Monthly Archives: July 2017

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First Steps in Symphony Performance: MSYO and MSYS

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By Audra DeLaney

Recently, we hired a new Music Director for the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, Octavio Más-Arocas. At the Season Preview Party, Octavio was introduced by our President & CEO Mike Miller and said he is so thankful to be in Mansfield and that the community has already touched his heart. The Mansfield Symphony Orchestra is a staple at the Renaissance, as it has been around for many years. It is full of talented musicians, most of whom got their start in different musical groups as children. At the Renaissance, there are two programs that help young musicians hone their skills so that they may have the chance to join a group like the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra later in life.

The Mansfield Symphony Youth Orchestra (MSYO) is made up of some of North Central Ohio’s finest musicians, primarily in high school, from a 12-county region. It is the only youth orchestra within a 65 mile radius of Mansfield and represents approximately 90 members each season who perform concerts both onstage at the Renaissance and in the community. MSYO has been a part of the Mansfield community and Renaissance Theatre since 1982, founded and led for many years by Ettore Chiudioni, and is currently under the direction of Randy Heidlebaugh.

Randy has been a music educator since 1984. Throughout his tenure, he has always encouraged his students to audition for MSYO.

“I have been directly involved with MSYO for the past five years,” Randy said. “Beginning with the 2012-2013 season I served as assistant conductor for two seasons and have been the conductor for the past three seasons.”

He wanted to support the MSYO because of how important he thinks it is to the arts in our local communities. Randy said MYSO gives high school students another opportunity for musical growth through performing with other musicians from the area.

“MSYO offers a place for fine high school musicians to perform a variety of great orchestral music that they may not have the opportunity to do in their respective high school programs,” Randy said. “Many of the high schools that our students come from don’t have a strong or full orchestra , so MSYO offers those students a chance to play in a full symphonic orchestra.”

MSYO performs two concerts each season, one in the fall and one in the spring. Randy has many great memories from rehearsals and concerts.

“Our performance of ‘Nimrod’ from Enigma Variations by Elgar at the December 2015 concert and ‘Variations on a Shaker Melody’ by Aaron Copland at the May 2016 concert are examples of the students really bringing the music to life on a couple of my personal favorite pieces,” he said.

“The most recent memorable moment was our Spring concert of this year when we performed many pieces by American composers and finished the concert with a great performance of Morton Gould’s ‘American Salute’ followed by our encore presentation of John Philip Sousa’s ‘Star and Stripes Forever’ featuring all four of our flute players on piccolo for the piccolo solo. Really fun!”

Since 1992, another program has also encouraged the youth in and around Mansfield in the field of symphony performance.

The Mansfield Symphony Youth Strings (MSYS) program has both complemented the musical instruction young students receive in their schools as well as provided a large ensemble experience to students who have no access to a school orchestra program. The Youth Strings  is comprised of approximately 55 students all playing string instruments like the bass, cello, violin, and viola. The students are mainly in grades 6 through 10 and come from 20 schools in the North Central Ohio area. It was founded by beloved area music teacher Percy Hall. Currently, the MSYS program is under the direction of Matt Domka.

Matt is no stranger to the music community in Mansfield.  He began playing the violin at the age of seven under Mrs. Elva Newdome and played in the Mansfield Symphony Youth Orchestra under the direction of Mr. Ettore Chiudioni. Like Randy, Matt is also a music educator. In 2004 he graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelors of Music Education with a specialization in String Pedagogy.

Matt commented that MSYS also perform two concerts a year like the MSYO and they usually perform six to eight pieces during each concert. He said it is a joy to watch his students progress in their music playing ability the longer they are a part of MSYS.

“It’s also somewhat of a rarity for a city the size of Mansfield to have two youth orchestras as well as an adult orchestra,” Matt said. “This in itself draws attention and traffic to Mansfield. We regularly have students travelling two hours to attend MSYS and MSYO rehearsals.”

For more information on the Youth Orchestra program, please contact Conductor Randy Heidlebaugh at mrhmsyo@mansfieldtickets.com. For more information on the Youth Strings program, visit their website or contact Conductor Matt Domka at matthewdomka@gmail.com. Finally, for more information on other programs offered through the Renaissance Education Department, contact Chelsie Thompson at chelsie@mansfieldtickets.com or 419-522-2726 ext 251.

Family Four Pack

All About the Family Four Pack!

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by Colleen Cook

It’s a part of our organization’s mission to ensure that everyone has access to live arts and entertainment, and we’re committed to finding new ways to expand our reach each season. At the same time, we have a responsibility to our donors and sponsors to steward their gifts well and to be a financially sustainable organization – that means, we have to be affordable and accessible, but we usually can’t make our tickets free.

Finding an affordable price point for each of our shows that fulfills our artist agreements, ensures that our expenses are covered, and maintains affordability to our patrons can be more than a little bit tricky. We subsidize every ticket price with approximately 50% donated/sponsored funds (that is to say, without the support of our donors and sponsors, we’d be forced to charge twice as much for every ticket to simply break even).

All of those factors played into our decision to create a Family Four Pack ticket option this season. The Family Four Pack is essentially 4 seats and two popcorns for $50. These seats are available in our Section C for most of our family-friendly shows beginning in the 17-18 Season. Family Four Pack tickets are not available for sale online, and can only be purchased through visiting or calling the Box Office at (419) 522-2726 during open hours, Tuesday through Friday, 12-5 PM.

When you purchase a Family Four Pack, your family can easily afford to bring the whole crew to a show without draining the college savings account. If you need more than four tickets, you can add additional tickets to your package for just $15 each. When you pick up your tickets either at the Box Office when you purchase or at the will call window the day of the event, you will have two vouchers for popcorn that you can redeem at the concession stand anytime that evening.

We hope that this new price point will make attending our shows more affordable for families and increase your opportunities to enjoy great performances here in Mansfield! We’d love to hear your thoughts – reach out in the comment section, or give our Box Office a call any time!

Colleen Cook Renaissance Theatre

Journey to a Career in Arts Marketing

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By Audra DeLaney

You have to wonder to yourself sometimes, “who is the person who runs the Renaissance social media?”  Well, this person is the same person who’s name you see in the top left corner of most of our blogs and who is asks all the questions to interviewees during podcasts. Marketing and Communications Director Colleen Cook is an innovative digital marketer,  invested wife and mother, and someone who is constantly thinking about how to improve herself and the world around her.

Colleen’s path to a career in arts marketing was a little different than most. She received her undergraduate degree in Music Education from Ashland University. After graduation, she took up a job as a music teacher in an Ohio school district. Following that, she chose to pursue a master’s degree in Voice Pedagogy from Shenandoah Conservatory near Washington D.C. in Winchester, VA. She always had a nack for arts management, but didn’t know one could obtain a degree in it.

“A friend said to me why aren’t you doing a masters in Arts Management?” Colleen said. “I responded that I hadn’t even heard of the field!”

After speaking with the advisor to those pursuing degrees in arts management, Colleen chose to add a Master of Science in Arts Management to her course load and was able to get an on campus internship that helped her hone her skills. She then interned for Americans for The Arts, a nonprofit based in Washington D.C. who’s mission is to serve, advance, and lead the network of organizations and individuals who cultivate, promote, sustain, and support the arts in America. Colleen was placed in the Leadership Alliances department where she assisted the organization with their artist committee, administration for the National Arts Awards, the Nancy Hanks lecture and dinner for Arts Advocacy Day, and several development-related tasks.

“When successful artists and celebrities come to D.C. to testify on behalf of the NEA, or to do anything pro-arts, this is the department they go through,” Colleen said. “I was fortunate to meet a number of well known arts leaders through this internship, and I learned a lot about how a successful national-level nonprofit does business.”

Colleen said her internship with Americans for The Arts helped her learn how to do things the right way in the field of development because Americans for The Arts has to works with some of the biggest philanthropists in the United States. The experience taught her the ins and outs of the fundraising process she may not otherwise have learned.

After concluding her internship, a friend who was performing at the Renaissance at the time reached out to her about an open Assistant Development Director position. She and her husband had talked about wanting to move back to this area, and Colleen knew the Renaissance Theatre would be a good fit for her. She still had classes left to finish, but interviewed for the job anyway. She got it, and moved back two weeks later. The next year, Colleen became the Development Director and helped to reorganize the development practices at the Renaissance. After three years in that role, she made a lateral move to work as the Director of Marketing and Communications, having thoroughly enjoyed being able to tell the story of the Renaissance through her role in Development.

Meetings with various individuals are also a part of Colleen’s schedule, as is working closely with Assistant Director of Marketing and Graphic Designer Steven Au on the numerous print and digital ads the Renaissance runs for each show. Colleen develops the marketing plan for each show, partners with numerous media outlets, creates the majority of the written content the Renaissance produces, which includes web management, news releases, social media management, and numerous print pieces.

 

“I love that my job allows me to be creative and productive each day. We work with some of the most incredible people in our region at the Renaissance and I feel so grateful to have built relationships with so many brilliant and hardworking leaders here. It’s my pleasure to tell the Renaissance’s story each day,” she shares.

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What is Broadway Camp?

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By Audra DeLaney

If you are a follower of our social media platforms, you have seen a number of posts about a program called Broadway Camp, formerly Camp Broadway. Broadway Camp is a theatre day camp program put on by the Renaissance Education Department that is directed by Mansfield Youth Theatre Director and Education Department Assistant, Dauphne Maloney. Two sessions of Broadway Camp are offered every summer in June and they are open to children ages 8-13. The main purpose of Broadway Camp is for the students in attendance to create and perform their own mini-musical after taking the time to learn about what goes into delivering a worthwhile performance. Each camp is a week long and participants work for four days on their skills, and then on Friday they perform their musical for their families and friends.

Duaphne has a few helpers during Broadway Camp every year. This year, Technical and Production Intern Andy Blubaugh, as well as MY Theatre alumna Hannah Bloir, helped Dauphne run the camp, teach the participants, and do everything in between.

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Broadway Camp campers learn how to tie dye from Andy Blubaugh. Tie dye shirts are what the campers always wear during their performance on Friday for their parents.

Hannah said she is excited to have been able to help with Broadway Camp this year.

“I love watching the kids progress. I love when they start out with initial awkwardness because they don’t know what’s in store and they don’t know each other,” Hannah said. “Then as the week goes on, they start learning more about each other and about the music that we’re learning and it’s so cool to see the end product.”

Hannah said it is interesting to help out during Broadway Camp because of the different dynamics between they campers. She was in a number of shows directed by Dauphne during her middle/high school years and is happy to impact the lives children.

“It’s kinda of fun to be back in that with the kids and see how their different personalities all work together. It’s a lot of fun honestly and it’s just cool to be there for the kids if they need anything.”

Each year, the music for Broadway Camp changes. Each song brings a new energy and set of learning experiences to the student participants and helpers. Hannah said they songs help the participants come out of their shells.

“I love ‘Go Go Go Joesph.’ I love that song and I love the moves that Dauphne put with it,” Hannah said. “It is just a lot of high energy and I think that’s why the kids like it a lot too because they can just kind of let loose.”

Both Broadway Camp sessions this year were centered around music from The Little Mermaid, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Lion King, Jr, and Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. This year, the first session had longer days than the second one, but they kids still got in the same amount of work and improvement.

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Children listen to Dauphne Maloney as she instructs them on their movements for the song “Under The Sea” from The Little Mermaid.

“The first week I feel like the group was a little quieter for the whole week, not that their was anything bad about that,” Hannah said. “This group that we have this week, again not in a bad way, have been all over the place this week. Regardless. when they do perform, they all do come together really well.”

Broadway Camp allows students to explore the world of musical theatre in an environment that focuses on the many elements of performance through theatre games, dramatic play, staging and singing. It is an environment that fosters growth and artistic exploration that we hope will benefit the youth in our community in the long run.

If you would like more information about the Renaissance Education Department, please contact Chelsie Thompson at chelsie@mansfieldtickets.com or 419-522-2726 ext 251.