Welcome, friends, teachers, students, and parents! This is the official blog of ArtReach, a Division of the Children's Theatre of Cincinnati. Our 2008-09 tour has already begun (our first show was on September 19), and we will share our stories online with you as often as possible in the following months.
We've been busy. Currently, we are touring two shows: Ohio playwright and ArtReach founder Kathryn Schultz Miller's stage adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving, and directed by Andrew Gaukel; and An Algonquin Cinderella, written and directed by ArtReach alum and Ohio playwright Mary Tensing. We will continue to tour these shows into mid-November. Starting Nov. 17, we begin rehearsals for A Christmas Carol, which hits the road after Thanksgiving.
There are four of us in ArtReach, all recent college graduates at the start of our acting careers.
The primary author of this blog, Chris Stewart, is originally from Omaha, NE, and graduated from Hillsdale College (MI) with a degree in English and Theatre.
Keith Taylor, from Columbus, OH, has a degree in Theatre from Muskingum College (OH).
Teresa Wellman is from Dayton, OH, and she graduated from Wright State University with a degree in Musical Theatre.
Marva Williams is also from Dayton, and she has a degree in Psychology from Sinclair Community College.
Together, we tour the tri-state area (though we go as far north as Sandusky, as far west as Joliet, as far east as Baltimore, and as far south as Tullahoma, TN!) in ArtReach's big white van. In this van, we pack our state-of-the-art sound system, our sets, props, costumes, repair kits, and personal suitcases for overnight trips. It's a tight fit, but we've made as much use of our space as possible...and even developed a way to keep the mountain in the back low enough so the driver can still see out the rearview mirror!
We've already played such austere venues as Stuart's Opera House in eastern Ohio, Sandusky's State Theatre on Lake Erie, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and recently, the Palace Theatre in Marion, OH. But we've loaded into libraries, gymnasiums and cafetoriums as well! Any place wide enough for our backdrop and deep enough for our Sleepy Hollow trees to spin around is fair game. Our best load-in time is around 22 mins., so we've got a pretty good system.
Tomorrow is a very welcome day off. But we return to the van on Wednesday, to drive to Osgood, IN, to perform Cinderella for the first time in a week!
There will be more to come, of course, but for now, that's all from us. We look forward to hearing feedback via this blog, as well, in the form of your comments. Please feel free to share your experiences as we share ours!
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