CCM Drama, Dance, Choral, Piano, Musical Theatre And More On Display This Weekend!

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CCM’s stars of tomorrow will be shining bright in a wide variety of concerts and productions running this weekend!

CCM’s 2012-13 Studio Series concludes with a production of Emily Mann’s powerful docu-drama Execution of Justice, running through April 20 in UC’s Cohen Family Studio Theater. Admission is free, but reservations are required. This production contains mature subject matter. Learn more about this production here.

CCM’s Ballet Ensemble also presents its annual Spring Dance Concert this weekend, with performances running through April 20 in Patricia Corbett Theater. This year’s program features unique collaborations with CCM’s Chamber Choir and Chamber Players. Learn more about this production here.

At 8 p.m. this Saturday, April 20, the CCM’s Chorale and Concert Orchestra join forces with a variety of special guests to present Benjamin Britten’s Spring Symphony and other works in Corbett Auditorium! Learn more about this performance here.

CCM’s annual celebration of the art of the piano returns at 7 p.m. this Sunday, April 21, as Pianopalooza VIII showcases our most spectacular student pianists! Learn more about this performance here.

CCM Slideshows: Execution of Justice

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The final installment of CCM’s 2012-13 Studio Series opens this evening with the Michael Burnham directed Execution of Justice. Emily Mann’s riveting docu-drama runs April 18-20 in UC’s Cohen Family Studio Theater. Admission is free, but reservations are required. This production contains mature subject matter.

CCM’s 2012-13 Studio Series Concludes with Gripping Docu-Drama ‘Execution of Justice,’ April 18-20

CCM proudly presents the final installment of the 2012-13 Studio Series with a production of Emily Mann’s powerful docu-drama Execution of Justice, directed by CCM Professor of Drama Michael Burnham. Execution of Justice runs April 18-20 in UC’s Cohen Family Studio Theater. Admission is free, but reservations are required. This production contains mature subject matter.

A chilling examination of the trial of Dan White for the murder of Harvey Milk, San Francisco’s first openly gay Supervisor, and Mayor George Moscone, Execution of Justice puts the trial on trial and measures the distance between “politics,” “action” and “the law.”

CCM Announces 2013-14 Mainstage Series of Opera, Musical Theatre, Drama and Dance

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is pleased to announce details for the 2013-14 Mainstage Series of opera, musical theatre, drama and dance productions!

The 2013-14 Mainstage Series features both classic and contemporary masterworks for the stage, including Arthur Miller’s Tony Award-winning The Crucible, the masterful comic opera Don Pasquale and an extended run of the musical that swept the world: Les Misérables.

CCM’s student and faculty artists also bring two classics of the screen to life – with Mainstage productions of Singin’ in the Rain and Owen Wingrave. Plus, guest artist D. Lynn Meyers directs CCM’s stars of tomorrow in the Drama Desk and Tony Award-winning Metamorphoses.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of CCM’s Dance program, the 2013-14 Mainstage Series also includes a lavish production of the beloved romantic ballet Giselle.

This year’s must-see Mainstage Series features seven fully staged works guaranteed to fill audiences with delight, with performances scheduled from Oct. 2, 2013, through April 19, 2014. All performances take place in the Corbett Center for the Performing Arts on the University of Cincinnati campus.

Production and ticketing details are below. Priority subscription packages go on sale May 2013. Single tickets become available in August, but subscribing is the only way to guarantee your seats for these must-see shows!

Visit ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/subscribe.html to register for CCM’s mailing list, and the Box Office will provide you with additional information on this year’s subscription options.

Preview CCM’s 2013-14 Mainstage Season in Today’s ‘Cincinnati Enquirer’

Photography by Mark Lyons.

Pick up today’s edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer for an exclusive first-look at our monumental 2013-14 Mainstage Series!

Read the story online here!

Visit ccm.uc.edu tomorrow to learn even more about next year’s must-see lineup of opera, musical theatre, drama and dance productions.

CCM Chair of Drama Richard E. Hess Receives Fulbright Scholar Award

Drama professor Richard Hess (right) led a contingent of students to Kenya in 2011 where they met refugees such as Abdi Rashid, a writer (left), who translated Hess’ words to Somali.

Richard E. Hess, the A.B., Dolly, Ralph and Julia Cohen Chair of Drama at CCM, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach and research at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya during the 2013-­14 academic year, the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board announced recently.

Hess’ research project, The Collapsible Space Between Us: Creating Artistic Identity through Theatre-­Making in Kenya, will allow him to work with actors as an acting teacher, on original devised theatre as a director and in educating theatre-­makers: actors who are story­tellers with strong identities interested in creating exciting physical theatre.

Hess is one of approximately 1,100 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in 2013-­14.

Hess first traveled to Nairobi in June of 2011 to create an original theatre piece with refugees from the Dadaab Refugee Camp and CCM Drama students. The Dadaab Theatre Project performed at World Refugee Day with support from the United Nations and the Great Globe Foundation.

“In Kenya I met a group of multi-cultural, international, multi-language strangers who used the currency of theatre to open hearts, share identities, and give voice to the unspoken,” Hess explains. “I encountered heroic bravery and tangible hope, and was surprised by the intense trust and humbling respect given to me so easily. The Africans made me feel valued as a teacher in a way I have never felt. I am eager to return.”

LCT Awards ‘S.L.U.T.’ Top Prize in CCM’s TRANSMIGRATION Series

Panelists for the League of Cincinnati Theatres (LCT) have recognized S.L.U.T. as the best production at CCM’s 2013 TRANSMIGRATION Festival, the Drama department’s annual presentation of student written and produced work. Panelists awarded second place to Sentenced, and honorable mentions to 2122 Michigan Avenue and The Sherwin Williams Effect. Congratulations to all involved!

The fifth-annual festival allows the audience to experience half-hour works produced by small groups of Drama majors, who create and design all aspects of their productions from start to finish. The festival is an exciting event for both guests and the presenters, as audiences get the opportunity to see up to four very different pieces of new theatre in a single night and the students premiere works that are entirely their own. This year, six shows were presented. “TRANSMIGRATION teaches our actors to be entrepreneurs,” says Richard Hess, chair of CCM’s Drama Department and director of the TRANSMIGRATION Festival. “There are absolutely no holds barred, with the exception of the thirty-minute time limit, allowing our students to learn to express from within.”

CCM Drama Celebrates Graduating Students at 2013 Senior Showcase on March 15

CCM Drama’s Class of 2013.

CCM’s Department of Drama presents its 2013 Senior Showcase at 2 and 7 p.m. on Friday, March 15, in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater. Both showcase performances are free and open to the public.

Graduating seniors in CCM’s drama program will present a variety of monologues and scenes to demonstrate the depth and breadth of their acting skills, honed during their undergraduate training at CCM. This will be the first presentation of a performance that these students will be taking on the road to exhibit their talent in industry showcases in New York and Los Angeles this April.

The 11th annual CCM Drama Dolly Awards will follow the 7 p.m. showcase performance. Hosted by Drama Department Chair Richard E. Hess, this annual event recognizes outstanding achievement and performance by students in the Department of Drama at CCM. Awards are given for Excellence in Performance and Excellence in Ensemble Performance from the 2012-13 CCM Drama season, which included the productions Arcadia, Ulysses, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and most recently The Time of Your Life. The year’s ceremony will also include tributes to retiring Professor of Dramatic Performance Michael Burnham and alumna Elana Ernst (’07 BFA Drama).

The highlight of the Dolly Awards will be the presentation of the 2013 Julia Winter Cohen Career Excellence Award to a graduate of CCM Drama. This year’s honoree is alumnus Damian Baldet (’95 BFA Drama), who will join the event via Skype videocast from London. Baldet has performed the role of Timon in the London, North American Tour and Mandalay Bay Las Vegas productions of The Lion King since 2005, and has a long list of credits that include shows off-Broadway and at La Jolla Playhouse (Calif.) and Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati.

The 2013 TRANSMIGRATION Festival’s New Works

Running March 7 – 9, this year’s TRANSMIGRATION festival will feature student-created new works 2122 MICHIGAN AVENUE, The Opening, Sentenced, The Sherwin Williams Effect, S.L.U.T. and Void.

Audience members will have the opportunity to customize their theater-going experience by choosing to watch up to four different productions, which are performed simultaneously and in non-traditional spaces throughout CCM’s Corbett Center for the Performing Arts. Learn more about each of these new, student-created works after the jump!

CCM Drama Students Present Edgy, Original Works During TRANSMIGRATION Festival

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CCM Drama students continue to learn what it takes to produce their own art as they prepare for the 2013 TRANSMIGRATION Festival of Student-Created New Works taking place March 7-9 throughout CCM Village.

The fifth-annual festival allows the audience to experience half-hour works produced by small groups of Drama majors, who create and design all aspects of their productions from start to finish. Admission to the festival is free, but reservations are required.

A.B., Dolly, Ralph and Julia Cohen Chair in Drama Richard Hess.

The festival is an exciting event for both guests and the presenters, as audiences get the opportunity to see up to four very different pieces of new theatre in a single night and the students premiere works that are entirely their own. “TRANSMIGRATION teaches our actors to be entrepreneurs,” says Richard Hess, chair of CCM’s Drama Department and director of the TRANSMIGRATION Festival. “There are absolutely no holds barred, with the exception of the thirty-minute time limit, allowing our students to learn to express from within.”

TRANSMIGRATION came into being in response to the dynamic careers of today’s professional actors. Though auditioning and getting cast for roles is the conventional way for an actor to make a name for his or herself, “the second way to make work is to gather a group of like-minded people, get together and create something… students need to know how to go into a storefront theatre and say ‘we’re going to make something in this raw space,’” Hess asserts. TRANSMIGRATION gives students real-world creative experiences that will last and develop through the rest of their careers.