CCM Drama Students and Faculty Cast in James Franco Produced Feature Film ‘Goat’

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We are thrilled to report that four current students and one faculty member from CCM’s Department of Drama have been cast in Goat, a feature film currently shooting in Cincinnati. The Andrew Neel directed film stars Virginia Gardner, Nick Jonas and Ben Schnetzer.

James Franco, Christine Vachon, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Vince Jolivette and David Gordon Green produce in association with Killer Films and Rabbit Bandini Productions.

Goat is the story of two brothers, the younger of whom, after he suffers an assault that leaves him physically and mentally wounded, pledges the same fraternity as his brother.

CCM Drama adjunct faculty member Denise Dal Vera will play the mother of Nick Jonas. Current students Clare Combest and Annie Grove booked speaking roles, and Ryan Garrett and Spencer Lackey booked recurring extra roles in the fraternity.

Casting Director d. Lynn Meyers teaches audition techniques for students in CCM Drama, and helped the four Class of 2017 students be seen for the film. “They did great,” remarked Meyers, who also serves as the Producing Artistic Director of Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati.

CCM Drama embarked on a new film initiative this year, adding film experiences to the curriculum. All Drama students will participate in an annual 48-Hour Film Festival, and the department will produce its first co-produced film with CCM E-Media next year. You can learn more about that new collaboration here.

“CCM Drama students are in demand for film and television roles nationally, and we’re excited to see that trend continue in Cincinnati,” says CCM’s A.B., Dolly, Ralph and Julia Cohen Chair of Dramatic Performance Richard E. Hess.

CCM Alumna Ellie Jameson Appears on CBS Drama ‘Criminal Minds’ This Week

CCM alumna Ellie Jameson.

We are thrilled to report that CCM alumna Ellie Jameson (BFA Dramatic Performance, 2013) appears in a guest starring role as Detective Carpenter on the CBS police-procedural television program Criminal Minds at 9/8c this Wednesday, Nov. 5. The episode is called “If the Shoe Fits.”

Jameson lives in Los Angeles and appeared in productions of Red Light Winter, Arcadia, The Time of Your Life, Coram Boy and The Matchmaker while at CCM.

She was named a Rising Star by the League of Cincinnati Theatres for her body of work while in Cincinnati. She also appeared in the 2009 feature film The World’s Greatest Dad with Robin Williams.

Learn more about CCM Drama’s actors at work here.

CCM Alumnus Michael Shults Joins the Faculty of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

CCM alumnus Michael Shults.

We are happy to report that CCM alumnus Michael Shults (MM Jazz Studies, 2012) recently accepted a tenure track position as assistant professor of saxophone at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He teaches applied jazz and classical saxophone, coaches saxophone quartets and jazz combos, and teaches jazz improvisation.

Shults served as a graduate assistant in the Department of Jazz Studies during his time at CCM, teaching improvisation and coaching combos and big bands. He studied saxophone with James Bunte and Rick VanMatre, improvisation with Phil DeGreg and composition with Kim Pensyl.

Shults has been praised for his “strong, imaginative” improvisations (Downbeat Magazine) and “fresh and intelligent musical ideas” (The Pitch). As a jazz saxophonist, he was a finalist in the 2012 North American Saxophone Alliance Jazz Artist Competition, and was the winner of the Graduate College Soloist category in the 2012 Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards Issue. He was a featured soloist on Bobby Watson’s 2010 release The Gates BBQ Suite which reached as high as #4 on the Jazzweek National Radio Airplay Charts. Also adept as a concert saxophonist, Shults has been praised for his “jaw-dropping” and “authoritative” technique (Bill Brownlee of the Kansas City Star) and has performed by invitation at the North American Saxophone Alliance biennial conference and the University of Iowa Festival for New Music.

He is currently a DMA candidate at the the University of Missouri-Kansas City under the tutelage of Zach Shemon of the PRISM Quartet. Before coming to CCM for his graduate studies, Shults earned dual BM degrees in Saxophone Performance and Jazz and Studio Music from the UMKC where he studied with noted saxophonists Bobby Watson, Tim Timmons and Dan Thomas.

Learn more by visiting www.michaelshultsmusic.com.

CCM Alumnus Max Clayton Cast in Broadway-Bound Revival of ‘Gigi’

CCM alumnus Max Clayton.

We are thrilled to report that CCM alumnus Max Clayton (BFA Musical Theatre, 2014) has just been cast in the Broadway-bound revival of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Oscar and Tony Award-winning musical Gigi.

Gigi is set to play a pre-Broadway engagement in the Eisenhower Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The show will officially open on Jan. 29, 2015, and will play a limited engagement through to Feb. 12, before moving on to the Great White Way later next year.

Clayton has kept busy since graduating just last spring. He was recently seen as Gabey in On the Town at the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre in Chicago and as Slim in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Oklahoma! The Chicago Tribune hailed Clayton’s performance in On the Town, calling him “an excellent lead.”

CCM audiences last saw Clayton as Don Lockwood in Singin’ in the Rain and as Macheath in The Threepenny Opera.

LCT Awards ‘PO 11259: Sincerely Yours’ Top Prize in CCM’s TRANSMIGRATION Festival

Six teams of student actors craft and perform original 30-minute shows during the 2014 TRANSMIGRATION Festival.

Panelists for the League of Cincinnati Theatres (LCT) have recognized PO 11259: Sincerely Yours as the best production at CCM’s 2014 TRANSMIGRATION Festival, CCM Drama’s annual presentation of student written and produced work. Congratulations to that show’s creative team of Jaclyn Chantel, Hannah Halvorson, Spencer Lackey, Laura McCarthy, Fabiola Rodriguez and Anna Stapleton!

Panelists awarded second place to The 17th Annual Snipes, Arkansas, Harvest Festival, and honorable mentions to Dreams R Us: Tonight’s Answers to Tomorrow’s Questions and Complex: A Structure of Sound, An Organism of Vibrations.

The sixth-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.

PO 11259 was praised for being “funny and poignant” and “a cool concept,”while The Snipes, Arkansas, Harvest Festival allowed its actors to show “a lot of dimensions in a short play.”

CCM Drama Grad Diana Maria Riva Returns to Primetime TV

CCM alumna Diana Maria Riva on television’s ‘Saint George.’ Photo courtesy of FX.

We are thrilled to report that CCM Drama alumna Diana Maria Riva (BFA, ’91; MFA, ’95) returns to primetime television as a series regular in a new comedy starring George Lopez. The half-hour Saint George premieres at 9 p.m. ET tonight (Thursday, March 6) on the FX channel!

Riva plays Lopez’s “tough and sexy” boss, as described in FX press materials. Her character, Concepcion, is the assistant principal at a downtown Los Angeles school, where she supervises Lopez teaching an evening history class — his way to give back to the community.

You can learn more about the program courtesy of the Cincinnati Enquirer here and courtesy of UC Magazine here.

CCM Dance Showcase Spotlights Student Choreographers March 6-8

Photography by Will Brenner.

CCM’s Studio Series proudly presents the 2014 Dance Student Choreographers’ Showcase from March 6–8 in UC’s Cohen Family Studio Theater. Celebrate the 50th anniversary of CCM’s Dance Department with this all-new program, directed by Assistant Professor of Dance Deirdre Carberry. Admission is free, but reservations are required.

Subtitled “Six Dances at a Gathering,” this year’s Dance Student Choreographers’ Showcase will set the stage for the new work of six talented undergraduates. In order to be selected for the highly competitive showcase, CCM’s aspiring choreographers submit written proposals and perform excerpts of the proposed choreography for Carberry. The result this year is a phenomenal collection of budding talent presenting works in complementary styles.

CCM Drama Students Present New Works in Sixth Annual TRANSMIGRATION Festival This Week

CCM TRANSMIGRATION 2014 logo.

Students in CCM’s Department of Drama flex their writing, editing, designing, directing and acting muscles with the 2014 TRANSMIGRATION Festival of Student-Created New Works, taking place March 6-8 throughout CCM Village. Admission is free, but reservations are required.

The sixth-annual festival allows audiences to experience half-hour works produced by small groups of drama majors, who create all aspects of their productions from start to finish.

“As a faculty member, I’m making an active effort to stay out of their way,” says Brant Russell, Assistant Professor of Drama and producer of this year’s TRANSMIGRATION Festival. “The audience will get a real sense of what our students are reacting to in their world, and we want that rawness to come through in each show.”

TRANSMIGRATION came into being in response to the dynamic careers of today’s professional actors. “There are two very important lessons TRANSMIGRATION gives us the opportunity to learn,” asserts Shaun Sutton, senior drama major from Overland Park, Kansas. “First, we don’t choose our groups – they’re assigned. It’s important for us to learn how to negotiate and work with new people in a medium we’re all so passionate about. Second, in the world of YouTube and Vine where anyone can be an actor, we need to develop our skills to tell a more powerful story. TRANSMIGRATION is our time to play with an unprecedented lack of structure in an intense professional training program.”

Each year, TRANSMIGRATION is different. This year’s shows include a soundscape in a dark room, a piece about dream creation, the story of a cosmic post office box and a work about community and sticking to your roots. See below for more information on this year’s original works.

CCM Faculty Honored During UC’s 2013 Faculty Award Ceremony

The University of Cincinnati has announced its 2013 All-University Faculty Award Winners and we are delighted to report that this year’s honorees include three CCM faculty members! Congratulations to Douglas Knehans, bruce d. mcclung and Miguel A. Roig-Francolí.

Learn more about their respective awards below:

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.”