Welcome to the Official Blog
of The Phoenix Theatre for Children!
Phoenix and CATCO 2010-2011 seasons
Last fall, CATCO and The Phoenix Theatre for Children announced a merger to provide greater service to central Ohio theatre audiences of all ages. Now we are ready to unveil our combined inaugural season, which promises to have something for everyone!
For more info, go the the CATCO website:
http://www.catco.org/seasons/2010-2011-season
Posted by Joseph on Sunday, March 28, 2010.
Honk Jr. Auditions
We had an absolutely amazing turnout for Honk Jr. auditions on 3/18 and 3/20. Over 60(!) talented boys and girls between the ages of 9-14 wowed our production team with their acting, singing, and dancing prowess. Director Geoff Martin will be making final casting decisions today and will make phone calls on Monday (3/22).
Thanks to all (kids and parents) who came out for the auditions! It's going to be an amazing cast and a great show!
Posted by Joseph on Sunday, March 21, 2010.
Acting Up Musical Theatre School - Performance
The Phoenix Theatre for Children's Acting Up Instructors have been hard at work over the past 8 weeks with 35 wonderful students between the ages of 9-14, learning music, studying scenes, and dancing their hearts out to excerpts from the musicals My Fair Lady, The Lion King, Snoopy, and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
The culmination of this work will occur this Saturday (3/6/10) at 11:15AM with a performance at the Shedd Theatre in The Columbus Performing Arts Center. The presentation is free - all are welcome to attend.
Come out and see the future stars of Columbus strut their stuff!
Posted by Joseph on Thursday, March 4, 2010.
PTC wins 4 Theatre Roundtable Awards!
The Phoenix Theatre for Children received three awards of excellence at the Central Ohio Theatre Roundtable Awards ceremony held on 1/31/2010 in addition to an award for Innovative Production:
Award of Excellence - Directing - Joe Bishara - Madeline's Christmas
Award of Excellence - Acting - Aaron Choi - Madeline's Christmas
Award of Excellence - Acting - Jeff Horst - The Miracle Worker
Innovative Production - The Miracle Worker
Congratulations to our individual winners and the cast and crew of The Miracle Worker!
Posted by Joseph on Monday, February 1, 2010.
Auditions: Titanic: The Musical
AUDITIONS: Phoenix Theatre for Children’s Titanic: The Musical
WHEN: January 25, 2010, 7p – 10p
WHERE: The Columbus Performing Arts Center (CPAC) @ 549 Franklin Ave., Columbus 43215
INFO: The Phoenix Theatre for Children will present Titanic: the Musical as a benefit concert on 3/27/2010. Titanic will be produced in a concert version in the historic Lincoln Theatre for one night only. Director Steven C. Anderson and Music Director Nathan Laing are looking for local adult singers and actors to work alongside musicians from ProMusica to create a “must-see” musical event. Proceeds from this benefit performance will support the Phoenix Theatre for Children’s programs for area youth “at risk of failure in the classroom.”
PREP: 16 bars up-tempo Musical Theatre piece; 16 bars Musical Theatre ballad (slow song). Auditions in 5 minute increments.
REHEARSALS: 7p – 10p @ CPAC on Feb 15, 22; Mar 1, 9, 15, 22, 26
PERFORMANCES: March 27, 2010 @ 6p-11PM – Performance – Lincoln Theatre
CONTACT: To schedule an audition, please email The Phoenix Theatre for Children Production Coordinator Joe Bishara at jbishara@phoenix4kids.org
Posted by Joseph on Wednesday, January 13, 2010.
Theatre Roundtable Awards - 1/31/10
Theatre Roundtable Annual Awards, Sunday, January 31.
The Central Ohio Theatre Roundtable will hold its annual Awards Night on Sunday, January 31 at the Jewish Community Center, 1125 College Avenue.
For the sixth year, the Roundtable will present its production awards, recognizing outstanding performers, directors and technical achievements in 2009. Roundtable responders attended more than 55 local productions in order to recognize the best of the best. Of special note this year will be recognition of three area productions for Innovative Production. Included are The Phoenix Theatre for Children for their production of “The Miracle Worker” integrating blind and deaf performers with hearing; Actors’ Theatre for “As You Like It” with live actors and puppets; and Shadowbox Cabaret for “Woodstock, Back to the Garden”, an original production including both video and live performances.
The event will begin a reception at 6:00 p.m., followed by the awards presentations at 7:00 p.m. Advance reservations are required; tickets are $10 for the general public and $5 for Theatre Roundtable Individual Members. Reservations can be made by calling 614-470-0970.
Posted by Joseph on Monday, January 11, 2010.
PTC up for Theatre Roundtable Awards!
The Phoenix Theatre for Children is a part of the Theatre Roundtable, a consortium of local theaters working to strengthen theater throughout Central Ohio. The Roundtable awards committee would like to receive feedback from anyone who has seen a Phoenix Theatre for Children production during the 2009 calendar year. The Phoenix 2009 shows were:
The Miracle Worker
Hansel & Gretel
Many Moons
The Paper Bag Princess
Madeline's Christmas
Please email Pam Scheer at pscheer@columbus.rr.com with your feedback.
Posted by Joseph on Wednesday, December 16, 2009.
Writing and acting with Heather in the schools
I have been working over the past few months on writing plays in the Columbus Public Schools. We write plays on many different subjects spanning from famous inventors to saving the environment. The students get 10 weeks to focus on the writing portion of the project and the next 10 weeks they work on acting out their very own play! Students are particularly excited this week because we are finishing writing our plays and working on the five tools of the actor. For those of you who are not familiar with the five tools of the actor they are: imagination, concentration, cooperation, body, and voice. This week we focused on each tool stating why it is important to the actor. Next, we played a theatre game that explores each tool. The exciting part that the students can’t wait to do is the audition. Each student gets to audition and tell what part they would like to play the most. Stay tuned for an update about the ‘audition experience’ with these brilliant actors!
Heather Burley
Education Director
The Phoenix Theatre for Children
Posted by Joseph on Thursday, December 10, 2009.
Madeline's Christmas is up and running!
Madeline's Christmas opened this past weekend with near sell-out performances! Congratulations to our twelve little girls in two straight lines as well as Miss Clavel, Mrs. Murphy, Monsieur Brun, Harsha, and Martin.
Check out the link below to read about the news and reviews for Madeline's Christmas:
http://www.phoenix4kids.org/madeline_news.php
Posted by Joseph on Monday, December 7, 2009.
3 Show Subscriptions for the PTC 09-10 Season!
Subscribe to the remaining three shows in The Phoenix Theatre for Children’s 2009-10 season, and save 20% off single ticket prices! When you purchase the Phoenix three-show subscription, adults are $48.75 and children are $24. All performances are in the Riffe Center Studios. Showtimes are Fridays at 7:30 pm, and Saturday & Sunday at 1 pm & 2:30 pm. Please call 614-469-0939 for more information or to subscribe today.
Posted by Joseph on Tuesday, November 24, 2009.
Patron Response for The Paper Bag Princess
Below you will find an email we received from Amy and Browyn Archer about their experience attending The Paper Bag Princess:
Dear Mr. Anderson:
I just had to email and tell you how much my daughter and I enjoyed The Paper Bag Princess this past Wednesday. We attended via the Ohio Virtual Academy . I thought it was delightful. While all of the actors were great, the woman who had to play the multiple parts of the nurse, Bog Hag and basket weaver was just incredible. I was so impressed how she handled each role.
I also was just so amazed by the way the dragon was made/presented. And the trolls. Well, I guess Ronald did a good job too, because we despised him.
It just was so funny, engaging and taught us all a lesson. Clever, clever, clever. Bravo!
Amy and Bronwyn Archer
Posted by Joseph on Tuesday, November 10, 2009.
CATCO AND PHOENIX TO MERGE IN 2010
The boards of the Contemporary American Theatre Company (CATCO) and The Phoenix Theatre for Children have approved a new initiative to merge the two non-profit Columbus theatre companies into a single 501(c)3 corporation in 2010. Under the new business model, CATCO, a professional Equity theatre company founded in 1984, and The Phoenix Theatre for Children, a family-focused theatre company established in 1993, will pool their artistic, financial, and human resources to better serve central Ohio theatre-goers of all ages.
Combining resources will allow the companies to broaden programming to include larger cast productions and musicals, investing in more community actors while expanding established audiences. It will also provide the opportunity to create a more robust educational program.
As approved by the boards, Phoenix Artistic Director and founder Steven C. Anderson will become Artistic Director of the new corporation. Anderson has 28 years of experience in Columbus theatre, including company administration, development, and creative vision. He has also managed several innovative collaborations with other Columbus arts organizations and established educational partnerships with multiple Ohio social service agencies.
CATCO Managing Director T.J. Gerckens will continue that role within the newly merged company. Gerckens has served CATCO for 12 years in various roles including Managing Director, Production Manager, and Lighting Designer.
The boards will continue to work on the logistics of the merger including board leadership and size, the expansion of educational opportunities, and programming selection for the 2010-11 season. Both CATCO and Phoenix will each continue to present under their already established brands. CAPA has been providing personalized back office services for both companies—seven years for CATCO and five years for Phoenix—and will continue to do so for the newly merged company.
Posted by Joseph on Friday, October 30, 2009.
Phoenix 09-10 Season Gala
The 2009-2010 Phoenix Theatre For Children Gala (held on 10/17/09 at The Columbus Performing Arts Center) was a tremendous success. Guests were treated to a Silent Auction, a sneak preview of our first show of the 09/10 season (The Paper Bag Princess), special guest musical performances (provided by Kim Garrison-Hopcraft, Shyla Starnes, Joe Bishara, and accompanist Nancy Nocks), a speech from Steven C. Anderson (Founder and Artistic Director of The Phoenix), in addition to Cocktails, Dinner, & Desert provided by Shane's Gourmet Catering. Phoenix Board of Director's President Trip Lazarus had this to say about the event:
Thank you, thank you, thank you – to everyone who worked so hard to make The Phoenix gala a smashing success and to everyone that supported the event. I thought everything went off without a hitch and everyone really seemed to have a great time. The building looked incredible, the performances were wonderful, the food was excellent, and the timing worked perfectly (I’m running out of superlative adjectives). Thank you!!!
Posted by Joseph on Wednesday, October 21, 2009.
Madeline's Christmas Auditions
The Phoenix Theatre for Children will be holding auditions for girls ages 9-13 for their upcoming production of Madeline’s Christmas on 10/24/09 from 1-5PM by appointment.
Where – Columbus Performing Arts Center
549 Franklin Avenue
Columbus, OH 43215
Girls should prepare 16 bars of music (Happy Birthday will suffice) to sing and be ready to learn basic choreography.
Production Team
Director – Steven C. Anderson
Music Director – Pam Welsh-Huggins
Choreographer – Whitney Thomas Eads
Rehearsal Schedule
11/16/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
11/17/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
11/18/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
11/19/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
11/20/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
11/23/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
11/24/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
11/25/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
11/30/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
12/01/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
12/02/09 – 4:30-7:30PM
12/03/09 – TBD
12/4/09 - TBD
Performance dates/times are below:
12/4/09 – 7:30PM
12/5/09 – 1 and 2:30PM
12/6/09 – 1 and 2:30PM
12/8/09 – 9:45 and 11AM*
12/9/09 – 9:45 and 11AM*
12/10/09 – 9:45 and 11AM*
12/11/09 – 9:45AM, 11AM*, and 7:30PM
12/12/09 – 1 and 2:30PM
12/13/09 – 1 and 2:30PM
12/15/09 – 9:45 and 11AM*
12/16/09 – 9:45 and 11AM*
12/17/09 – 9:45 and 11AM*
12/18/09 – 9:45 and 11AM*
*School Matinee performances (Tuesday-Friday at 9:45AM and 11AM) are dependent on school commitments and may be cancelled.
If you wish to schedule an audition, please email Joe Bishara at jbishara@phoenix4kids.org.
Posted by Joseph on Thursday, October 1, 2009.
Ushers for 2009-2010 Season
The Phoenix Theatre for Children is in need of ushers for its 2009-2010 season:
The Paper Bag Princess
November 6-15th, 2009
Riffe Center, Studio Two
Madeline's Christmas
December 4-13th, 2009
Riffe Center, Studio Two
Babar
January 22-31st, 2010
Riffe Center, Studio One
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
March 5-14th, 2010
Riffe Center, Studio One
Friday Evening performances begin at 7:30PM
Saturday and Sunday Matinees are at 1PM and 2:30PM
Ushers must arrive 45 minutes prior to curtain to receive a brief tutorial.
Please contact Joe Bishara via email (jbishara@phoenix4kids.org) if you are interested in volunteering your time and seeing a Phoenix show for free!
Posted by Joseph on Thursday, September 10, 2009.