dance Theater and has performed with Pilobolus Dance Theater and Contemporary Motions Production. Other major contributions include Shaker parent and staff member Bruce Jennings, who has composed original music for the Ensemble Program, Tracy Pattison, Barbara & Sabbatino Verlezza of Verlezza Dance, Chris Delgado’02, who now works and performs with Chicago’s CircEsteem, Stephanie Fungsang ’04, who has danced with Pilobolus Dance Theatre, Jeff Michel ’92 of the Tasmanian company Terrapin Puppet Theatre, Seth Gordon, the Associate artistic Director of the Cleveland Play House, Geoff Bullen, the Associate Director of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Andrew Kober ’02 who performed in Hair on Broadway, and Michael McElroy ’85 during his touring performance in Rent.



Named a center of excellence by the National Council of Teachers of English, Shaker Theatre includes 8 daily classes and a production season including four main stage performances, six “showcase” performances, and multitude of professional workshops, touring performances, & special events.


 *   Performances of the Spring Ensemble Show are at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 28th, Friday April 29th, and Saturday, April 30th
 *   The free Senior Adult Preview is at 2:00 pm Wednesday April 27th
 *   Shaker Heights High School Large Auditorium, 15911 Aldersyde Dr.
 *   Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior adults
 *   Tickets may be purchased the week before the show online at tix.com. Associate level patrons can reserve their complimentary tickets by calling the box office at 216-295-4287.
 *   For more information, please call 216-295-4281 or email johnson_ea at shaker.org

Christine McBurney
Theatre Arts Dept. Chair & International Baccalaureate Instructor
Shaker Heights High School
15911 Aldersyde Dr.
Shaker Heights, OH 44120
216.295.4258
216.295.4277 fax
http://www.shaker.org/about/schools/high/departments/theatre/

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