<html dir="ltr">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<style id="owaParaStyle" type="text/css">
<!--
p
{margin-top:0;
margin-bottom:0}
-->
P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}</style>
</head>
<body ocsi="0" fpstyle="1">
<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Arial;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;">
<div style="direction:ltr; font-family:Arial; color:#000000; font-size:10pt"><span style="font-weight:bold">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span><br>
May 1, 2012<br>
<br>
<font style="font-weight:bold" size="5">Cleveland Metropolitan School District Students
<br>
Present FOOTLOOSE as Thirteenth Annual All-City Musical</font><br>
<br>
<font style="font-style:italic" size="4"><span style="font-weight:bold">Producing partners include Great Lakes Theater,</span><br style="font-weight:bold">
<span style="font-weight:bold">The Human Fund, The Musical Theater Project and PlayhouseSquare.</span></font><br>
<br style="font-weight:bold">
<span style="font-weight:bold">CLEVELAND, OH – The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD)</span> will present its
<span style="font-weight:bold">thirteenth annual All-City Musical, <span style="font-style:italic">
Footloose</span></span><span style="font-style:italic"> </span>to crown the District’s 2011-12 series of All-City Arts Programming. The production features the talents of
<span style="font-weight:bold">over fifty CMSD students from across the District</span> and will take place on the stage of the
<span style="font-weight:bold">Ohio Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, June 1 - 3, 2012. Tony Sias, Director of Arts Education for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, co-directs the production with Kimberly Brown. </span> Based on the original screenplay by
Dean Pitchford, Footloose was adapted for the stage by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie. The show's music was written by Tom Snow with lyrics by Dean Pitchford. Additional music for Footloose was written by Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins and Jim Steinman.
Footloose is produced through special arrangement with R & H Theatricals: www.rnh.com.<br>
<br>
The thirteenth annual All-City Musical is presented with generous support from <span style="font-weight:bold">
The Abington Foundation, The Bruening Foundation, Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, The Human Fund
</span>and <span style="font-weight:bold">Kaiser Permanente</span>.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">The All-City Musical is an enriching experience for the students involved in the production, according to the CMSD’s Director of Arts Education, Tony Sias, who has served as the director of the All-City Musical for ten consecutive
years.</span> “The All-City Musical is an extraordinary program that provides students with a structured arts-based experience that refines individual talents, stimulates critical thinking, focuses creativity, strengthens social skills and affords students
an informed perspective on the world,” said Sias in a recent interview about the upcoming production. “These young people are amazing.”<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">The All-City Arts Program’s Managing Director, Kimberly Brown, furthered Sias’s statements and emphasized the show’s relevance for its participants.</span> “The students in this year’s production of Footloose easily identify with
the themes of community and control, love and loss, the fear of abandonment and the joy of acceptance."<br>
<br style="font-weight:bold">
<span style="font-style:italic; font-weight:bold">Footloose</span><span style="font-weight:bold">, one of the most explosive movie musicals of all time, bursts onto the stage with exhilarating results.
</span>When Ren and his mother move from Chicago to a small farming town, Ren is prepared for the inevitable adjustment period in his new high school. What he isn’t prepared for is the ban on dancing by the local preacher, determined to exercise a control of
the town’s youth. The heartfelt story that emerges is of a father longing for the son he lost and of a young man aching for the father who walked out on him.
<span style="font-style:italic">Footloose </span>celebrates the wisdom of listening to young people - guiding them with a warm heart and an open mind.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">The production team for the thirteenth annual All-City Musical is a distinguished group of professional artists from across northeast Ohio. Dr. David Manning Thomas</span>, a music teacher at John Adams High School with a distinguished
career in music, will serve as Musical Director for the production. <span style="font-weight:bold">
Kevin Marr II </span>and <span style="font-weight:bold">Jessica Oliver</span> will co-create
<span style="font-style:italic">Footloose’s</span> choreography. <span style="font-weight:bold">
Fritz Lombardi </span>will serve as scenic designer while <span style="font-weight:bold">
Tesia Benson </span>will design costumes for the production. <span style="font-weight:bold">
Colleen Dowling</span> will design lights.<br>
<br style="font-weight:bold">
<span style="font-weight:bold">Opening Night</span> for the thirteenth annual All-City Musical
<span style="font-style:italic">Footloose </span>is scheduled for <span style="font-weight:bold">
Friday, June 1st at 7:30 p.m.</span> The production will continue with a <span style="font-weight:bold">
Saturday evening showing on June 2nd at 7:30 p.m. </span>and a closing matinee performance on
<span style="font-weight:bold">Sunday, June 3rd at 3:00 p.m.</span><br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">All tickets for the thirteenth annual All-City Musical, Footloose are $15</span> and are available by phone at
<span style="font-weight:bold">(216) 241-6000</span>, online at <a href="http://www.playhousesquare.org" style="font-weight:bold" target="_blank">
www.playhousesquare.org</a><span style="font-weight:bold"> </span>or by visiting the
<span style="font-weight:bold">PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office. All seating is general admission</span>.<br>
<br>
The primary goal of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is to become a premier school district in the United States of America. The Cleveland Board of Education does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, orientation, age,
religion or disability. <br>
<br>
# # #<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">MEDIA CONTACT:</span><br>
<div><span style="font-weight:bold">Todd Krispinsky</span><br>
<div style="font-family:Tahoma; font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:Arial">Marketing and Public Relations Director<br>
Great Lakes Theater<br>
1501 Euclid Avenue, Suite 300<br>
Cleveland, OH 44115<br>
(216) 241-5490 x317<br>
www.greatlakestheater.org<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Great Lakes Theater</span><br>
<span style="font-style:italic">Cleveland's Classic Company @ the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare</span><br>
</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>