Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music - Conversation November 2019

2019

conversation

BW PERFORMING ARTS ISSUE PRESENTING THE COLLEGIATE PREMIERE OF

Book by Harvey Fierstein

Music and Lyrics by Cyndi Lauper

Original Broadway Production Directed and Choreographed by Jerry ry Mitchell Based on the Miramax motion picture Kinky Boots Written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth Original Broadway Production Produced by DARYL ROTH HAL LUFTIG JAMES L. NEDERLANDER TERRY ALLEN KRAMER INDEPENDENT PRESENTERS NETWORK CJ E&M JAYNE BARON SHERMAN JUST FOR LAUGHS THEATRICALS/JUDITH ANN ABRAMS YASHUHIRO KAWANA JANE BERGERE ALLAN S. GORDON & ADAM S. GORDON KEN DAVENPORT HUNTER ARNOLD LUCY & PHIL SUAREZ BRYAN BANTRY RON FIERSTEIN & DORSEY REGAL JIM KIERSTEAD/GREGORY RAE BB GROUP/CHRISTINA PAPAGJIKA MICHAEL DeSANTIS/PATRICK BAUGH BRIAN SMITH/TOM & CONNIE WALSH WARREN TREPP and JUJAMCYN THEATERS

CONSERVATORY of MUSIC

BW CONGRATULATES MUSIC THEATRE DIRECTOR VICTORIA BUSSERT, CLEVELAND ARTS PRIZE WINNER

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LEARN MORE AT BW.EDU/IMPACT Baldwin Wallace University does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, age, disability, national origin, gender or sexual orientation in the administration of any policies or programs.

conversation The magazine and Kinky Boots program of the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music.

We are pleased you are here to join us for the BW production of Kinky Boots. The energy and excitement put into this production builds on the honor Baldwin Wallace has in being the first university in the nation to present this Tony Award-winning Best Musical.

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Cleveland Arts Prize Victoria Bussert

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Welcome Dean Susan D. Van Vorst

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The Serendipity of BW’s Kinky Boots

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From BWMT to Broadway Alumni

Just last month we broke ground on a new academic building. The Austin E. Knowlton Center will open in January 2021 and will house our computer science, engineering, physics and mathematics programs.

The state-of-the-art, 55,000-square foot building will feature advanced computer and robotics labs, as well as collaborative, high-tech group workspaces that foster innovation and mirror real-world industry settings.

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About Those Boots

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Cleveland Orchestra, BW Students Bask in Warmth of ‘South Pacific’ at Blossom

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Conservatory of Music Alumni Success

In our School of Business, we have launched new majors and graduate certificate programs in health care and business analytics that align with industry needs and give our students a leading-edge with employment opportunities.

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Celebrating 50 Years Riemenschneider Bach Institute

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#HowDoYouRBI?

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Bach Festival 2020 Preview

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OPERA: Breaking New Ground

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Student Centered: BW Music Education

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Take Note: New Conservatory Faculty

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A New Day for the Community Arts School

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‘Homegrown’ Musical heads to Playhouse Square

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Diversity & Inclusion: Extending the Kinky Boots Conversation

Our long-standing reputation of leadership and innovation goes back to our founding 174 years ago when John Baldwin made inclusion an inherent part of our university.

Today, you can find that same pioneering spirit across campus as our students and faculty collaborate to aspire and achieve.

There are countless other examples of innovation, entrepreneurship and scholarship across all programs of study. In September, the U.S. News & World Report validated our success in its 2020 rankings of “America’s Best Colleges.” For 26 years straight, BW is among the “Best in the Midwest.” This year, we placed in the top 10 on that list.

U.S. News also listed us #4 among “Innovative Schools,” #5 for “Best Value,” #6 for “Best Undergraduate Teaching” and #7 as “Best for Veterans” in the Midwest.

Great things continue to happen at BW. Thank you for being a part of them.

Robert C. Helmer, J.D., Ph.D. President 31

PROGRAM 51

BW Music Theatre Showcase Endowment

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Acting the Part BW Theatre Success 3

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“It is truly an honor to be awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize,” Bussert says.

“Mid-career to me means I still have a lot of work to do!”

Victoria Bussert, head of BW’s music theatre program, has been honored for her phenomenal work with a 2019 Cleveland Arts Prize Mid-Career Artist Award. Now in its 59th year, the Cleveland Arts Prize is the nation’s oldest municipal arts award, annually celebrating exceptional artists in Northeast Ohio.

Cleveland Arts Prize recognizes artists in literature, dance, theater and visual art with emerging artist, mid-career and lifetime achievement awards. The winners received their awards and the $10,000 prize attached to them at a ceremony in September.

Cleveland Arts Prize Executive Director Alenka Banco shared in the awards announcement, “It’s more than a monetary prize to artists who are doing great work. It’s really about a family and it’s about Cleveland’s legacy.”

THEATRE “POWERHOUSE” Bussert has been directing theatrical productions for more than 30 years, including staging not only musicals, but also

operas, concerts and tours both across the nation and abroad.

In addition to directing the music theatre program at BW, Bussert is also a resident director at Great Lakes Theater and the Idaho Shakespeare Festival.

“She’s a powerhouse. The kids and the students that are coming out of her program are really on a national and an international stage,” Banco said of Bussert in the awards announcement.

READ IT IN THE PLAIN DEALER A feature in The Plain Dealer notes the arts prize jury “praised her both for directing and teaching.”

Colton Ryan ’17, hired on Broadway before his graduation, told the newspaper, “She’s tough in all the right ways. She’s tenacious about your potential and passion.”

“It is truly an honor to be awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize,” Bussert says. “Mid-career to me means I still have a lot of work to do!”

Dear Friends: The Conservatory of Music is proud to bring another “season of firsts” to Baldwin Wallace University this year. After a stunning collaboration with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center in August, transporting nearly 8,000 audience members to the South Pacific, the BW Music Theatre program provides us with two premieres this season.

This evening you will enjoy the collegiate premiere of Kinky Boots, the musical sensation that shone brightly on Broadway for six years before its close this past summer. Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein’s masterpiece garnered six Tony Awards in 2013, including awards for best musical, best original score and best choreography.

Seven BW Music Theatre alumni have been members of the Kinky Boots company on Broadway and national touring companies….and with this production, 39 additional young artists join the BWMT Kinky Boots family.

This production speaks to the heart and soul of the Baldwin Wallace community.

We are, by our founding values and our lived commitment, champions of diversity, inclusion, innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. These themes resound gloriously throughout Kinky Boots, reminding us that our shared humanity and creative spirit trumps our daily differences and challenges and leads us boldly forward in the face of adversity.

In April, BWMT and the Arts Management & Entrepreneurship program bring you the thrilling experience of a world premiere created by two of our own. With book, music and lyrics by Charlie H. Ray ’20 and additional music and arrangements by Sam Columbus ’19, the new musical Freedom Summer portrays the powerful events of 1964 when two civil rights activists from New York City traveled to Meridian, Mississippi to join forces with grassroots activists in the South. Years in the making, this compelling musical drama made its debut at the New York Music Festival last summer. Read more about the creative process and the birthing of this new musical on page 26.

Also in this issue of Conversation we celebrate the trademark creative genius, driving quest for excellence and bold advocacy for diversity in the persona of BW Music Theatre program director, Victoria Bussert. Vicky is a 2019 recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize Mid-Career Award for achievement in theatre and dance. This honor is richly deserved and well earned. Congratulations, Vicky! (opposing page) Celebrate well the greatest attributes of BW as you get your groove on this evening!

Susan D. Van Vorst Dean, Conservatory of Music

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Kinky Boots Bob Abelman 1

mor e al ! t n e ike t r e f f han we are di

Talent and Timing

The serendipity of BW’s Kinky Boots

by Bob Abelman

Baldwin Wallace University’s Kinky Boots — the fi rst collegiate production of the Tony- and Olivier Awardwinning musical — is a case study in serendipity.

Kinky Boots is based on the 2005 British film of the same name, which was given a script make-over by theatre legend Harvey Fierstein and infused with Grammy Award-winning music by pop star Cyndi Lauper.

It follows Charlie Price, an aspiring businessman who has to give up his big-city dreams and status-conscious fiancée, Nicola, to save the family’s shoe factory in Northern England. Inspired by an accidental run-in with a cabaret drag queen, Charlie and the lovable Lola retool and resuscitate the factory — and their lives — by making high-end, high-heeled boots for men who identify or like to dress as women.

And, of course, Kinky Boots is about so much more.

In an interview with “We have witnessed attitudes towards gender Broadwayworld.com, Jerry non-conformity start to change in ways we Mitchell, the show’s original couldn’t have begun to imagine in 2012.” director and choreographer, noted that “the very first Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots Broadway Director performance of this show was one of those magical nights when the material connects with its audiences in exactly the way you hope for. And in the years since, we have witnessed attitudes towards gender non-conformity start to change in ways we couldn’t have begun to imagine in 2012,” when the show premiered in Chicago before opening on Broadway in 2013.

“Some things are too strange and strong to be coincidences.”― Emery Allen, author On stage for those first Chicago and New York City performances was Music Theatre alum Kyle Post ’07 playing one of Lola’s cabaret colleagues collectively referred to as Angels. Prior to Kinky Boots, Kyle made his Broadway debut in Rent, followed by Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

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As do so many BW graduates, Kyle credits program head Victoria Bussert and the Music Theatre faculty for teaching him how to be a theatre professional. “You can earn an audition and be more technically talented than anyone in the room,” he says, “but you have to learn to have the courage to actually show up as the unique person you are and be someone others want to work with.”

Which he did, staying with Kinky Boots for the duration of its 2,500-performance, seven-year Broadway run. This is a success story within itself, but what makes Kyle’s journey particularly intriguing and, yes, serendipitous, is that he would be only the first of several BW graduates to walk those same boards in thigh-high boots with 6-inch stiletto heels. In fact, on closing night of the production, Kyle shared the applause with Corey Mach ’10 on stage and Ryan Fielding Garrett ’12 in the pit.

In 2014, Ryan was music directing an Off-Broadway show when the music supervisor of Kinky Boots came to see it. “I got on his radar and was invited to be the associate music director and then the music director on the first national tour of the show,” Ryan says. “I then moved into the associate music director role for the final year and a half of the Broadway run.”

He attributes the tenacity required to perform the show for over five years and his ability to do so consistently for nearly 1,700 performances to the discipline and strong work ethic he acquired while at BW. The energy to do so came directly from the show itself and the audience’s response.

Ryan recalls a particularly snowy night in Des Moines with an exhausted touring company performing after a two-show day. “Midway through a particularly moving production number, the audience started standing and dancing, and all of us on stage and in the pit felt this brilliant wave of positive energy and were re-energized. Many of us started to tear up! It was a great reminder of how important theatre can be and how this production can positively affect so many people, which is something else I learned at BW.”

Kyle Post ’07 in Kinky Boots on Broadway

Also on stage that cold night in Des Moines was Patty Lohr ’08, who spent her first year on the national tour as a swing — a performer who steps into a variety of roles whenever a cast member is unable to perform — and a second year playing Pat, the office manager in the shoe factory. “Being a swing is supremely difficult, and it takes a sharp eye, intense focus and limitless energy to excel at it,” says Lohr, who credits BW for fine-tuning those skills and teaching her that “there is no room for laziness.”

“Vital lives are about action. You can’t know serendipity unless you risk.” ― Joan Mowat Erickson, author She also learned that it was sometimes a good thing to break rules, which she did during her Kinky Boots call-back audition.

Realizing that the show’s team had been listening to the same high-belt song cuts all day long, performed with little variation, she invited the reader assigned to toss her dialogue during the audition — “who we are taught never to touch or get too close to” — to dance with her while she sang. Which he did. “Apparently, Jerry [the director] loves risk takers.”

Patty would go on to share the road and the stage with Zach Adkins ’15, who joined the first national tour just three months after graduating from college and played Richard Bailey, Nicola’s boss, as well as Jennifer Noble ’10, who understudied for Nicola.

Prior to the Broadway production’s closing night on April 7, 2019, Corey Mach — who had previously appeared on Broadway in Wicked and Rent – had been with Kinky Boots for a year, understudying for Charlie and playing Harry, Charlie’s friend and fellow shoe salesman. “But there is nothing like closing out a long-running show,” he says, adding that the audience that night was packed with the show’s producers, former cast members — “many who took a night off from their current Broadway shows to be there” — and returning audience members who adored the show. “It was a love fest.”

The experience was particularly sweet because Corey had auditioned for the show 11 times.

“Serendipity is not the product of patience; it’s the product of action.” ― Audrey Moralez, renowned motivational speaker He notes that perseverance is one of the things he took away from his education, that and being able to learn music quickly thanks to four years of daily training. And, he adds, the BW New York City senior showcase proved invaluable because he was invited to the Wicked audition the day after the showcase by the show’s casting director, who had been in attendance. “I never would have gotten in the room with the Kinky Boots people if not for that.”

Corey’s Kinky Boots journey was also bittersweet, for he joined the Broadway cast the day after fellow BW alum and Strongsville High School buddy/carpooler Shannon O’Boyle ’12 left the production.

Shannon had been playing Nicola for a year and a half. During her run, she played opposite 10 different Charlies, each with his own unique connection to the role and to Nicola. “Throughout my time in the BW music theatre program, Vicky Bussert constantly brought us back to the text of a play, to the storytelling,” Shannon says.

“What’s beautiful about music theatre is that you are given so many ways to communicate — song, dance, dialogue — but it always comes down to the story you’re telling.” No matter the Charlie, she notes, “the show always felt immediate and sincere because we two people found each other and lost each other in the story each night.”

When Vicky was asked whether she thought cosmic forces were at work when it came to the relationship between Kinky Boots and her former students, she admits that “there is no question that in the world of professional music theatre, being in the right place at the right time plays into casting and other opportunities.” But she is quick to add that “training and preparation are equally important.”

And when asked whether serendipity was in play when BW was granted the rights to Kinky Boots’ first collegiate production, which is introducing the next generation of performers to the musical, she is confident that having the BW music theatre program recognized by OnStage Magazine as the top-rated undergraduate program in the country “must have had something to do with it.” That and having Kyle Post — now performing as an unofficial guardian Angel of sorts — championing the cause to Kinky Boots’ powers-that-be.

“Sometimes serendipity is just intention unmasked.” ― Elizabeth Berg, New York Times bestselling author

No matter how you describe it, serendipity is what you call it and BW’s first ever collegiate production of the hit musical, is a case study.

The BW Music Theatre program has been recognized by OnStage Magazine as the #1 Bachelor of Music, Music Theatre program in the country.

That must have had something to do with it.

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FROM BWMT TO BROADWAY

The ranks of BW’s Music Theatre graduates who have found the spotlight on Broadway and beyond.

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About those Boots...

DESIGNING HEART AND SOLE You might think a production title like Kinky Boots would put a lot of pressure on a costume designer. But for Charlotte Yetman, Professor of Theatre and Dance, the focus isn’t as much on how great the boots look as on how well they, and the rest of the costumes, fit the story.

“I’m a storyteller,” she says. “I’ve been a storyteller my whole life. As a designer, my job is to create costumes that tell the same story that the playwright and director are trying to tell.

This show has a very specific story of acceptance and growth, and that’s what we’re trying to support.”

To do so, Professor Yetman, her professional team and “a fantastic group of students, real collaborators who work very hard” are producing 40 pairs of women’s boots and 30 pairs of high heels to be worn by a mostly male cast.

The production, based on a real-life experience, is about a shoe factory owner (Charlie) partnering with a drag queen (Lola) to create a line of fabulous, high-heeled boots for Lola and her entourage of dancers (the Angels).

CAPTURING THE INNER DIVA Yetman set out to create something new rather than replicating what was done for the Broadway show, which was set in England. Instead, she based the Angels’ costumes and footwear on those of American celebrity divas: Cher, Beyoncé, Dolly Parton, Liza Minnelli, Madonna and Jennifer Lopez, with an additional outfit for a “swing” player modeled on Lady Gaga’s attire. “I did a lot of research into their personal dressing and stage habits,” she says.

The production maximizes the performance opportunities for students by doubling some of the leads. For instance, the part of Lola is double-cast, with each actor playing on different nights.

This also means that instead of five pairs of boots, the role of Lola requires 10.

A big challenge for Professor Yetman was creating Broadwaystyle footwear on a collegiate budget. Rather than the custommade, $3,000-per-pair boots of the Broadway production, all of the boots and shoes in BW’s show are by a company named Pleaser. A local shoe repair business, The Italian Cobbler, adds rubber soles and adjusts the fit as needed. Initially, all the boots are white, and the costume shop paints or dyes them to match the outfits, adding sequins and other embellishments.

All of this fancy footwear may have a life beyond BW’s production, Yetman says. “We’re the first school to do this show, and other schools might contact us to rent the costumes.”

STANDING TALL The cast also has black boots for rehearsals, which, like the shoes in the production, have 6-inch heels. Because of their platform construction, they feel more like 4-inch heels, Yetman says. But they are heels, nonetheless, and generally unfamiliar to the male actors.

“Even in fittings, the actors all of a sudden become the characters,” she says. “Costumes make the actor stand and walk differently. Some are wearing garments similar to corsets.

A lot of guys have never worn a corset or had the weight and space of a bust, which changes their center of gravity. It changes everything about them. Some will be wearing wigs — all the Angels and Lolas — with hidden mic packs. It’s a lot to deal with. I’ve heard guys who did drag on the stage say it’s the hardest thing they ever did.”

BW alumnus Kyle Post, who performed in Kinky Boots on Broadway, shared with Andrea Simakis for The Plain Dealer: “The hardest part of walking/dancing in heels is the coordination it takes. You’re using lots of small muscles all over your body that you don’t normally use, so it takes an adjustment to condition them. Ever seen a newborn giraffe learn how to walk? That’s pretty much how it felt for a while there.”

Ultimately, the whole cast will be dancing in their kinky boots and shoes. When they do, Yetman says, “I hope that it’s a really bright scene and does what the play wants it to do and that the audience realizes people are people, and we need to be more accepting.”

“This is about a young man who owns a factory and is a little short-sighted and prejudiced. He’s exposed to a different way of living, a different lifestyle and a person who is different, and he learns a lot from that relationship. It’s a play about being who you want to be. It celebrates differences and the wonderful magic in all of us.”

10 Kinky Boots renderings by Charlotte Yetman, BW Costume Design Program Coordinator and Professor of Theatre

South Pacific

Cleveland Orchestra, BW students bask in warmth of ‘South Pacific’ at Blossom CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – The Cleveland Orchestra’s collaborative family and artistic purview expanded a great deal Saturday.

With its concert production of “South Pacific,” the orchestra found a worthy friend in Baldwin Wallace University and reminded a jam-packed Blossom Music Center of its prowess in musical theater.

Indeed, after they put on a meaningful, thoroughly entertaining adaptation that could have graced almost any stage, it’s safe to say the orchestra and BW ought to be working together regularly. A Broadway show ought to be on the calendar yearly and BW ought to be the go-to partner.

This was no typical, stand-and-sing concert production. There may not have been sets or props but there were delightful costumes and plenty of theatrical movement about the stage.

With the orchestra in the middle and a row of microphones up front, the cast was free to roam and sing at will. If only the actors hadn’t also toted their music in hand.

The bill couldn’t have been much stronger, either. The BW music theatre program, directed by Victoria Bussert, is one of the best of its kind, stocked with top young talent. On top of that, this show boasted veteran Broadway conductor

Posted Aug 26, 2019

By Zachary Lewis, The Plain Dealer reprinted with permission

Andy Einhorn, and an orchestra that may not specialize in showtunes but certainly knows its way around classic Rodgers & Hammerstein, as its snazzy performance of the overture and spirited accompaniment made clear.

The line between student and professional actors in the cast was blurry at best. Student Kailey Boyle was a flat-out joy to behold as Nellie Forbush, every bit the equal of Elliot Madore, the professional baritone who sang Emile de Becque.

So bright and perky was her voice, so complete was her comfort in the lead role, Boyle could have convinced anyone she was a Broadway star, not a senior at a small school in Berea. Singing “Honey Bun” and washing that man right out-a her hair, she had the whole of Blossom wrapped around her little finger, much like the flock of nurses under her character’s command.

Madore was no less of a treat. A voice familiar from the orchestra’s 2016 production of “Pelleas et Melisande,” the baritone brought to “South Pacific” a debonair presence and rich, honeyed instrument.

When he sang “Some Enchanted Evening” and “This Nearly Was Mine,” one sensed not only the beauty of the tunes but also a certain electricity in the air.

Boyle wasn’t the only student in the spotlight, or the only one to thrive in it. BW junior Gordia Hayes was a natural fit for Billis,

South Pacific

Backstage at “South Pacific,” left to right, Andy Einhorn (conductor), Broadway’s Ryan Silverman (Lt. Cable,) Loretta Ables Sayre (Professional soprano, Bloody Mary,) Victoria Bussert (BW music theatre director,) Hanako Walrath (BW freshman, Liat,) Elliot Madore (professional baritone, Emile de Becque,) Kailey Boyle (MT senior, Nellie Forbush) and Gordia Hayes (BW junior, Billis). photos by Roger Mastroianni singing with abundant energy and panache, and freshman Hanako Walrath was fully sympathetic as Liat. The (music theatre majors) nurses and sailors also made their mark, pushing numbers like “There is Nothing Like a Dame,” “Dance,” and “A Wonderful Guy” up to but not quite over the top.

Two other experienced professionals gave the show its gravitas. Loretta Ables Sayre captured the allure of Bali Ha’i and the sting of cruel rejection as Bloody Mary, while Ryan

Silverman, as Lieutenant Cable, poignantly reminded everyone with his light, mellow voice that racism is a cultivated practice, not an instinctive one.

Talk about an enchanted evening. Saturday night may have been chilly, obliging lawn and pavilion patrons alike to bundle up, but for this “South Pacific,” this listener, like most others, felt nothing but warmth.

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CONSERVATORY of MUSIC

ALUMNI SUCCESS

MUSIC EDUCATION ALUMNA LEADS CHOIR PROGRAM IN ELYRIA

Kalee Bondzio ’14 leads the choir program at Elyria High School which has grown significantly in enrollment. Kalee’s vision has created opportunities for her students to showcase their musical skills in concerts, community events, seven fully staged musical productions and statelevel choral competitions. Kalee also is co-presenting a session at the 2020 OMEA Professional Development Conference with the BW Music Education faculty.

MUSIC HISTORY & LITERATURE ALUMNA PUBLISHES IN PRESTIGIOUS JOURNAL

Dr. Kira Thurman ’06, Assistant Professor of History and Germanic Language and Literature at the University of Michigan, has a year-long sabbatical at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, where she is working on a book on the history of black musicians in Germany and Austria since the mid-19th century. Her article, “Singing Lieder, Hearing Race: Debating Blackness, Whiteness, and German Identity in Interwar Central Europe,” is scheduled to appear this fall in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, the most prestigious journal of musicology.

BW CONSERVATORY GRAD IS PRINCIPAL CELLIST IN COLORADO Faith Rohde ’19, won the Principal Cellist position for the Longmont Symphony Orchestra in Longmont, Colorado, where she has the opportunity to engage in community outreach programs.

ALUMNUS NAMED PRESIDENT OF BERKSHIRE CHORAL INTERNATIONAL

Steve Smith ’86 has been named President of Berkshire Choral International. Prior to this appointment, Steve served as the Executive Director of Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus. He also was the Executive Director of Boston Gay Men’s Chorus. In addition to his Bachelor of Arts degree in music/arts management from BW, Steve completed the Executive Education Program from the Harvard University Kennedy School, a Strategic Leadership Seminar from National Arts Strategies, and an American Symphony Orchestra League Training Program. Emphasizing his leadership skills in the arts and culture sector, Steve has been on the board of directors for Arts Boston, Greater Boston Choral Consortium and GALA Choruses.

ARTS MANAGEMENT ALUMNUS DIRECTS DEVELOPMENT AT NEAR WEST THEATRE

Brendan Reynolds ’08 now serves as Director of Development at Near West Theatre in Cleveland. Reynolds previously held development roles at the Cleveland Zoological Society, Kent State University and Holden Forest & Gardens. He was a founding member of both BW’s Arts Management Association student group and the BW Arts Management Alumni Network. In addition, Reynolds has volunteered on the development committee of Beck Center for the Arts and as an annual fund class representative for BW.

ALUM FUNDED FOR COMPETITIVE DOCTORATE IN MUSICOLOGY

Chase Castle ’19, who received his Bachelor of Music degree in Keyboard Performance and Music History & Literature, is fully funded for the doctorate program in Musicology at the University of Pennsylvania. This is a competitive Ivy League program. Chase serves as Director of Music at First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS ENSEMBLE PERFORMS WORK BY ALUMNUS

Nabil Abad ’19 is in his first year as a MM in Composition student at the University of Texas at Austin. He recently had his work “Discord” performed by the University of Texas Wind Ensemble, conducted by Jerry Junkin. The work was composed and premiered at BW and is published by Murphy Music Press.

ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR HAS FULL SCHEDULE IN KANSAS CITY

Jason Seber ’98 is the Associate Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony, conducting more than 70 concerts each season. Prior to his appointment, Jason served as the Education and Outreach Conductor of the Louisville Orchestra, and as assistant conductor of the Cleveland Pops Orchestra and the National Repertory Orchestra. Jason has collaborated with artists including Boyz II Men, Jinjoo Cho, Melissa Etheridge, Ben Folds, Brian Stokes Mitchell, My Morning Jacket, Aoife O’Donovan, Doc Severinsen, Conrad Tao, Bobby Watson and Joyce Yang.

RECENT GRAD DIRECTS EDUCATION, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FOR CANTON SYMPHONY

Rachel Hagemeier ’19 was appointed Director of Education and Community Engagement for the Canton Symphony Orchestra within days of graduating with a double major in Bassoon Performance and Arts Management & Entrepreneurship. In addition, she was selected by the League of American Orchestras to participate in the prestigious Essentials of Orchestra Management seminar at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, where she was joined by BW arts management alumna Rachel Wilken ’16. Only 35 emerging arts leaders from across the U.S. were invited to participate in this program.

MUSIC THERAPY ALUMNA HELPS CHILDREN, FAMILIES IN WISCONSIN

Samantha Sinai ’12, developed and directs a Music Therapy program at the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, that helps children and their families cope with difficult circumstances. The community has responded with support in the form of grants, news coverage, individual contributions and donated instruments.

CONSERVATORY GRAD’S BUSY CAREER INCLUDES FALL PERFORMANCE OF EVITA IN NYC

Brian Taylor ’98 is busy as freelance pianist and conductor in New York City, recently playing for various Broadway productions (such as Disney’s Aladdin) and NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live. His career has come full circle with the musical Cats, having begun as keyboardist on tour in 2001; serving as Associate Conductor for the Broadway revival in 2016; and now, as Associate Musical Supervisor for the current North American tour. This fall, he will be heard in New York City Center’s gala performances of Evita. He writes about NYC’s classical music scene at www.cadenza.nyc.

MUSIC THEATRE ALUMNA TO CONDUCT WAITRESS ON TOUR Alyssa Kay Thompson ’17, Music Supervisor at Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts in Warsaw, Indiana, will conduct the upcoming leg of Waitress on tour. She says she feels lucky to be able to inspire other aspiring female musicians with this story of empowerment.

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50

CELEBRATING RBI 50th and events

years

THE RIEMENSCHNEIDER

This year the Riemenschneider Bach Institute (RBI) and BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute celebrate their golden anniversary.

Each anniversary event connects Bach to another strand of music history — music of the world, his predecessors, his admirers in the Romantic period, innovative research in computer science and music, and much more.

BACH INSTITUTE

BACH & HIS CHAMPIONS

Saturday, Nov. 23, 7 p.m.

Julian Ross, violin, and Robert Mayerovitch, piano Kulas Musical Arts Building

BACH & THE GLOBAL SARABANDE

Join our year-long celebration of exhibits, lectures and concerts!

Friday, Jan. 31, 7 p.m.

AfricaWest Percussion Trio Kulas Musical Arts Building

BACH & COMPUTING

Thursday, March 26, 3 p.m.

Faculty and students Boesel Musical Arts Center

BACH & BEFORE

Saturday, March 28, 3 p.m.

Nicole Keller, organ; Sean Gabriel, flute Boesel Musical Arts Center

BACH & THE SCHUMANNS Sunday, April 5, 6 p.m.

Tracy Grady, soprano Kulas Musical Arts Building

BACH & RHETORIC

2019-2020

Monday, April 6, 3 p.m.

Charles Young, Conservatory Associate Dean

BW BACH FESTIVAL

Friday-Sunday, April 24-26 Various locations

For a private tour of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute or for more information, call 440-826-8074 or e-mail Paul Cary at pcary@bw.edu.

Visit bw.edu/BachInstitute50 to make a donation or learn more.

Past, Present and Future

Riemenschneider Bach Institute Inspires Students to Create For Today and Beyond

Our goal is to engage students and give them the opportunity to work with tangible artifacts of our musical past.

Over the summer, the RBI received a generous anonymous donation and a bequest from the estate of Dorinda Hawk ’58.

This has allowed us to launch an ambitious expansion of our RBI Scholars Program, which features the RBI Educator in partnership with the Community Arts School (CAS), and the Evelyn A. Gott Scholarship, supported by Lloyd and Grace Goettler.

NEW SCHOLARSHIPS CREATE OPPORTUNITY With the recent philanthropic support, we now can significantly increase the number of RBI scholars. We envision student composers writing works inspired by the RBI, student performers preparing lecture recitals based on the RBI’s scores, student arts administrators developing campaigns to highlight the RBI, student scholars delivering lectures about the RBI’s holdings and much more.

This year, we are proud to support Rachel Fogle ’21 as our Evelyn A. Gott Scholar and Dylan Sanzenbacher ’20 as our RBI Educator. Fogle, a double major in Music History and Piano Performance, will be researching the early editions of Beethoven piano sonatas and will present a lecture recital at the Bach Festival on April 24–26, 2020. Fogle says that she is “thrilled to be able to work with enthusiastic faculty advisors and educational sources.”

Sanzenbacher, a Music Education major who will pursue harpsichord performance in graduate school, will present exhibits and demonstrations on BW’s historical keyboard instruments and the RBI’s collection of keyboard music. “I am very excited to be working as the inaugural RBI Educator,” Sanzenbacher says. “This award will allow me to unite the RBI and the CAS programs through my personal interest in early keyboard instruments.”

SHARING RESOURCES WITH ALL STUDENTS The RBI welcomes all students of all ages. We have taught classes for the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, the Hawken School and Cleveland State University. Graduate students travel

from around the world to conduct dissertation research, the American Bach Society’s Frances Alford Brokaw grant brings undergraduates from other institutions, and visiting scholars — such as our Martha Goldsworthy Arnold Fellows — teach classes and give lectures.

EXPERIENCES THAT MAKE AN IMPACT Student experiences in the RBI are transformative. Chase Castle ’19, a double major in Music History and Keyboard Performance, says, “I credit the RBI for sparking my love for research. Without the opportunities of preparing exhibits, weeding through resources, and simply being present for visiting scholars and classes, I do not think that I would have such a love for primary sources and an understanding of how to care for rare books.”

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19

& 50

CELEBRATING RBI 50th and events

years

THE RIEMENSCHNEIDER BACH INSTITUTE

how do you RBI

#HowDoYou RBI? ALL ARE WELCOME

Find your inspiration, aha moment, or discover your love for where it all began—in the Riemenschneider Bach Institute (RBI).

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary, we ask, “How do you RBI?” •

Students from the Hawken School honed their understanding of music history with scores from Medieval times to the present.

•

The class of 1969 revived memories and renewed connections looking through programs and pictures of Bach Festivals past.

Amy Crist, paper conservator at the Cleveland Museum of Art, repaired the RBI’s precious Bach autograph manuscripts using handmade Japanese paper.

•

Dr. Danielle Kuntz, RBI Scholar-in-Residence, brought her music history class face-to-face with the fascinating history of music printing.

•

Alyssa Yoshitake traveled from the University of Cincinnati Conservatory as the American Bach Society’s Frances Alfred Brokaw Grant winner and discovered jaw-dropping 19thcentury arrangements of Bach’s cello suites.

•

•

Dr. Stephen Crist from Emory University received a Martha Goldsworthy Arnold Fellowship to investigate if a piece by Johann Philipp Bach might be the latest surviving piece written by a member of the Bach family.

Dr. Christina Fuhrmann, editor of BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, and Dylan Sanzenbacher ’20, shocked their audience with a lecture recital that revealed how 19th century listeners heard Bach’s famous C Major Prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier.

•

Lindsay Rader ’19, Evelyn A. Gott Scholar, discovered Richard Strauss scores with markings so rare that the editors of the Strauss collected works edition wanted to know more about her work.

•

Destinee Siebe ’19 used her Summer Scholar award to highlight the unsung female heroes of the RBI.

•

Conservatory Librarian Paul Cary presented an exhibit on The Beggar’s Opera that wowed the cast of BW’s production of the updated version—The Threepenny Opera—and went on the road to Bowling Green State University.

•

h

Dirk Garner, Festival Director

The Bach Festival is a special event not only for Baldwin Wallace University, but also as a point of pride for Cleveland. As such, I always wanted the Festival to be part of the cultural life of Northeast Ohio. This year, for the first time, we are moving the major work and other “Bach Week” programming off campus.

We are honored to feature our incredible Cleveland Orchestra faculty members at the internationally renowned Cleveland Museum of Art. Likewise, the Maltz Performing Arts Center is one of the most important performance venues in the city.

Westminster Choir College is the hub for choral music and conductor education in the United States and is one of the esteemed centers of choral music in the world. Their conductor, Dr. Joe Miller, is among the most influential choral conductors working today. We are honored to have our BW students perform side-by-side with the students of Westminster and learn from one of the great pedagogues of our time.

88th Annual

Bach Festival

Featuring J. S. Bach: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 232

Friday, April 24, 2020 7 p.m., Gamble Auditorium BWV: Cleveland’s Bach Choir performs the premiere of the composition by the Riemenschneider Bach Institute 50th Anniversary Commission Contest winner, Dr. James Primosch. A special program of Bach’s music will accompany this new work.

Saturday, April 25, 2020 2 p.m., Cleveland Museum of Art* An afternoon of chamber music with BW faculty/Cleveland

The Westminster Choir, Maltz Performing Arts Center and Riemenschneider Bach Institute 50th Anniversary Commission Contest winner, Dr. James Primosch

Orchestra members including Daniel McKelway, Lembi Veskimets, Charles Carleton and Factory Seconds (Jack Sutte, Jesse McCormick and Rick Stout).

7 p.m., Maltz Performing Arts Center* Featuring Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, performed by the BW Motet Choir and Festival Orchestra with the Westminster Choir, conducted by Dr. Joe Miller, director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College.

Setting the standard for choral excellence, the Westminster Choir has been hailed by audiences and critics alike for its creative programming and ability to deeply engage listeners. It has been the chorus-in-residence for the prestigious Spoleto Festival USA since 1977. *Transportation to University Circle is available from the BW campus for the Bach Festival.

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OPERA

BREAKING NEW GROUND

by Mark Satola

New BW Opera season brings alternative spaces and powerful women Four operas instead of two — that’s not all that’s new this year for Baldwin Wallace University’s 2019-2020 opera season.

Scott Skiba, Director of Opera Studies at the BW Conservatory of Music, is looking to drive BW’s productions in new directions, including alternative performing spaces, creative arrangements, synergy with area institutions and a direct involvement with the creation of new opera in the 21st century.

“It’s something that I tried to get going when I came back to BW,” says Skiba, who previously taught here from 2007 to 2010.

“The Voice Department had put together a really strong plan for the Voice Performance program, and part of that charge was to take performances off campus and into the Greater Cleveland community.”

As for an overarching theme? “Women in power,” says Skiba, who is overseeing a season of female-dominated chamber operas.

OPERA IN A WAREHOUSE The season got underway with Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas on October 23 & 24 in Red Space, a warehouse on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland directed

by Kathryn Frady, Executive Director of Marble City Opera in Knoxville. “An

opera about a powerful woman, directed by a powerful woman in opera,” says Skiba.

“Hotcards has their World Headquarters at Superior and 24th, and there’s also a raw warehouse venue [Red Space],” Skiba says. After previous performances in Cleveland’s East 4th Street District and Maltz Performing Arts Center in University Circle, BW Opera mounted a production in this unlikely space, staged by guest artist Dugg McDonough, Artistic Director of LSU opera and renowned opera director, and it turned out to be a noteworthy success.”

“We produced the Midwest premiere of Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied,” Skiba says. “It was the first opera staged in Red Space.

So I reached out and said, ‘Let’s do it again. Let’s see what we can create there,’ and Red Space agreed to sponsor this production.”

Skiba serves as Executive Artistic Director of Cleveland Opera Theater, whose mission includes advancing opera with contemporary approaches, reimagined productions and performances in nontraditional venues.

The company’s 2016 presentation of the world premiere adaptation of George Frideric Handel’s 1738 opera Serse is an example of programming that was designed to be accessible to wider audiences. A collaboration with BW Opera and guest stage director and conductor Timothy Nelson, it was performed at The Arcade Cleveland, which was America’s inaugural indoor shopping center when it opened in 1890 and is now home to the Hyatt Regency.

Top: BW Opera production Glory Denied at Red Space last fall.

Bottom row (l to r): An image from the 2016 world-premiere adaptation of Händel’s opera Serse, co-produced with Cleveland Opera Theater, for which Skiba is executiveartistic director; An image from Dido and Aeneas; Serse at the historic Arcade in downtown Cleveland.

GHOSTS OF GATSBY AND MORE In January, when BW hosts the National Opera Association’s annual conference (2020 held in Cleveland) BW Voice Performance will present The Ghosts of Gatsby by Evan Mack and Joshua McGuire. BW Opera will present the one-act opera The Ghosts of Gatsby by Evan Mack at the Music Box Supper Club on January 10 and 12 with funding support from NOA to produce Gatsby.

“It grapples with the emotional struggles and psychological impact of Zelda Sayre’s tumultuous marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald,” Skiba says.

One reason for the additional operas this season is that this is the third year in a three-year cycle of the NOA Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition. “So,” Skiba says, “as host institution, BW has the exciting opportunity to produce the winning chamber opera [Gatsby] as part of the 2020 conference.”

Gatsby also launches Cleveland Opera Theater’s 2020 {NOW} Festival promoting new conceptions of opera, from alternative venues to micro-operas.

A different process is in place for BW’s third opera production, The House of Bernarda Alba (January 17 and 19 in BW’s Fynette Kulas Hall), with music by Griffin Candey and libretto by OBIE Award-Winning Playwright, Caridad Svich. Based on GarciaLorca’s searing tragedy about a controlling Matriarch and her daughters, this new opera will feature BW Voice Faculty and students in the World-Premiere production.

“I hope it becomes more usual, more of a vehicle for composers and librettists to develop their work with audience feedback and the chance to see and hear the work developed through a multi-year process so that it’s not created in a vacuum,” Skiba says.

Audiences were invited to the workshops and contributed their own input, he says. “Folks have been with us from the beginning, and are able to comment and participate in the development of the opera, and experience its world-premiere performance.”

Intimacy and Power The final production of BW’s season is an adaptation of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. “It’ll be different from the Peter Brook Impressions of Pelléas, but it will be similar in terms of length and in the way that we’re zoomed in on the interactions.”

Making the drama more intimate will be enhanced by staging it in BW’s Kleist Center for Art & Drama, in the Black Box Theatre.

In keeping with the overarching theme of women in power, Skiba notes that Pelléas et Mélisande “is the thing on which Golaud and Pelléas break themselves.”

BW is committed to facilitating the emergence of new opera and new ways to present opera. “We want to do new work in addition to standard repertoire, and we want to present in traditional and alternative venues in engaging ways. In this model, BW Voice Performance students have the opportunity to prepare for the real world by performing in a variety of venues-a raw warehouse space, a supper club, a black box theater to a proscenium theater.

For more information, go to bw.edu/events.

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STUDENT CENTERED BW MUSIC EDUCATION

Music Education is the second largest concentration in the BW Conservatory with 78 majors. A cornerstone of our mission, it extends to 4,000 community members through the Community Arts School.

We take the business of music education most seriously, and are pleased to introduce three extraordinary and highly experienced champions of music education to our faculty.

David Pope clearly remembers facing his first class as a professional music educator.“You don’t know what you don’t know when you walk into your first classroom,” says Professor Pope, the new Chair of Music Education. “Even if you’re prepared and you have all the skill sets, you have to figure out how to get the students to buy into you. That’s a really hard task. But it’s so much fun.”

“Music education is the heart of the BW Conservatory.”

Andrew Machamer and Michelle Wank, also new to BW’s Music Education faculty this year, were equally nervous in their first days at the front of their own classrooms.

“It’s like swimming,” Professor Machamer says. “You can watch

somebody do it, but when you’re in the deep end yourself, it’s a completely different experience.”

Skilled, Empathetic and Resilient All three faculty members understand that being an effective teacher takes more than skill. It also takes empathy and resilience.

You have to be willing to adapt what you’ve learned to the situation at hand, Professor Wank says. “What is best for students in town Y is going to be different from what is best for students in town Z. It’s important for you to have a belief system but know that your beliefs may need to shift to fit the needs of the students you work with every day.”

That students-first approach is key to the professors’ teaching philosophy. Through rigorous training, their Music Education majors can reach their artistic and teaching potential while also developing as individuals who care about others.

“The role of music teachers is critical.

The language of music provides youngsters with a valuable skillset for life. Developing both creative and critical thinking is the joyful work of music educators in our nation’s schools.” — Dean Van Vorst

“I tell my students, ‘Work hard and be a good person,’” Professor Pope says.

“If they do that, they’re going to have so many positive experiences that everything will take care of itself.”

DAVID POPE

Getting Out into the Community

“My motto is once you get the keys to the castle, let everybody else in.

One of my professors told me that.

When you get to where you want to go, figure out how to let others be successful.”

The students experience teaching in area schools and through BW’s Community Arts School (CAS) is extensive. “Every time they teach, they videotape it and have a one-on-one feed-back session,” Professor Machamer says. “It’s painful to watch your teaching video, to listen to your voice. But it makes you a better person for doing it. It makes you a better teacher.”

The faculty members support music education in the community by bringing classes of younger students to BW. “I have a local middle school choir coming this month to work with students in my Choral Music Methods course,” Professor Wank says. “My students will be working with the middle school students in small groups, and then we’ll come together and have a rehearsal that I will run with their director. Bringing those students to campus gives them a little taste of what they can do here, and we’ll use CAS to help support that.”

Music Education’s demanding curriculum is delivered in what Professor Pope and his colleagues describe as a “culture of kindness,” in which professors support their students, and students are encouraged to be kind to one another. It is hoped that students will replicate this collaboration and inclusivity as they build their own teaching careers.

Adds Professor Pope: “I think that the three of us would agree there’s a sense of community in the program. The students support each other. They go out of their way to help each other. That doesn’t happen everywhere.”

“The students here are very special,” Professor Machamer says. “They’re hungry to learn, enthusiastic about their future careers. We want them to feel successful and have the tools that they need when they get that first job.”

Chair, Professional Studies Department Associate Professor of Music Education Ph.D., Florida State University

MICHELLE WANK

Associate Professor of Choral Music Education M.M. Ed., The University of Michigan

“It’s important to model kindness and show students that’s the way to proceed in their careers. I’m a graduate of this program and am appreciative of how it shaped me.

I want to carry on the tradition of excellence and keep it moving forward.”

ANDREW MACHAMER

Assistant Professor of Music Education D.M.A., University of Minnesota

“Making music is more than the notes on the page. There’s the communitybuilding aspect and being a part of a greater whole. When a teacher is supportive and encourages students to be kind to one another, the musicmaking experience is better.”

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25

Take Note

BW Conservatory of Music Welcomes New Faculty

GABRIEL PIQUÉ

Gabriel Piqué joins the Conservatory faculty as Assistant Professor of Saxophone & Jazz Studies.

and the University of Georgia.

A Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the University of Illinois, Piqué holds degrees in Saxophone Performance from the Eastman School of Music

Piqué was named a Presser Scholar and is a recipient of Eastman’s prestigious Performer’s Certificate. He has studied jazz saxophone with Dave D’Angelo of the Buddy Rich Orchestra and Ron Bridgewater of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. His classical teachers include Debra Richtmeyer, Chien-Kwan Lin and Connie Frigo. Piqué is a Vandoren Artist.

As a soloist and active performer, Piqué has presented concerts all over the world, including in Las Vegas, Croatia, Moscow, Strasbourg, Beijing, Shanghai and Thailand. In 2016, he was named first-prize winner of the North American Saxophone Alliance Solo Competition. He is the baritone saxophonist of the award-winning Fuego Quartet, which was the gold

BRYAN REICHERT

medal winner of the 2017 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the 2017 Plowman Chamber Music Competition. Fuego Quartet recently released its debut album, “Migration,” through the Parma Recordings label. Piqué also plays alto in the critically acclaimed touring saxophone sextet The Moanin’ Frogs. In 2018, he established the University of Illinois Saxophone Ensemble. As Director, he has arranged and premiered numerous original transcriptions for large saxophone ensembles at the North American Saxophone Alliance regional conference.

Why do you enjoy teaching music?

“I love how rewarding teaching music is for both the student and the teacher. An experienced student was having trouble with a task. By the end of the lesson, with a lot of effort, he was able to sound like he had never sounded before, unlocking a new dimension to his playing. The expression on this student’s face was priceless as he reacted to his own sound, and he has continued taking what we learned in that lesson and applying it to all aspects of his playing. I love looking for those breakthrough moments, not knowing when one will appear.”

Is there anything else you’d like people to know about you?

“I enjoy spicy food and am a big fan of Star Wars.”

The new lecturer in guitar in the Conservatory of Music, Bryan Reichert also is a private lesson instructor in the BW Community Arts School.

An active performing artist, Reichert regularly appears at diverse venues across Northeast Ohio. In addition to teaching and performing, he previously served for three years as the Director of Operations for the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society, a nonprofit organization offering both educational and concert programming.

Reichert received his Master of Music in Guitar Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux. He earned his Bachelor of Music in Guitar Performance from Baldwin Wallace, where he studied with Jorge Amaral and Loris Chobanian.

Why do you enjoy teaching music?

“I love helping students find pathways toward reaching their goals. It’s so rewarding to see students’ progress and achieve as we work together.”

Reichert’s role at BW includes serving as the Conservatory Studio Guitar Teacher, instructor of both beginning and intermediate guitar classes, and instructor of guitar, mandolin, banjo and electric bass through the Community Arts School.

Please describe a favorite moment in your career.

“I appreciate the opportunities I’ve had to meet some of my guitar/lute heroes. Top three: Sharon Isbin, Paul O’Dette, Manuel Barrueco.”

Is there anything else you’d like people to know about you?

“A few of my hobbies include camping, cooking and bike riding.”

A NEW DAY

FOR THE BW COMMUNITY ARTS SCHOOL

It’s a new day at Baldwin Wallace’s Community Arts School (CAS). New programs for learners of all ages — designed with the community and its families in mind — carry the unmistakable handprint of the renowned BW faculty.

“Our main focus is to develop and implement quality programming that is vetted by BW faculty and focused on excellence both in instruction and in the curriculum,” says Adam Sheldon, Director of CAS, which now serves more than 4,000 households.

The CAS faculty and staff have grown to meet expanding demand. New faculty in theatre, dance and visual arts bring the total roster to 84.

A new Associate Director, BW alumnus Cory Isler ’12, leads day-to-day operations. Isler holds a Bachelor of Music with an emphasis in Arts Management as well as an MBA from BW. SHELDON

“We have a dual mission,” Sheldon says. “We serve a broad base of community members and remain committed to ensuring access to quality arts education regardless of age or ability. At the same time, we give BW students the chance to have handson, real-life experiences through internships and teaching opportunities. It is what distinguishes many of our students as they seek employment.”

Field experiences have been offered to Music Education and Arts Management majors for over a decade. In 2010, the National Association for Schools of Music recognized this collaboration as a model throughout the nation. In the coming months, CAS intends to extend this programming to BW students in dance, theatre and visual art.

Other program offerings will evolve based on interests. To accommodate growing demand, CAS has already begun remodeling the newly acquired 7,000-square-foot satellite location at the Helwig WhistleStop Building, 611 Bagley Road in Berea. Three new dance floors; the new art studio and theatre classroom have new equipment; and renovation has begun on a black box theatre, which will host several CAS productions and rehearsals.

BW LEADING THE WAY NATIONALLY Sheldon has been appointed to co-lead the National Guild for Community Arts Education’s Divisional School Network Committee with Rachel Glodo, Assistant to the Dean, Yale School of Music. This group represents all Divisional Arts Schools across the United States, including the community divisions of the Hartt School of Music, Juilliard School, Peabody School of Music, DePaul University, Temple University, Oberlin Conservatory, Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, University of Michigan, Michigan State University and San Francisco Conservatory. He will form a steering committee to guide national discussion and host interactions between Divisional Arts Schools to examine ways to provide support in the current environment and to examine the responsibility of higher education institutions.

The National Guild for Community Arts Education is the leading voice in community-based arts education work across the nation.

BW’s voice on this board is significant for our region and the everdeepening artistic landscape of Northeast Ohio.

For information about future offerings, visit bw.edu/cas.

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‘Homegrown’ Musical Heads to Playhouse Square On June 21, 1964, in Neshoba County, Mississippi, three young men were abducted and murdered by Ku Klux Klan members.

James Chaney, 21, of Meridian, Mississippi, and New York City residents Andrew Goodman, 20, and Michael Schwerner, 24, were part of the Congress of Racial Equality’s “Freedom Summer” volunteer campaign that bused activists into Mississippi to attempt to register as many African-American voters as possible in the Jim Crow South.

Five decades later, Charlie H. Ray learned their story in his high school government class in Fort Worth, Texas, and was inspired to write a stage version. He continued working on the project after entering the Music Theatre program at Baldwin Wallace. In 2017, he felt ready to share it with others, including Sam Columbus ’19, who was then a junior in the program.

Freedom Summer, the result of their collaboration, will be staged with a cast of BW students April 3-5, 2020, at Playhouse Square.

Charlie now is a senior at BW; Sam lives and works in New York City. Here’s what they say about their project’s trajectory to the stage.

The 1988 big-budget film Mississippi Burning was loosely based on the violence surrounding civil rights in the summer of 1964. Charlie, why did you want to revisit these real-life events?

“I saw the movie and thought that it did not do the story any justice. I was upset that they had turned it into a cop-FBI drama instead of telling the story of the victims and the people on the front lines. I brought it into what I knew — musical theatre — and slowly started writing it over four or five years.

I finally got the courage to try it out on people.”

When you speak with heart, people listen.

Freedom Summer follows the activists’ crusade for equality as they navigate racism, corruption and violence in the Jim Crow south. As the quest for progress begins to take its toll, they’re forced to reckon with what it means to be an activist and the price one pays to rewrite history.

Sam, how did you get involved?

“Charlie asked me to do fuller orchestrations of tunes he had written for the show. We teamed up from then on.”

How do you describe your collaboration?

Sam: “I curate the sounds of the show — what makes Freedom Summer sound like Freedom Summer. Charlie was the one who had the impetus to write the show. While Charlie’s work on the show is what shapes the show narratively, my work mostly has been additive to what Charlie has done.”

Charlie: “I think Sam under-credits himself. I completely view us as equal collaborators. I sketch out a song. I am responsible for the frame. Sam is responsible for the songs that the people get, and that is an unbelievably important job.”

How did Playhouse Square come about?

Charlie: “We’ve had a pretty homegrown trajectory for the work.

It’s a BW success story. We had been writing the show, and we’d gathered some friends to put their voices on the songs. It went pretty well, so we said, ‘Let’s take this a step further.’ And then faculty member Beth Burrier said that we could get course credit for writing a class about producing a reading of Freedom Summer for a public presentation in April 2019.”

Victoria Bussert, head of the Music Theatre program, advised you to submit Freedom Summer to some festivals. What happened then?

Charlie: “We said, ‘OK’ and put in an application to the New York Musical Festival, hoping to get helpful feedback.”

You received much more than feedback. Freedom Summer was accepted and became part of the NYMF Reading Series this past July.

BW TALENT RISING Sam Columbus and Charlie H. Ray

The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) is the preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent that reaches peers, industry leaders and music theater fans.

Putting Charlie and Sam’s accomplishments into perspective, Victoria Bussert, Director of Music Theatre at Baldwin Wallace, notes that the New York Musical Festival receives more than 200 entries a year. “So this is really exciting that they made it into the top group for NYMF and rare that they’re writers at this age.”

The collaboration with Playhouse Square also is quite an achievement, she says. “This is the first time we’ve been able to do a fully mounted production of a student-written musical.”

Writing is only one of the duo’s many talents, Vicky notes. “Sam’s also a music director. Charlie is starring in Kinky Boots, and both of them were in Cabaret, Charlie as emcee and Sam as Herr Schultz.”

Simply put, “they’re real artists,” she says. “I’m thrilled for them and thrilled to support them.”

Sam: “It was a nice flash of exposure. Some Cleveland folks came to see the show, which led to the Playhouse Square opportunity.

There are other possibilities for fully staged productions through 2021, but exact details can’t be released.”

What are the highlights of the Playhouse Square run in April?

Sam: “Dana Iannuzzi, who directed the show in New York, also will direct Freedom Summer in Cleveland. Auditions take place in December. It will be really exciting for BW students to work with a really, really wicked-smart New York professional.”

CHARLIE H. RAY

SAM COLUMBUS

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DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Extending the Kinky Boots

by Bryan Bowser

The arts have a unique ability to bring diverse individuals together across demographic, economic and social lines, encouraging everyone to learn, explore and grow. This is the heart of Kinky Boots.

The students’ names are listed under Educational Surround Arts Management & Entrepreneurship Producing Team on page 34 of the program.

When the show’s producers chose Baldwin Wallace for the collegiate premiere, they were hoping that the Kinky Boots conversation around diversity, equity, inclusion and entrepreneurship would extend beyond the BW production into our community. And that is what is happening.

•

Arts Innovation Summit, on October 17, which focused on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Arts;

•

Social Media Series, which elevated the story of producing Kinky Boots, including conversations with actors and production staff;

•

On-campus Engagement for diversity-focused University groups to help lead campus conversations around these themes;

•

Invited Dress Rehearsal for local high school gay/straight alliances and community organizations that provide services to LGBTQ youth;

•

Lobby Educational Experience that allows audience members to further engage with the themes;

•

Post-show Talkbacks with cast members, production staff and community members after performances of Kinky Boots on November 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22 and 24.

This semester, a team of seven Arts Management & Entrepreneurship students took on the task of exploring ways to increase the reach of the production and amplify its themes.

Supported by LaunchNET of BW’s Center for Innovation & Growth, the extension initiatives include:

Conversation Baldwin Wallace’s commitment to inclusion and diversity dates to its founding and is evident in its actions, such as being the first higher education institution to officially end its formal affiliation with the United Methodist Church due to the church’s decision to tighten prohibitions on same-sex marriage and its exclusion of LGBTQ people from the clergy.

Producing the academic premiere of Kinky Boots is one recent example of the University’s deep commitment toward building a more inclusive and diverse community and world.

PANELISTS (l to r): Monica Torres, Executive Artistic Director, LatinUs Theater Company; Malina Rauschenfels, Co-Director, Burning River Baroque; Megan Young, Project Coordinator, SPACES; Aseelah Shareef, Director of Operations + Community Engagement, Karamu: Jill Paulsen, Interim Executive Director + CEO, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture House; Top (r): Gregory Daniels, BW Dance Program Coordinator and Associate Professor and Victoria Bussert, BW Director, Music Theatre Program and Professor of Theatre Bottom (r): Shareef and Paulsen

PUTTING THE VALUE OF EQUITY INTO ACTION More and more, diversity, equity and inclusion are at the center of our cultural dialogue in Cleveland and beyond.

For example, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC), which awards grants to nonprofits that support and celebrate local artists, is committed to ensuring that all residents have the opportunity to connect to arts and cultural experiences.

“To this end, CAC promotes diversity, inclusion and equity, with a focus on racial equity, in all of our work,” says Jill M. Paulsen, Interim CEO + Executive Director. “As we deliberately share power and invest resources in those who have been historically excluded, we more fully reflect and serve everyone in Cuyahoga County. Along with our grantees and peers, we’re learning and working differently to put our value of equity into action. We invite others to join us as we build a stronger future together.”

KINKY BOOTS TALK BACK OPPORTUNITIES Post-show Talkbacks with cast members, production staff and community members after performances of Kinky Boots: November 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22 and 24.

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#1 IN THE NATION “Best Bachelor of Music Music Theatre Programs” Onstage

#1 IN THE NATION

“Opera Production Competition” National Opera Association

TOP NATIONAL PROGRAM

“Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting” Onstage

BW PRESENTS THE COLLEGIATE PREMIERE

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Book by

Music and Lyrics by

Harvey Fierstein

Cyndi Lauper

Original Broadway Production Directed and Choreographed by Jerry Mitchell Orchestrations and Arrangements by Stephen Oremus Based on the Miramax motion picture Kinky Boots Written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth Cyndi Lauper wishes to thank her collaborators: Sammy James Jr., Steve Gaboury, Rich Morel and Tom Hammer, Stephen Oremus Original Broadway Production Produced by DARYL ROTH

HAL LUFTIG

JAMES L. NEDERLANDER TERRY ALLEN KRAMER INDEPENDENT PRESENTERS NETWORK CJ E&M JAYNE BARON SHERMAN JUST FOR LAUGHS THEATRICALS/JUDITH ANN ABRAMS YASHUHIRO KAWANA JANE BERGERE ALLAN S. GORDON & ADAM S. GORDON KEN DAVENPORT HUNTER ARNOLD LUCY & PHIL SUAREZ BRYAN BANTRY RON FIERSTEIN & DORSEY REGAL JIM KIERSTEAD/GREGORY RAE BB GROUP/CHRISTINA PAPAGJIKA MICHAEL DeSANTIS/PATRICK BAUGH BRIAN SMITH/TOM & CONNIE WALSH WARREN TREPP and JUJAMCYN THEATERS Kinky Boots is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).

All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI, 423 West 55th Street, New York, NY 10019 Tel. (212) 541-4684 Fax: (212) 397-4684 www.MTIShows.com

Victoria Bussert Director Gregory Daniels Choreographer Matthew Webb Music Director Jordan Janota Set Designer David Stoughton Lighting Designer

Charlotte Yetman Costume Designer Elizabeth Cahill Sound Designer

Directed by Victoria Bussert Choreographer............................................................Gregory Daniels

Music Director..............................................................Matthew Webb

Associate Music Director................................................ Beth Burrier

Set Designer.....................................................................Jordan Janota

Costume Designer....................................................Charlotte Yetman

Lighting Designer......................................................David Stoughton

Sound Designer.......................................................... Elizabeth Cahill

Wig Designer...................................................Mary Schilling-Martin

Dialect Coach............................................................ Brennan Murphy Co-Producers..............................................Bryan Bowser, Scott Plate

Assistant Director..........................................Colette Élan Caspari Assistant Lighting Designers........... Matthew Day, Aaron Fields Production Manager..................................................Tesia Benson Production Stage Manager................................Jack-Anthony Ina Assistant Stage Managers.....................Katherine R. Swartzbeck, ..................................................... Jacqueline Adams, Jenna Coffey Stage Management Mentor.............................Shannon Fujimura Dramaturg......................................................................Libby Tofig Technical Director.................................................Dylan Fujimura Assistant Technical Director...................................... Josh Padgett Scene Shop Foreman.........................Derek Alley, Marco Liguori Props Master.................................................................Derek Alley Props................................................ Zane Nettles, Sarah McCord, ............................................ Khemi Salahuddin, Marisa Hubbard, ......................................................................................... Julia Smith Scenic Artists........Jennifer Hitmar Shankland, Thomas Hitmar Painters............................................... Abby Bilson, Shaun Dillon, ......................................................... Tessa Hager, Kenzie Rae Hall, ...........................................................Ashley Platt, Emily Muench, .............................................................................. Jessica Stevenson Master Electrician.....................................................Kellie Rossini Electricians.................................. Andrew Bidwell, Matthew Day, ......................................................... Aaron Fields, Sarah Oberstar, .................................................. Annaliese Tuma, Jessica Uguccini Carpenters..................................Jacqueline Adams, Emily Bailey, ...................................................... Jordan Cambell, Jesse Durham, ............................................................ Zoe Ebersole, Caroline Pali, .............................................................Ruthie Sasso, Natalie Steen, ...................................................................... Katherine Swartzbeck

Spotlight Operators............................Mark Doyle, Grace McVey, .................................................................................. Sarah Oberstar Lightboard Operator.................................................. Sarah Daniel Lighting Crew.......................................... Matt Day, Aaron Fields, ................................................. Jessica Uguccini, Annaliese Tuma, .................................................... Sarah Oberstar, Andrew Bidwell Sound............................................John Russell, Hannah Prentice, ..................................................................................... Marcus Class Run Crew.................................................................Daniel Absuda, ......................................................... Mike Bindeman, Julia Cooke, ............................................................... Jacob Black, Sarah Daniel, ........................................................ Mark Doyle, Netertiti Kudolo, ............................................... Nicholas Maddalina, Grace McVey, ........................................................ Sarah Oberstar, Emily Polcyn, ...............................Liam Stilson, Noni-Noreen Thomas Prentice Costume Design Assistants.............................. Gwendolyn Kunz, ................................................................................... Corrine Starks Draper..................................... Diana Spring Sidley, Tesia Benson Costume Shop Manager..................................... Melanie Boeman Costume Shop Foreman.................Cayla Lawson, Bridget Kline Costume Construction Crew............................ Karis Brizendine, ............................................. Jimmy Contakis, TyQuera Fountain, .........................................................Gayle Gillen, Jake Glowienke, ....................................................Bridget Kline, Gwendolyn Kunz, ........................................................ Cayla Lawson, Charles Miller, ....................................................Brianna Piersoll, Corrine Starks, ..................................................................Laila Tyler, Beth Wagner Crafts.........................................Gwendolyn Kunz, Corrine Starks Wardrobe Supervisor......................................... Gwendolyn Kunz continued on next page

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Wardrobe Assistant...................................................Anne Koester Hair & Makeup Supervisor.................................... Corrine Starks Hair & Makeup Assistant.....................................Natalie Hanicak Wardrobe Crew.................................Grace Bender, Charis Elliot, .......................................................... Kelly Hudson, Shelby Jacobs, ......................................................... Kaylee Moskala, Nina Powell, .................................................Hannah Salman, Kelly Schikowski Child Wrangler..................................................................Yuval Tal Educational Surround Arts Management & Entrepreneurship Producing Team.......................Morgan Chilton, Sarah McCord, ................................................ Chloe Opperman, Rachel Roberts, .................................................. Daniel Ruffing, Isabella Schiavon, .......................................................................................Evan Smittle Faculty Advisor for Educational Surround........... Bryan Bowser

Box Office Managers...............Maria Maggard, Lauren Tidmore Box Office Assistants...........................Zakeia Curry, Isabella Fay, .......................................................... Bobbie Hart, Elaine Hudson, ..............................................................Reed Kruger, Katie Leland, ............................................................ Julia Miller, Sarah Oberstar, ..................................................... Michael Rodgers, Sam Sommer, .....................................................................................Joelle Watson House Managers............................. Emily Bailey, Ingrid Brinton, ......................................................... Zane Nettles, Rachel Roberts, ..........................................................Robert Dauria, Joelle Watson Publicity................................................ Bryce Kessler, Julia Miller, ......................................Laura Frost, Sam Sommer, Joelle Watson Publicity Advisor...........................................................Sara Whale

MUSICIANS Conductor/Keyboard 1................................................................ Matthew Webb Assistant Music Director/Keyboard 2.........................................Lindsay Miller Drums.........................................................................................Nicholas Urbanic Bass...................................................................................................... Aidan Plank Guitars............................................................................Tom Ray, Michael Simile Trumpet..........................................................................................Adrian Scoccia Trombone........................................................................................ Brian Pattison Flute.............................................................................................. Brandon Landry Clarinet.......................................................................................... Hunter Duseau Alto Sax..................................................................................... Quinten Harkness Tenor Sax...................................................................................... Steven Zeleznik Violins................................................................Nathan Thomeer, Michael Heid Viola.................................................................................................Jack McGeoch Cellos..................................................................... Jessica Jonczyk, Bryce Kessler

CAST Lola Cast Performances: November 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23 Charlie Cast Performances: November 14, 17, 21, 24

LOLA CAST

CHARLIE CAST

Lola..............................................................Nick Drake Charlie................................................... Charlie H. Ray Nicola....................................................Nadina Hassan Lauren....................................................... Kailey Boyle

Lola.......................................................... Gordia Hayes Charlie..................................................... Andrew Faria Nicola.................................................Caroline Didelot Lauren................................................. Sydney Howard

Pat............................................................................................................Eden Mau Trish | Dance Captain................................................................ Lauren Tidmore Mr. Price | Factory Worker................................................................Ben Senneff Simon Sr. | Factory Worker | Delivery Man.......................Anthony Harris JR. Don.................................................................................................... Ethan Rogers Harry | Factory Worker | Charlie U/S......................................... Steven Huynh George..........................................................................................Patrick Kennedy Young Charlie...................................................................................Colin Willett Young Lola......................................................................................... Isaiah Young Angel............................................................................................ Mateus Cardoso Angel............................................................................................... Nick Cortazzo Angel..................................................................................................... Kyle Elliott Angel.................................................................................................. Nic Hermick Angel | Dance Captain...................................................................Charles Miller Angel.........................................................................................................Lee Price Factory Worker | Hooligan................................................................Will Boone Factory Worker..................................................................................... Kyle Clark Factory Worker.........................................................................Savannah Cooper Factory Worker............................................................................... Mia Galbraith Factory Worker | Richard Bailey | Harry U/S................. Eric Graupensperger Factory Worker | Harry’s Band................................................Dashiell Gregory Factory Worker | Milan Stage Manager | Nicola U/S.................. Audrey Hare Factory Worker | Bartender............................................................ Autumn Key Factory Worker............................................................................. Lauren Senden Factory Worker | Harry’s Band............................................... Rodrigo Torrejón Factory Worker | Hooligan | Don U/S........................................Noah Wohlsen Angel Swing................................................................................. Jimmy Contakis Factory Worker | Homeless Man | Mr. Price U/S | George U/S...................................................Harrison Rothblatt Factory Worker | Female Swing................................................Hanako Walrath 35

MUSICAL NUMBERS

Act 1 Price & Son Theme........................................................................ Full Company The Most Beautiful Thing............................................................. Full Company Take What You Got..................................................... Harry, Charlie, Ensemble The Land of Lola.................................................................................Lola, Angels The Land of Lola (Reprise)...............................................................Lola, Angels Step One.......................................................................................................Charlie Sex Is in the Heel.......................................Lola, Pat, George, Angels, Ensemble The History of Wrong Guys....................................................................... Lauren I’m Not My Father’s Son...................................................................Lola, Charlie Everybody Say Yeah.........................................Charlie, Lola, Angels, Ensemble

Act 2 Entr’acte/Price & Son Theme (Reprise)...................................... Full Company What a Woman Wants................................................ Lola, Pat, Don, Ensemble In This Corner.................................... Lola, Don, Pat, Trish, Angels, Ensemble The Soul of a Man.......................................................................................Charlie Hold Me in Your Heart....................................................................................Lola Raise You Up/Just Be..................................................................... Full Company

Post-show Talkbacks with cast members, production staff and community members after performances of Kinky Boots: November 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22 and 24.

The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.

WHO’S WHO HARVEY FIERSTEIN (Playwright) is the author of the current smash hit Newsies as well as Torch Song Trilogy (Tony, Drama Desk and Obie Awards), La Cage aux Folles (Tony and Drama Desk Awards), The Sissy Duckling (Humanitas Award), A Catered Affair (12 Drama Desk nominations), Safe Sex (Ace Award), Legs Diamond, Spookhouse, Flatbush Tosca, Common Ground and more. His political editorials have been published in The New York Times, TV Guide and The Huffington Post and broadcast on PBS’s “In the Life.” His children’s book, The Sissy Duckling, is now in its fifth printing. As an actor, Mr. Fierstein is known worldwide for his performances in films like Mrs. Doubtfire and Independence Day, and on stage in Hairspray (Tony Award), Fiddler on the Roof, La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy (Tony Award) and TV shows such as “Smash,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “The Good Wife,” “Cheers” (Emmy nomination), “The Simpsons” and “Nurse Jackie.”

CYNDI LAUPER (Composer and Lyricist) is a Grammy, Emmy and now Tony Award winning (for her Kinky Boots score) artist, who after 30 sterling years and global record sales in excess of 50 million albums, has proven that she has the heart and soul to keep her legion of fans compelled by her every creative move. With her first album, She’s So Unusual, Lauper won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist and became the first female in history to have four top-five singles from a debut album.

Since then, Lauper has released ten additional studio albums, with her most recent, the Grammy-nominated Memphis Blues, ruling the Billboard Blues Chart for 14 consecutive weeks to become the best-selling blues album of 2010. Overall, during her storied music career, Lauper has been nominated for 14 Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, seven American Video Awards and 18 MTV Awards. She recently captured her journey through music and life in her New York Times best-selling

autobiography, Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir.

As an actress, Lauper made her Broadway debut in The Threepenny Opera alongside Alan Cumming in 2006. She has appeared in “Mad About You” (Emmy Award) and “Bones” and films including The Opportunist with Christopher Walken, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Life With Mikey, Off and Running and Vibes. Cyndi returned to television in 2013, this time as herself, in the limited docu-series “She’s So Unusual” on WE TV. Lauper also continues her philanthropic work through her foundation, the True Colors Fund.

VICTORIA BUSSERT (Director) is in her 24th year as Director of Music Theatre for Baldwin Wallace University. She has directed many academic premieres for BW including Brooklyn the Musical, Lizzie The Musical and Passing Strange in collaboration with Playhouse Square, Once in collaboration with Beck Center for the Arts and The Phantom of the Opera.

Victoria serves as Resident Director for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Great Lakes Theater and has directed more than 300 professional productions in the U.S. and abroad. Recently, she received the 2019 Cleveland Arts Prize.

GREGORY DANIELS (Choreographer) has been head of the Dance Program at Baldwin Wallace University since 2010.

At BW he has choreographed Rent, La Boheme, Titanic, Carousel, A Chorus Line, West Side Story and Anything Goes to name a few. His outside choreographic credits include Les Misérables, Forever Plaid and Beehive , the regional premieres of Sondheim On Sondheim, In The Heights, Dogfight, Spring Awakening (2012 Cleveland Critics Circle award for Best Choreography) and Carrie: The Musical (2014 Cleveland Critics Circle award for Best Choreography); Anything Goes (TUTS); and Lizzie The Musical (Playhouse Square). He has had the rare honor of creating and choreographing a brand new number for The Rockettes for The Commerce Bank Wow Awards.

Proud SDC member. For more info, please visit www.gregorydaniels.net.

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WHO’S WHO MATTHEW WEBB (Music Director) is excited to be returning to the pit of the Mainstage Theatre after 12 years away, last conducting Phantom of the Opera in 2007. He was Music Director of last season’s Once and Be More Chill.

Matthew is Resident Music Director at Great Lakes Theater/Idaho Shakespeare Festival: Music Man, Mamma Mia!, Forever Plaid, Fantasticks, Sweeney Todd, Sondheim on Sondheim, Guys & Dolls, Cabaret, Bat Boy, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Christmas Carol. As sound designer/composer: Alice in Wonderland (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Julius Caesar, Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamlet (GLT/ISF/LTSF). Many thanks to Vicky, Greg and his wonderful parents.

BETH BURRIER (Associate Music Director) is a member of the Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre faculty. National tours include Rent, The Full Monty and Beehive, the 60s Musical. Beth has worked in regional theatres from Maine to Arizona and is the Associate Artistic Director of the College Light Opera Company in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

JORDAN JANOTA (Set Designer) thanks Vicky and Greg for bringing him back to BW. His prior design credits include Once, In the Heights, Hair, Bring It On: The Musical, and Carrie with Baldwin Wallace at The Beck Center for the Arts; Noises Off, Hound of the Baskervilles and Into the Woods at Northern Stage; and the TYA world premieres of Beat Bugs: A Musical Adventure and Madagascar: A Musical Adventure, as well as the world premiere of Becoming Martin, all at The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City. www.jordanjanota.com CHARLOTTE YETMAN (Costume Design Program Coordinator and Professor of Theatre) has designed for the BW productions of Intimate Apparel, Lizzie The Musical and Follies.

Professional credits include Hound of the Baskervilles, My Fair Lady, Secret Garden, Sweeney Todd, Cabaret, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Into the Woods

and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) for Great Lakes Theater and Idaho Shakespeare Festival; Lady With All the Answers and Jocasta for Cleveland Play House; Frankenstein, Nashville Repertory Theatre; Silver Dollar and John & Jen, Goodspeed Opera House; Conrack, Ford’s Theatre; Widows, Williamstown Theatre Festival; and Ballenchine’s ballet Mozart Violin Concerto No.5, Tulsa Ballet. BFA, Pennsylvania State University and MFA, New York University.

DAVID STOUGHTON (Resident Lighting Designer and Assistant Professor of Theatre and Dance) has designed the lighting for a diverse array of projects in both professional and academic venues across the country.

In addition, David teaches courses in Production Design and Technology.

Notable Collaborations: Theatre Squared (Fayetteville, Arkansas); The Michigan Shakespeare Festival (Jackson, Michigan; Ohio Light Opera (Wooster, Ohio); Cleveland Museum of Art; Livewire Chicago; and Guthrie Theater Lab (Minneapolis, Minnesota). www.davidstoughton.com ELIZABETH CAHILL (Sound Designer) is a Boston/New York-based Sound Designer, Composer, Engineer and Sound Artist. She is returning to BW after designing Tick...Tick...Boom!, Cabaret and Be More Chill. Elizabeth has designed for The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, SpeakEasy Stage, The American Repertory Theater Institute, The New Repertory Theatre, Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston, Brandeis University, New England Conservatory, Central Square Theater, Greater Boston Stage Company, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Fresh Ink Theatre, Emerson Stage and many fringe companies.

Emerson College BFA Theatre Design/Technology: Sound Design.

Elizabethsound.com

MARY SCHILLING-MARTIN (Wig Designer) is happy to return to BW for her 16th show. She is the former Wig Master for La Jolla Playhouse, Marriott Theatre, Great Lakes Theater, Cleveland Play House and Arizona Theatre Company. Regional credits include Old Globe Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Denver Center Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Barrington Stage Company and Victory Gardens.

BRENNAN MURPHY (Acting Program Coordinator, Associate Professor of Acting) has had a long career as both an actor/performer and teacher in New York City and around the U.S. He received his MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama and a postgraduate degree in Voice Studies from London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where he was awarded the mark of Distinction in Teaching. As a professional actor, Brennan has performed on Broadway and off-Broadway and has taught at universities across the country.

COLETTE ÉLAN CASPARI (Assistant Director) is a sophomore Music Theatre Major here at Baldwin Wallace and is absolutely ecstatic to be making her Assistant directorial debut with this fabulous show and even more fabulous cast and creatives. Colette was previously seen on the BW mainstage in Cabaret as Patron u/s Frauleine Schneider, and other stages as Helen Sinclair in Bullets Over Broadway, Hannah Chaplin in Chaplin the Musical, and Ursula in The Little Mermaid. She wants to thank Vicky Bussert for the opportunity of a lifetime and for introducing her to the world of direction as well as her Mother for supporting her dreams unconditionally.

As always, this show is dedicated to her Grandfather. I love you forever, Grandaddy.

LIBBY TOFIG (Dramaturg) is a senior theatre student at BW. Libby is the writing/research intern to playwright Young Jean Lee. Credits: Goodman Theatre, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and Great Lakes Theater. She is honored to have Kinky Boots as the button on the end of her BW career.

Thanks to her friends, family and Robbi.

JACQUELINE ADAMS (Assistant Stage Manager) is a fourth-year Stage Management major from southeast Michigan. Past credits include Billy Elliot, Mary Poppins, Big Fish (Stage Manager, Croswell Opera House); Junie B. Jones (Stage Manager, Millbrook Playhouse); and fyoō zhen ’19: Shock of the News (Assistant Stage Manager, Baldwin Wallace). Thanks to Jenna and Shannon!

JENNA COFFEY (Assistant Stage Manager) is thrilled to be a part of Kinky Boots! Past credits include Cabaret (Assistant Stage Manager) and Be More Chill (Assistant Stage Manager).

Upcoming productions include Uncle Vanya (Production Stage Manager) and the world premiere of Freedom Summer at Playhouse Square (Production Stage Manager). She’d like to thank her friends, family, and Shannon for their constant love and support JACK-ANTHONY INA (Production Stage Manager) is a junior Stage Management major. Jack got his start in theatre in high school, and in that short period of time has done over 100 productions in theatres all over Cleveland as a director, designer, stage manager, and technician. Recent credits include Newsies (Director/ Music Director, Geauga Lyric Theater Guild), Secrets: A Spy Musical (Director, Feinstein’s/54 Below), and Be More Chill (Production Stage Manager, Playhouse Square). Upcoming Productions include The Scottsboro Boys (Production Stage Manager, Beck Center for the Arts) and He’s Lost His Marbles (Director).

KATHERINE R. SWARTZBECK (Assistant Stage Manager) is currently an Equity Membership Candidate in her junior year at BW. Previous credits include Stop Kiss (PSM), Rock ‘N’ Roll (ASM), and Il Matrimonio Segreto (ASM) at BW; Once, (ASM) at The Beck Center for the Arts; tick, tick…BOOM! (ASM) at Playhouse Square; Hands on a Hardbody (SM), and The King and I (SM) at Perrysburg Musical Theatre. She would like to thank her friends, family, and BWMT!

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WHO’S WHO Will Boone (Factory Worker/Hooligan) is a freshman Music Theatre major at BW. He is from San Diego and has been performing since the age of 10. Some of his recent credits are Coronado School of the Arts productions of All Shook Up (Chad), The Music Man (Harold Hill) and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (John Jasper), and Oklahoma! (Will Parker, West Springfield Theatre).

Kailey Boyle (Lauren – Lola cast) is delighted to be in this beautiful show. Recent credits include Sophie in Mamma Mia! and Lydia Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, both at Idaho Shakespeare Festival/Great Lakes Theater, and Rizzo in Grease at New London Barn Playhouse. Other favorites include Lizzie Borden in Lizzie The Musical at Playhouse Square and Campbell in Bring It On: The Musical at Beck Center for the Arts. Kailey is grateful to be studying voice with Sandy Simon, and she thanks her family, friends and the faculty at Baldwin Wallace for their support, guidance and the outstanding opportunity to share this story!

Mateus Cardoso (Angel) is a freshman Music Theatre major who is ecstatic to be a part of such a fun and energetic show.

Mateus started his acting journey his sophomore year of high school and since then has been in at least one production at all times. He has been seen as Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Jack in Into the Woods.

He is grateful to have the opportunity to participate in the collegiate premiere of Kinky Boots.

Kyle Clark (Factory Worker) is a sophomore Music Theatre major. He is excited to be a part of his first Mainstage musical production. Originally from Warwick, Rhode Island, Kyle has most recently appeared as the understudy for Harold Hill at Great Lakes Theater in Cleveland. Other productions include South Pacific (Sailor) with The Cleveland Orchestra and Andy Einhorn at the Blossom Music Center, and A Chorus Line.

Jimmy Contakis (Angel Swing) is ecstatic to be making his BW Mainstage debut in Kinky Boots. He is a sophomore Theatre major with double minors in Dance and Music. Recently, Jimmy was seen in Baldwin Wallace’s productions of Critique of the

School for Wives (Marquis) and Two Plays for Dancers (Emer Musician). Jimmy thanks Vicky Bussert and Greg Daniels for this extraordinary opportunity and his family for allowing him to chase his dreams.

Savannah Cooper (Factory Worker) is a freshman Music Theatre major and is thrilled to be in her first BWMT production!

Recent credits include A Chorus Line and Newsies (Lexington Theatre Company), Mary Poppins (Mary) and The Drowsy Chaperone (Janet, SCAPA Lafayette), and Sister Act (Deloris, Lafayette High School). Upcoming production: BWMT’s The Scottsboro Boys (Dance Captain/Swing, Beck Center for the Arts). Sav is beyond excited to be a member of the BWMT family! Instagram: @savvy_sc Nick Cortazzo (Angel) is thrilled to be strutting through the collegiate premiere of Kinky Boots! Nick is a junior MT Major from Pittsburgh. Favorite credits include Zorro: The Musical, Catch Me If You Can, Mamma Mia! and Grease. Many thanks to VB, Greg, Matt, Sandy Simon, Cher, Billy, fam and friends, especially Mom, Dad, and Matthew.

LDTB!! @ncortazzo Caroline Didelot (Nicola – Charlie cast) is a senior Music Theatre major and is grateful to spend her last year getting Kinky!

Recent credits include 42nd Street (Peggy Sawyer), Music Man (Marian u/s), Anything Goes (Virtue) and South Pacific with The Cleveland Orchestra. Upcoming productions include A Christmas Carol (Miss Elizabeth/ Martha/Fan). Thank you to Cynthia, Beth, Vicky, Greg and Matt. This one is for her mom and dad. @carolinemdidelot Nick Drake (Lola – Lola cast) is thrilled to be playing his dream role here at Baldwin Wallace University. Nick is a senior Music Theatre major and hails from St. Louis, Missouri. His credits at Baldwin Wallace include the Emcee in Cabaret, La Cienega in Bring It On: The Musical and Pepe in West Side Story. He’s performed at regional venues including Pittsburgh CLO, Great Lakes Theater, The Muny and many more. Nick thanks Greg, Vicky and Matt for all they did to make BW the first college to produce Kinky Boots. Finally, he would like to thank his mother, Tia Drake, for being his support system and making his dreams come true.

Insta: nickdraket #BWMT

Kyle Elliott (Angel) is thrilled to be a part of Kinky Boots. He is a junior Music Theatre major at Baldwin Wallace University.

His recent credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Who’s Tommy (Clinton Area Showboat) and Cabaret (Baldwin Wallace). Kyle thanks his parents, grandparents and his friends for all of their support. “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” — Dolly Parton Andrew Faria (Charlie Price – Charlie cast) is incredibly excited to to perform in his BW debut! Andrew is a sophomore Music Theatre major from East Providence, Rhode Island. Some of his favorite credits include South Pacific with The Cleveland Orchestra (Lt. Billis u/s), as well as Les Miserables (Jean Valjean), The Phantom of the Opera (Raul) and Sweeney Todd (Antony). Andrew is beyond grateful for the opportunity given to him and would like to thank the BWMT faculty, Greg Harrell, Dr. Frederic Scheff, and his family.

Mia Galbraith (Factory Worker) is a freshman Music Theatre major with a minor in Marketing. Mia has been in musicals since the third grade, when she played Purple Beard in Pirates, but her more recent credits include In The Heights (Daniela) and Fame! (Carmen) at Pioneer Theatre Guild, and A Chorus Line (Cassie, Forever After Productions). She has assistant-directed and makeup-designed for companies in the greater Detroit area and looks forward to continuing her many passions at BW. Eric Graupensperger (Factory Worker/ Richard Bailey/Harry u/s) is happy to be starting his junior year as a part of BW’s production of Kinky Boots. Eric was last seen on the Forestburgh Playhouse (FBP) stage as Gerald Bolingbroke in Me and My Girl. He also was in the FBP productions of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Hair, The Producers and The Buddy Holly Story. He thanks his family and friends for their love and support. Have fun!

Dashiell Gregory (Factory Worker/Harry’s Band) is a sophomore Music Theatre student and is thrilled to be in his first BW Mainstage musical! Recent roles include Billy Flynn in Chicago, Bobby Child in Crazy For You and Sailor in South Pacific with The Cleveland Orchestra.

Audrey Hare (Factory Worker/Milan Stage Manager/Nicola u/s) is a sophomore Music Theatre major. At Baldwin Wallace, Audrey was last seen as a nurse/Nellie Forbush understudy in South Pacific, in collaboration with The Cleveland Orchestra. She also was in Cabaret as Texas/Sally Bowles understudy and was an ensemble member in the workshop of Freedom Summer. Many thanks to her family and the incredible production team. Let’s get #Kinky!

Anthony Harris JR. (Factory Worker/Simon Sr.) is a Cleveland native and junior BFA acting transfer making his Baldwin Wallace debut in this season’s production of Kinky Boots. His recent works include Ragtime (Ensemble/Booker T. Washington u/s, Cain Park), Devil is a Liar (Bernard, Sonya Blakey Pro.), Dreamgirls (MC Apollo Theater/Mr. Morgan, Weathervane Playhouse), She (Mr. Lonnie/Othalee, Anacostia Playhouse), Stirring the Waters (Malcolm X/Junkanoo, NEWorks Pro.) and as Cuffy/Winston in a Class Stage Reading at Howard University.

Coming up, he will be in Scottsboro Boys (Haywood Patterson, Beck Center for the Arts). Anthony acknowledges his family and friends for their continued support and is excited to be joining the BW family. “In all ways, keep God first, and the rest will follow.”

Nadina Hassan (Nicola – Lola cast) is a senior Music Theatre major at Baldwin Wallace #BWMT20. She was recently seen in South Pacific in concert with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center, as well as in Playhouse Square’s production of Be More Chill (Brooke) and BW’s production of Cabaret (Sally Bowles). Additional credits include Tick, Tick… Boom! (Susan) at Playhouse Square, the New London Barn Playhouse’s productions of West Side Story (Maria) and The Secret Garden (Ayah), Baldwin Wallace’s production of West Side Story (Maria), and The Beck Center’s productions of Bring It On: The Musical (Swing/Eva u/s) and Hair (Tribe).

Nadina would like to thank Vicky, Greg, Beth, Cynthia and Matt for never accepting anything but her best. Finally, Nadina thanks her entire unbelievable family for their infinite love and support! www. nadinahassan.com | @nadinahassa

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WHO’S WHO Gordia Hayes (Lola – Charlie cast) is thrilled to be tackling this amazing role in the academic premiere of Kinky Boots.

Gordia is a junior who was last seen as Luther Billis in the concert production of South Pacific. Gordia is extremely grateful for this opportunity to share this story with everyone. This is just the beginning. Spread love, share your heart, be joyous, be brave and be you. Many thanks go to God, family and all the BWMT faculty. Isaiah 41:10 Nic Hermick (Angel) is a sophomore Music Theatre major from Pittsburgh, where he has worked at numerous theatres including Pittsburgh Musical Theatre, Pittsburgh CLO and The Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center, as well as several short films and commercials. Recent theatre credits include Mamma Mia! (Eddie), Cabaret (Victor), West Side Story (Baby John) and Ragtime (Younger Brother). This summer, Nic worked at Summer Repertory Theatre in Santa Rosa, California, where he performed in Mamma Mia!, Pippin and Bonnie and Clyde. Nic would like to thank his family, friends, the MT faculty and Jake, his pet frog.

Sydney Howard (Lauren – Charlie cast) is a senior Music Theatre major from Rochester, New York. She spent last semester studying abroad at the Danish Academy of Musical Theatre in Fredericia, Denmark.

Favorite credits include Narrator in Joseph...

Dreamcoat, Rose in Dogfight, Natalie in Next to Normal and Jane/Helen u/s in Jane Eyre with Cleveland Musical Theatre. Sydney is so excited to help bring this incredible show and character to the collegiate stage!

Steven Huynh (Harry/Charlie u/s) is thrilled to be taking part in Baldwin Wallace’s Mainstage production of Kinky Boots.

Recent credits: Cabaret (Kit Kat Boy) and Anything Goes (John) here at BW; Gypsy (L.A.), The Little Mermaid (Flotsam) and City Of Angels (Quartet) at Beck Center for the Arts, and Carrie (Tommy) through Beck Teen Theater. A junior Music Theatre major, Steven dedicates himself toward expanding his artistry, tackling CrossFit and surrounding himself with good company. He sends endless gratitude to his family, friends, teachers and everyone for supporting his journey thus far. IG: shuynh_ing

Patrick D. Kennedy (George) is thrilled to be a part of Kinky Boots! A junior Music Theatre major at Baldwin Wallace University, he just finished up his summer performing as Bert in Mary Poppins at Festival 56 and Professor in South Pacific in Concert with The Cleveland Orchestra! Other favorite credits include Ship’s Purser in Anything Goes, Marco u/s in A View from the Bridge and Emer Musician in The Only Jealousy of Emer. He is thankful for his teachers, friends and family for their guidance and support.

Enjoy the show!

Autumn Key (Factory Worker/Bartender) is a sophomore Music Theatre major. She is absolutely delighted to be making her BW Mainstage debut in the collegiate premiere of Kinky Boots! Her theatrical credits include South Pacific with The Cleveland Orchestra (Nurse, Blossom Music Center), Secrets: A Spy Musical (Amilia, Feinstein’s 54 Below), Ragtime (Sarah, Chagrin Falls Academy for the Performing Arts), Pippin (Leading Player, Stagecrafters Theatre), Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Ensemble/B.J. u/s, Chagrin Valley Little Theatre), Rent (Joanne, Stagecrafters Theatre) and Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar, Chagrin Falls Academy for the Performing Arts). Autumn gives a special thank-you to Victoria Bussert, as well as this incredible cast and crew!

Eden Mau (Pat) is beyond thrilled to be joining Baldwin Wallace this fall for Kinky Boots! Last year, Eden was able to be a part of Baldwin Wallace’s production of Cabaret.

Some of her latest roles include Sibella in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Potiphar’s Wife in Joseph, Sally Simpson in The Who’s Tommy and Blue Girl in Shout! The Mod Musical.

Charles Mayhew Miller (Angel/Dance Captain) is a senior Music Theatre major at Baldwin Wallace! Past credits include Pippin (Leading Player) and Mamma Mia! (Pepper).

Charles thanks his family for their continued support! Beehive 4 ever!

Lee Price (Angel) is a sophomore Music Theatre major and is beyond excited to be part of the academic premiere of Kinky Boots!

Recent credits include Michael/Doctor/Miss Trunchbull u/s in the regional premiere of Matilda at the Beck Center for The Arts, as well as Ensemble/Herr Schultz u/s in Cabaret at Baldwin Wallace University. Lee was nominated for a broadwayworld.com audience choice award (Rockland/Westchester County 2015-2016) for Leading Actor in a Musical for Tulsa in Gypsy as well as winning the 2018 Metropolitan High School Theater Award for Lord Farquaad in Shrek: The Musical. Other credits include Ursula in The Little Mermaid, Roger Debris in The Producers, Igor in Young Frankenstein, Earthworm in James and The Giant Peach, Dennis in All Shook Up, Pippin in Pippin, and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. Lee would like to give a huge thank-you to Vicky, Greg, Matt and Beth for letting him live out his diva fantasies as well as his friends and family for their constant love and support. Instagram: @leeprice25 Charlie H. Ray (Charlie Price, Lola cast) is so honored to be closing out his BWMT Mainstage career with this incredible company of Kinky Boots. Previous credits with BW include tick, tick… BOOM! (Jonathan), Cabaret (Emcee), Be More Chill (Rich), Anything Goes (Billy), Once (Andrej) and more. This past July, Freedom Summer (Music: Charlie H. Ray/Sam Columbus.

Book/Lyrics: Charlie H. Ray) premiered at the New York Musical Festival—next up is a run in downtown Cleveland this April for the annual BW/Playhouse Square collaboration. Gratitude to Vicky, Beth, Matt, Greg and Mrs. O for a dream-worthy four years. For no one else but Dad. @charliehray www.CharlieHRay.com Ethan Rogers (Don) is thrilled to be a part of the academic premiere of Kinky Boots!

Ethan is a junior Music Theatre major from Austin, Texas. In January, Ethan will be performing as Astrov in Chekov’s Uncle Vanya here at BW. Some of his recent regional credits include Petruchio u/s in Taming of the Shrew (Great Lakes Theater), Gaston u/s, Beast u/s (performed) in Beauty & the Beast (ZACH Theater) and Tribe/ Berger u/s in Hair (Beck Center for the Arts). Ethan is a proud member of the O’Connell studio and is incredibly grateful for all of the support he receives from Cynthia, his family and his friends.

Harrison Rothblatt (Factory Worker/ Homeless Man/George u/s/ Mr. Price u/s) is a freshman Music Theatre major and a recent graduate of Etobicoke School of the Arts’ (ESA’s) Musical Theatre program in Toronto. Harrison recently won the award for best male performer in this year’s FAME Chicago Show Choir Competition. Recent credits include The Apple Tree (Adam, Stagedoor Manor), Fosse Show Choir Set (Bob Fosse soloist/Head Vocal Captain and Student Arranger, ESA’s Splash Show Choir), On The Town (Chip, Stagedoor Manor), Cabaret (Emcee, ESA). Harrison would like to thank Paul Aikins for his guidance.

Lauren Senden (Factory Worker) is a freshman Music Theatre major. Lauren loves working in the theatre because it challenges, inspires and excites her to become a better version of herself with each new day.

Recent credits include The Light in the Piazza (Clara, Minnetonka Theatre), Into The Woods (Baker’s Wife, Hoffman Road Stage Company) and Merrily We Roll Along (Beth Spencer, Minnetonka Theatre). She recently received the honor of representing Minnesota’s Spotlight Education at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (Jimmy Awards). She would like to thank her Momma and Daddio for their love and support.

Ben Senneff (Factory Worker/Mr. Price) is a junior Music Theatre major at Baldwin Wallace University. Some of his favorite credits include Farquaad in Shrek the Musical, Lumière in Beauty and the Beast and Smudge in Forever Plaid. You’ll probably find him at the piano playing standards and impersonating the voice of Frank Sinatra.

His music editing business, “Edits by Ben,” recently opened and he now edits music for dancers nationwide! Ben could not be happier to be a part of the Kinky Boots company!

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WHO’S WHO Lauren Tidmore (Trish/Dance Captain) is thrilled to be making her musical debut at BW. Lauren is a senior BFA Acting major and Dance minor from Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. Some of her favorite credits include A View From the Bridge (Beatrice) and American La Ronde (The Dancer) at BW, as well as Spring Awakening (Wendla/Dance Captain, Majestic Theatre) and Macbeth (Third Witch, Schuylkill Free Shakespeare).

Lauren also enjoys choreography work and has assisted on Jane Eyre (Cleveland Musical Theatre, Revised World Premiere), Man of La Mancha (Porthouse Theatre), Matilda (Beck Center for the Arts) and more.

Huge thank you to Vicky and Greg for this opportunity and to my family, true friends and sweet Jimmy for the endless support.

Instagram: lauren_tidmore

Colin Willett (Young Charlie) is thrilled to be part of this amazing production at Baldwin Wallace. Favorite credits include Matilda (Tommy) at Beck Center for the Arts, Mary Poppins Jr. (Michael Banks) at Olde Towne Hall Theatre and High School Musical Jr (Ryan Evans) at St. Jude School.

Colin has enjoyed traveling to Atlanta with Olde Towne Hall Theatre’s youth theatre group for the Junior Theatre Festival and New York City to be a part of the iTheatrics Theatre Academy. When he isn’t onstage, Colin enjoys playing football, cooking, roller coasters and video games. Colin would like to thank Victoria Bussert for this opportunity to work with such a talented cast and creative team. Thanks to his family for all their love and support. May you never fail to point your shoes back home.

Rodrigo Torrejón (Factory Worker/Harry’s Band) is very excited to be making his BW Mainstage debut in Kinky Boots. Some of his favorite performances have been in Jekyll & Hyde (Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde), Once (Da), Kiss Me, Kate (Fred/Petruchio), and The Pajama Game (Sid Sorokin). Rodrigo would like to thank Victoria Bussert, Gregory Daniels, Matthew Webb and the rest of the cast and crew of Kinky Boots for this wonderful experience. He also thanks his friends and family for supporting him all these years.

Shout-out to Leia and Rey.

Noah Wohlsen (Factory Worker/Don u/s) is a freshman Music Theatre major and is thrilled to be performing in his first BW production. Previous credits include Newsies (Morris Delancey), Hello, Dolly!

(Vandergelder), Pippin (Charlemagne), The Diary of Anne Frank (Van Daan), Les Miserables (Jean Valjean), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Ed, Montclair and STANJ best supporting actor award winner), Into The Woods (Baker), Legally Blonde (Emmett), You Can’t Take It With You (Grandpa, Montclair award nominee), Grease (Teen Angel), The Secret Garden (Archibald Craven), Noises Off (Freddy) and Fiddler on the Roof (Lazar Wolf). Noah thanks Vicky and the entire cast and crew for all their hard work.

Hanako Walrath (Female Swing) is a freshman Music Theatre major and is thrilled to be making her Baldwin Wallace debut in Kinky Boots. Most recently, she appeared as Liat in South Pacific with The Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival this past summer. Other credits include Be More Chill (Christine), Fiddler on the Roof (Tzeitel) and Miss Saigon. She also has been a part of the “I Am Woman, Hear Me Belt” and “Stages: Up, Down, and Center” cabarets with the 4 Chairs Theatre Company.

Isaiah Young (Young Lola) is a sixthgrader at Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Dike School of the Arts, where he is an honor roll student majoring in Choir. His recent roles, performances and participation include Disney’s Aristocats (Thomas O’Malley) at Karamu House and Playhouse Square; “What’s a unicorn” 41st Annual Marilyn Bianchi Kids Playwriting Festival at Dobama Theatre; Cleveland Act Now Summer & Fall Performing Arts Clinic at Cleveland Public Theatre; and the Dike School of the Arts seasonal performances: Choir, Drama, Art and Dance.

MUSICIANS

Hunter Duseau

Jack McGeoch

Quinten Harkness

Lindsay Miller

Michael Simile

Michael Heid

Jessica Jonczyk

Brian Pattison

Aidan Plank

Nathan Thomeer

Nicholas Urbanic

Hunter Duseau (Clarinet) is a first-year Clarinet Performance student at Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music.

He’s from Belchertown, Massachusetts. Hunter is excited to be participating in Kinky Boots as his first musical theatre pit orchestra experience, with previous experience in pit orchestra including a ballet production of the Mendelssohn Overture and Scherzo at The Hartt School Community Division with the Connecticut Youth Symphony. At the Conservatory, he participates in the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the Symphony Orchestra.

Quinten Harkness (Alto Saxophone) is a junior Music Education major with a Saxophone Primary. From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Quinten is a member of the Baldwin Wallace Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the Baldwin Wallace Saxophone Quartet and Moondaze, and is a brother of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. Kinky Boots is his first collegiate musical production, and he is ecstatic to have the opportunity to play for it! Quinten thanks his family, professors and his saxophone teachers— Gabriel Piqué, Steven Banks, Tom Lempner and Curtis Johnson—for teaching and supporting him throughout his career.

Michael Heid (Violin) is a junior Music Education major and studies with Dr. Julian Ross. Michael began playing in musical theatre pits while in high school and has since performed in several musical productions, including The Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ

Matthew Webb

Bryce Kessler

Brandon Landry

Tom Ray

Adrian Scoccia

Steven Zeleznik

Superstar and Titanic. While at BW, Michael has been in the opera pit for both Il Matrimonio Segreto by Domenico Cimarosa, The Rake’s Progress by Igor Stravinsky, and in January he will play in the pit for The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca.

Jessica Jonczyk (Cello) is a sophomore Music Education and Cello Performance double major. She began playing cello in elementary school and has since studied with many renowned cellists. Jessica has performed in several ensembles both inside and outside of musical theatre productions. Her work in pit orchestras includes productions of The Addams Family (Cellist, St. Francis High School), The Odyssey (Cellist, Artpark Theater) and The Rake’s Progress (Cellist, Baldwin Wallace).

Bryce Kessler (Cello) is a sophomore in Arts Management & Entrepreneurship and Theatre: Acting & Directing dual major. He has been playing cello professionally for one year at weddings, churches and pit orchestras. Last year, he was a member of the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra, played for Nyla Watson Stars and the Moon at Bop Stop, played in the pit for the world premiere of Freedom Summer, and acted in the student production of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost on campus. Previous pit orchestra credits include Les Misérables, The Sound of Music and Company. www.brycekessler. weebly.com

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MUSICIANS Brandon Landry (Flute) is a fourth-year Flute Performance major and Asian Studies/Chinese Language minor. Brandon has been a guest performer with orchestras such as Akron Symphony Orchestra, the Balalaika & Domra Association of America Russian Orchestra, as well as other professional ensembles. He has performed with Akron Youth Symphony, Akron Youth Philharmonic and participated in Akron’s All City Musical, where he played in productions of DreamWorks Studio’s Shrek: The Musical, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella and Disney’s Beauty & the Beast. Brandon studies flute under Sean Gabriel, and would like to thank his teacher for all the tremendous patience he has had with him over the years. Brandon also thanks his parents, Charles and Felicia Landry, for supporting him through all his musical endeavors, and hopes that they will continue to follow him wherever his career may take him.

Tom Ray (Guitar) first picked up the guitar at 13 years old after hearing the band Deep Purple and has been playing ever since. His musical influences and teaching styles cover a broad cross-section, from shred to classical guitar, blues, jazz, fingerstyle and everything in between. He’s taught guitar, bass, ukulele, drums, songwriting, theory and more to students of all ages for more than 15 years in Cleveland, NYC and Austin, Texas. Tom’s obsession with the guitar brought him to the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory under the instruction of Loris Chobanian, attaining his bachelor’s degree in Classical Guitar.

Tom taught guitar at the Aurora School of Music for six years before moving to New York and then Austin. He’s now returned to the Aurora School of Music, and of course, his hometown, Cleveland, to attend the Cleveland Institute of Music and earn his master’s in Classical Guitar.

Jack George McGeoch (Viola) is a freshman Viola Performance and Composition major at Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music. He spent his last two years of high school at Interlochen Arts Academy. His prior experience in the pit was Fiddler on the Roof, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. At the Conservatory, Jack is a member of the Symphony Orchestra.

Adrian Scoccia (Trumpet) is a first-year Music Therapy and Trumpet Performance major from Buffalo, New York, under the instruction of Jack Sutte (The Cleveland Orchestra). Scoccia began performing for musical theatre in pit orchestra in 2016, working in a variety of productions. Recent credits include The Addams Family, Sister Act, Annie and South Pacific (Lancaster Opera House).

Lindsay Miller (Keys 2) is thrilled to be in the pit for her second Mainstage production! She is a sophomore Music Theatre Direction major, studying with Dr. Sungeun Kim and Professor Beth Burrier.

Recent credits include Mamma Mia! (Assistant Music Director/Keys 2, Greendale Community Theatre), Be More Chill (Keys 2, Playhouse Square) and Cabaret (Keys 2, BW Mainstage). Special thanks to Beth, Dr. Kim, Matt and her family for the incredible support and guidance.

Michael Simile, MT-BC (Guitar 2), earned his Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy from Baldwin Wallace in May of 2016. While at BW, he studied guitar and co-directed the BW Beatles festival. He is on faculty at Beck Center for the Arts as both a Music Therapist and Guitar Instructor, and is employed as the Baritone Section Leader with the Dover Congregational UCC Chancel Choir. Michael has given classical guitar concerts in Maine, Mississippi, Ohio and Pennsylvania. He maintains an active performance schedule.

Brian Pattison (Trombone) is so excited to be performing in the academic premiere of Kinky Boots! He is a junior Trombone Performance major with a Jazz Emphasis and studies with Rick Stout of The Cleveland Orchestra. Notable credits include Matilda (Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, 2019), Oklahoma! (WWCA, 2019), Mary Poppins (College Light Opera Company, 2019) and Cabaret (Baldwin Wallace University, 2018). He recently sat in and observed the band for the Book of Mormon national tour at Playhouse Square. Brian is a member of the Brick Wall Brass Quintet, Gabriel’s Horns, and Da Land Brass Band.

Aidan Plank (Bass) lives in Northern Ohio and serves as bassist for the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and JazzWorks, and plays in a duo with the guitarist Daniel Lippel. Aidan’s own ensemble, Pulse, explores original compositions by its members as well as a diverse range of music composed by well-known and obscure jazz composers. As an educator, Aidan serves as the jazz bass instructor at Kent State University and at Cuyahoga Community College’s JazzFest Academy.

Aidan has served as a clinician and adjudicator at the Maplerock Jazz Festival (2016) at Ashland University and at the Lakeland Jazz Festival (2018) at Lakeland Community College. Career highlights include performances with Dan Wall, Joe Lovano, David Berkman, Tim Armacost, Tierney Sutton, Vanessa Rubin, Gerald Clayton, John Fedchock, Bill Dobbins, Bruce Johnstone, Joe Maneri, Steve Davis, Jamey Haddad, Michael Philip Mossman, Carl Allen, Randall Woolf, Terence Blanchard, The Cleveland Orchestra, Judi Silvano, Bruce Arnold and others.

Nathan Thomeer (Violin) is looking forward to being a part of the Kinky Boots production! He began studying violin at the age of 3.

Nathan currently studies Violin Performance at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music with Dr. Julian Ross. He has performed in a number of orchestras, including many pit orchestras throughout high school and college. Most recently, he played in the pit at the College Light Opera Company over the summer. Nathan has participated in other music festivals including Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival (2018) and has done many master classes with musicians such as Soovin Kim, Stephen Rose, Miho Hashizume and Takako Masame.

Nicholas Urbanic (Percussion) is a senior Music Education and Percussion Performance major. Nicholas has performed all over the Greater Cleveland area as a pit musician and actor. Recent credits include Wizard of Oz (Percussionist/Associate M.D., Mercury Theatre Company), Chaplin (Percussionist, Mercury Theatre Company), Cabaret (Percussionist, Baldwin Wallace) and Bare: A Pop Opera (Jason, Western Reserve Playhouse). He thanks Beth Burrier and Eddie Carney for jumpstarting his career and his parents for always supporting him. Sending love and good vibes to all who are in my corner!

Matthew Webb (Conductor/Keyboard 1) is excited to be returning to the pit of the Mainstage Theatre after 12 years away, last conducting Phantom of the Opera in 2007. He was Music Director of last season’s Once and Be More Chill. Matthew is Resident Music Director at Great Lakes Theater/Idaho Shakespeare Festival: Music Man, Mamma Mia!, Forever Plaid, Fantasticks, Sweeney Todd, Sondheim on Sondheim, Guys & Dolls, Cabaret, Bat Boy, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and A Christmas Carol. As Sound Designer/Composer: Alice in Wonderland (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Julius Caesar, Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamlet (GLT/ISF/LTSF). Many thanks to Vicky, Greg and his wonderful parents.

Steven Zeleznik (Tenor Sax) is a senior Saxophone Performance major at Baldwin Wallace. He has experience playing in a wide variety of genres of saxophone including jazz, classical, orchestral, wind band, pit, chamber and pop/rock. Steven has played gigs in and around the Cleveland area at venues such as the Bop Stop, Brother’s Lounge, and many concerts at BW and other private events.

Outside of performing, Steven enjoys teaching private lessons and collaborating with other musicians. After graduating from BW, Steven plans on attending graduate school for jazz studies.

THANK YOU President Robert Helmer

BW Allies

Alexis Law, Janet’s Closet

BW Board of Trustees

BW LGBTQ+ Task Force

Stephen Stahl

Josh Caraballo

BW Center for Innovation & Growth

Kyle Post

Claudine Kirschner

Beth Swailes

Kieth Peppers

Danny Henning

Ana de Freitas Boe

Susan Van Vorst

Lacey Kogelnik

Beth Burrier

Near West Theatre

Bryan Bowser

Pedro Cavallari

Scott Plate

Tylor Mahany

Soo Han

Sara Whale

Dan Karp

Nancy Bryant & Beverly Morris, Abigayle’s Quiltery

Alicia Maurer Ryan Garrett Taylor J Williams Kris Diaz Freedom Valley

Glenn & Megan DiMauro, The Italian Cobbler Esther Haberlen, Great Lakes Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival

BW LaunchNET John O’Connor, Music Theatre International Shawn Salamone Damien Campbell Mary Stein Berea Education Foundation Ritter Library Jenny Taraba LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland BW Admission Wendy Pasquale

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SCIENCE

HAPPENS HERE

Scheduled to open January 2021, The Austin E. Knowlton Center, BW’s new STEM building, offers students innovative hands-on learning experiences incorporating data science, artificial intelligence, mathematical modeling, cybersecurity, engineering and physics.

Congratulations to Baldwin Wallace University

Celebrating 35 Years Helping Families in The Greater Cleveland Area 1985 - 2020

PFLAG’s 2019 Bruce Kriete Community Award

Celebrating 35 Years recipient for affirming its commitment to equality for all LGBTQ+ individuals!

Helping Families in The Greater Cleveland Area 1985 - 2020

Celebrating 35 Years Helping Families in The Greater Cleveland Area 1985 - 2020

Support Our Efforts Become a Member or Donor Online Look For Us on Amazon Smile

Support Our Efforts Become a Member or Donor Online Look For Us on Amazon Smile

“You change the world when you change your mind.”

The Center for Innovation & Growth (CIG) inspires the next generation of entrepreneurs to start, grow and reinvent — just like Charlie.

CIG’s signature programs infuse innovation and entrepreneurship across campus and support regional economic development:

Growth Practice

professionally-led, student supported consultancy

LaunchNET

free and confidential venture coaching

Network Events

conversations with leading innovators and entrepreneurs

music & lyrics JOHN KANDER & FRED EBB book DAVID THOMPSON directed & choreographed JON MARTINEZ Original Direction & choreography by Susan Stroman

Presented with the support of FGI Foundation, a supporting foundation of Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Francine M. Gordon, Trustee By arrangement with Music Theater International (MTI)

2020 BW Music Theatre Seniors

ON THEIR WAY TO THE NY STAGE BW MUSIC THEATRE SHOWCASE ENDOWMENT

The culminating experience for BW Music Theatre students is the whirlwind annual showcase week in New York City. Each April, Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre seniors travel to The Big Apple to perform for the industry’s top agents and casting directors.

BW’s showcase is becoming one of the most widely anticipated and attended every season.

100% of our seniors graduate with representation — a success rate that few schools can boast.

This year there will be two performances on BW’s campus. Join us on Sunday, April 5 at 1 p.m. in the Kleist Mainstage Theatre, to see what the agents will see and to give our seniors a big BW sendoff before they begin their lives in NYC. The Showcase is free, but tickets are required, bw.edu/tickets or call 440-826-8070.

We welcome you to join alumni, parents, BW trustees and friends in supporting the Music Theatre Showcase Endowment.

To make an electronic gift, go to https://www.b-wcommunity.net/give or send a check made out to Baldwin Wallace University, noting “MT Showcase Endowment” on the memo line: Baldwin Wallace University Annual Giving Office 275 Eastland Road Berea, Ohio 44017 Gift envelopes are also available at the Box Office.

To learn more about other gift options, please contact: Susan Van Vorst Dean, Conservatory of Music 440-826-2362, svanvors@bw.edu

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ACTING THE PART

THEATRE PARTNERSHIPS AND PRACTICING FACULTY KEYS TO BFA ACTING PROGRAM’S SUCCESS

BW Acting Program Faculty - Scott Plate; Brennan Murphy; Laura Berg

Baldwin Wallace’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Acting Program, the only BFA in acting in Northeast Ohio, was recognized as one of the top 20 in the nation just two years after the university established the degree program.

OnStage Magazine’s 2018-2019 rankings came out last fall.

In its review of BW’s program, the magazine described the faculty as “practicing professionals with contacts at Cleveland’s Great Lakes Theater, Cleveland Public Theatre, Beck Center for the Arts and Dobama Theatre, as well as Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.”

BW’s proximity to Cleveland’s nationally ranked theatre and arts organizations clearly played a significant role in the recognition of the program.

SUCCESS NOW AND OVER THE LONG HAUL Scott Plate, Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance and Associate Professor of Acting at BW, says the goal of the BFA program is to send students out into the world who are interested in acquiring more knowledge and experience over the course of their careers so that they truly master their craft.

“We are developing someone who can sustain a long-form thought in the field,” he says. The goal is to “graduate the kind of actor who is an imaginative force in the theatre and is a fearless, expressive and electric performer who thinks outside of the box when they come to text.”

bw.edu/acting FROM STUDENTS TO PROFESSIONALS “The importance of the affiliations between professional theatre companies and the 70-student BFA program is to develop and train the students to be professionally viable by the time they graduate,” explains Plate.

Students are cast as “understudies or principal roles, ensemble roles or they are actually cast in shows,” he says.

“From a student perspective, even if they never go on, the opportunity to be in a room with a working professional is invaluable because they really breathe the air of what is expected from them in that space.”

BW’s professional relationships began with BW faculty members including Laura Berg, a company member at Great Lakes Theater and Adjunct Professor at BW, who helped create a bridge between the university and the Great Lakes undergraduate internship program.

“The BFA program is special because the faculty are actively working professionals who have achieved a considerable amount of success in their field,” Plate says. “I think the faculty are excellent. We have the head of the BFA, Brennan Murphy, a Yale-trained acting specialist who has a remarkable ability to distill what’s a very nuanced process down to repeatable steps.”

That’s important, he says, “because being a professional really means being someone who can do a really good job on a bad day.”

by Kasey Hughes ’20, Senior Executive Editor, The Exponent newspaper

Bachelor of Music (BM) Music Composition Music History & Literature Music Performance: Keyboard, Strings, Voice, Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion Music Theatre Music Theatre Direction Music Theory Music Therapy

Bachelor of Music Education (BME) Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Arts Management & Entrepreneurship Music: Liberal Arts (Academic or Applied)

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BELIEVE IN YOUR NEXT NOTE... WE DO. CONSERVATORY Your determination. Our expertise.

C ONSERVATORY Together, we’ll transform your passion into purpose of MUSIC and your creative expression into artistry. of MUSIC

Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, Ohio 44017

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Baldwin Wallace University does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, age, disability, national origin, gender or sexual orientation in the administration of any policies or programs.