Arts & Culture

Open Stage Dramatizes "City Beautiful" History

2013-05-16T17:12:35Z

Mira Lloyd Dock

Open Stage of Harrisburg is presenting the second in a series of productions based on the history of Harrisburg. The series is called Stories from Home, and this new production is called City Beautiful, a title taken from a movement in the early 1900’s to improve and beautify the city of Harrisburg.

Anne Alsedek is the Education Director at Open Stage. She directed and developed the production, dramatizing some of the key events related to launching the City Beautiful movement.

One of those events was a speech given by Mira Lloyd Dock before the Harrisburg Board of Trade, the city leaders at the time. Dock was a member of an affluent Harrisburg family and a founder of the Harrisburg Civic Club. Her speech, presenting photos of European cities alongside photos of some of the squalor of Harrisburg of the day, was a galvanizing moment that rallied the support of community leaders behind the City Beautiful movement.

Susquehanna River in 1900's

Lisa Leone Dickerson portrays Mira Lloyd Dock in the production. Louis Bianco plays J. Horace McFarland, an influential leader of the time who was also a part of the City Beautiful movement and who made it possible for Dock to address the Board of Trade.

Performances are June 7 – 29 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8, and Sunday matinees at 2. Music and video will be a part of the production and there will be an interactive discussion following a number of the performances.

The theatre production is a kickoff event for a new movement called “City Beautiful 2.0, ” under the umbrella of the Historic Harrisburg Association but involving many different organizations. The vision is to re-create some of the accomplishments of the original City Beautiful movement through grassroots efforts. Those interested becoming involved in a project can find out more by contacting the Historic Harrisburg Association at 717-233-4646.

Below you can hear our interview with Anne Alsedek about the Open Stage production.

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Reach for the Big Stuff: The Art of Dionn Renee

2013-05-14T13:03:13Z

Harrisburg artist, photographer and graphic designer Dionn Renee.

Harrisburg artist and photographer Dionn Renee isn't a stranger to fame. Maya Angelou has hung one of Dionn's paintings in her office. Oprah loved the one Dionn sent to her. And she's photographed celebrities at events.

It was at the last minute in her senior year of high school that she decided against being a doctor and chose to pursue what she'd always been passionate about: art. From the time she was a toddler drawing with her mom after dinner, Dionn has always gravitated towards the arts. Today she paints, does photography and graphic design. These skills have led her to work with a record label doing CD covers, t-shirt designs, photo shoots, paintings and murals.

She grew up in Middletown and has spent time in Philadelphia, Rome, Los Angeles and Atlanta among other places. She now resides in the Harrisburg area. More of work can be found on her Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/dionn.renee

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Paying It Forward: Local Actor Michael Giovanni

2013-05-07T12:39:14Z

Harrisburg resident Michael Giovanni isn't real proud of how he spent some of his youth. "All we knew was just doing illegal stuff to make money to dress nice and play basketball and chase girls," he says. When he decided that he needed to change, he got involved in a church group which took him to other countries to help do things like build water systems and medical centers in poorer countries. But Michael himself was also the recipient of some help in a rather unexpected way. One day at his job at a shoe store in the Harrisburg Mall, actor Michael Kenneth Williams who played Omar Little on HBO's The Wire walked in. While Giovanni was helping him, Williams offered him the chance to get into acting.

Now Michael's been involved in productions ranging from The Wire to Tyler Perry's House of Pain and even Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. His latest effort is a web series that he has helped produce called Hamilton Street. It's shot in Harrisburg and based on the city as well, and it's Giovanni's way of trying to give back to the community, both by addressing social problems and by the opportunities it gives other aspiring local actors.

Listen to the feature:

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CASA to Become Charter School

2013-05-02T16:11:17Z

Beginning in the school year 2013-2014, The Capital Area School for the Arts will transition from being an arts magnet school into being a full charter school. Instead of offering only half-day sessions devoted to the arts, the school will now be offering a full academic curriculum and students will spend their entire day at CASA. Classroom space at the school location in Strawberry Square in Harrisburg will have to be expanded, and CASA has made arrangements to use facilities at Temple University, also located in Strawberry Square.

CASA was launched in 2001, with a partnership between Open Stage of Harrisburg and the Capital Intermediate Unit. The model was that of an arts magnet school. Students accepted into CASA from school districts throughout the area attended academic classes in their home district, but for more intense training in the arts, they spent half of each day at CASA. Tuition was covered by the participating school district.

With state budget cuts in education, however, fewer and fewer school districts have been willing to cover those tuition costs. CASA has been struggling in recent years to make up that shortfall. Finding scholarships to cover costs of students unable to meet the expense became a difficult and time-consuming process. The idea of accepting only those students whose parents could afford the tuition ran counter to the vision of the school.

By becoming a charter school, tuition for each student will now come directly to CASA from state education funds, not to the student’s home district.

In difficult financial times, this has caused some concern among struggling school districts. The Harrisburg school directors rejected CASA’s charter application at first. Just a few days later, however, the decision was reversed.

For students seriously interested in pursuing the arts, CASA offers opportunities not available in many schools. Students choose one of six disciplines on which to focus: theater, visual arts, dance, music, film and creative writing. But collaboration is a big part of the education. Creative writing students, for example, write stories for film student projects. Music students create pieces for the dancers. A student-produced presentation which involves all the different disciplines is performed at Whitaker Center as a collaborative project.

It may be that CASA’s transformation into a charter school will have an indirect benefit for arts education in the region. Some school districts, in order to keep their strongest arts students from leaving, have planned a more aggressive approach to their own arts education. But in many other districts, the arts programs are the areas being cut back the most as education dollars shrink. And for gifted arts students in some districts, CASA may prove the only course for them to pursue an education in the arts.

Below you can hear our feature with Casa principal Cheryl Giles-Rudawski.

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Watch the Sky: Public Star Watches in Lancaster

2013-04-30T17:25:00Z

Photo by Joe Ulrich

It's a sight that's always there but often goes overlooked. The night sky is the focus of a series of public star watches being held by the Astronomy Enthusiasts of Lancaster County (www.aelc.us) each month at Lancaster Central Park.

"We live in cities now and suburbs, and light pollution is a real problem," says David Farina, the president of the AELC, "Unless you go up into northern Pennsylvania or somewhere deep into the deserts, most people don't get to see what the sky is really like. I want to encourage them to do that."

AELC members bring their telescopes and the public is welcome to come and gaze through them while learning about what they see; all the fun and none of the hassle of having to buy and learn how to setup one's own telescope.

Each star watch focuses on the various planets, galaxies and other objects that happen to be in the sky at that given time. At the April star watch, the telescopes were trained on Jupiter, Saturn, the moon and a handful of galaxies. Between 50-60 people showed up to get a closer look.

"There's definitely curiosity there," says Lane Davis, vice president of the AELC and the organizer of the star watches. "Some portion of the population will always wonder, 'Well, what is a star? What does it look like in a telescope? Do stars really have different colors?' So I think they come to places like this to find out the answers."

The next star watch takes place on May 17 or 18th depending on the weather, from 8:30-10pm. The star watches are free and registration is required at 717-295-2055. To register and find out more about the star watches, check out the Lancaster County Park's calendar. You can find more information on the AELC at their website www.aelc.org and their Google+ page.

See below for more photos from the April public star watch.

Hear the feature:

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Carlisle Theatre Provides Location for Student Film

2013-04-18T14:17:57Z

The Carlisle Theatre on High Street in Carlisle was built in 1939. Most of the art deco movie theatres of that period have given way to the multiplex cinemas, and in fact the Carlisle declined in the 1970’s and was eventually closed in 1986. But a group of Carlisle citizens wanted to preserve the theatre and formed the Carlisle Regional Performing Arts Center, Inc. in 1990 for that purpose. After a large fundraising effort and thousands of hours donated by volunteers, the theatre was restored and reopened in 1993.

For Rolando Vega, a senior at Messiah College majoring in film, the history of the Carlisle Theatre made it an ideal location for a Senior Honors Project film which traced some of the technological trends in the film industry. With Rolando directing and a crew of other Messiah Film and Media majors including associate producer Caroline Philips, art director Justine Robillard, cinematographer Mitch McClure and writer Sarah Stevenson, the Carlisle Theatre was transformed into a movie set.

The film tells the story of a fictional theatre called The Palace across the decades. Vega says that it was inspired by the history of the Carlisle Theatre.

The entire student crew approached the project with great seriousness, raising a budget of $7,300 through an online fundraising site. They brought in a special digital camera called “the red camera”, which shoots at a resolution 4 times the standard quality of high definition. They rented period cars, brought in piles of period clothes and hired SAG film union actors for lead roles. They found public domain Hollywood films they could incorporate as background for their story of the movie theatre.

Throughout, The Carlisle Theatre provided access, aid and cooperation in a variety of ways. They allowed Rolando and his crew use of the marquee to put up custom letters. Fred Wonders, projectionist at the Carlisle Theatre, brought his longtime knowledge about his field to help provide realistic details about the various periods the film covers. He also appears in the film as a construction worker.

The premiere of the film will be at the Carlisle Theatre on May 5 at 7:30. Admission is free, but a donation will collected. Half of the donations will benefit the Carlisle Theatre’s Save the Carlisle Campaign and the other half will benefit the Messiah College Film and Media Arts Department.

Below you can hear our feature about the filming of the movie.

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And here’s the trailer for the film.

Noodly Goodness with The Sketties

2013-04-16T19:00:00Z

Photo by Joe Ulrich

Jesse Porter of The Sketties

"It almost sounded like a disease after a while," says Jonny Wechter of local band The Sketties while talking about the origins of their band's name. "Basically I was just eating spaghetti every day, and so I was just like, 'Oh the sketties again...the sketties...the sketties'...You know how you say a word over and over again and it sounds really weird after a while? Well that's sort of what happened with this."

Photo by Joe Ulrich

Ben Hartranft of The Sketties

The Sketties is a three-man band comprised of Wechter (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Ben Hartranft (guitar, vocals, drums) and Jesse Porter (drums). They've have been together for 6 years, playing shows from Maine to North Carolina and have released four studio albums.

Photo by Joe Ulrich

Jonny Wechter of The Sketties

Stylistically the music is hard to pinpoint, so pointing to some of their influences like Radiohead, Modest Mouse, Neil Young and David Bazan may provide a clue.

Recently they ventured into the world of stop-motion photography which they used in the making of the music video for "When Will You Learn", a song from their latest release "Because We Can":

The Sketties will be playing at the Launch Music Conference and Festival in Lancaster taking place April 25-28 in downtown Lancaster. Launch is a three day event involving discussions and clinics during the day and performances throughout the city at night.

Listen to the feature:

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CPYB Students Learn Ups and Downs of Professional Ballet

2013-04-11T17:26:55Z

Adrienne Schulte

The life of a professional ballet dancer is full of graceful leaps, elegant pirouettes, gorgeous costumes and enthralled audiences. But there is another side to it as well.

Adrienne Schulte is a professional dancer, currently a member of the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. She has also performed as First Artist with the English National Ballet. Her foundational training in ballet was in Carlisle at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet with Marcia Dale Weary.

Part of the training at CPYB involves bringing in current professional dancers to help the students get a deeper perspective in ballet performance. Recently, Schulte was one of the professionals brought in by CPYB to help coach the students in their upcoming production of Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty. She’s performed in the ballet many times both in America and Europe.

She describes her role as helping the students find ways to understand what lies within the dance steps. The students are already proficient at executing the ballet choreography. Schulte works to help them develop inner understanding and find dramatic purpose in their movements.

Something else happens in the process as well. The students absorb lessons that are not specifically related to dancing. They pick up nuances and attitudes which give them a clearer glimpse into the world of professional ballet. That world, while one full of sweeping music and beautiful gesture, is also one full of challenges and difficulties. The students, on some level, get a chance to see the type of commitment needed to persevere through the less glamorous aspects of the art.

The CPYB production of The Sleeping Beauty is at Whitaker Center in Harrisburg on April 20 and 21. Performances at Saturday at 1 and 7 p.m., and Sunday afternoon at 2. Below you can hear our feature and interview with Adrienne Schulte and CPYB student Lauren Ostrander.

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The History of Waking Up: National Watch and Clock Museum Alarm Clock Exhibit

2013-04-09T22:00:00Z

Photo by Joe Ulrich

This alarm clock would strike a match at the desired time and light an oil lamp, the idea being that the light would help wake the person up. Unfortunately it would occasionally end up lighting houses on fire.

"Everyone can relate to that annoying alarm clock that wakes you up in the morning," says Katie Knaub, Museum Educator at the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, "We just wanted to create something that everyone can relate to."

The museum will be opening its Wake Up exhibit later this month with an exhaustive display of various alarm clocks from ancient times,to today. They've even got some rather quirky, and frankly dangerous, variations on early alarm clocks. One used the sun to light a fuse which fired a small canon. Another struck a match to light an oil lamp and sometimes caught houses on fire.

Photo by Joe Ulrich

This alarm clock was a sundial that, at the right time, would use a magnifying lens to catch the sun, light a fuse and fire the small canon.

The museum houses a thorough colletion of all types of timepieces, from sundials to wall clocks and digital watches. "We have a mission which is to tell the whole story," says Noel Poirier, the Director of the museum, "So our collection includes objects from all over the world, [an] Asian incense clock...right up to modern calculator wrist watches."

The Wake Up exhibit opens as part of their annual Wine and Chimes event on April 26 and is open to the general public on April 27.

See the gallery below for more alarm clocks on display at the National Watch and Clock Museum's Wake Up exhibit.

Listen to the feature:

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Medical Students Study Graphic Novels

2013-04-04T19:09:49Z

Dr. Michael J. Green

Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey was the first medical school in the country to have a Department of Humanities, created at the founding of the College in 1967. Among other things, it has offered courses on medical ethics and professionalism, lectures on medical history, and presentations of one-act plays and staged readings.

Uniquely, the Department also offers 4^th-year medical students a chance to participate in a month long class studying medical graphic novels – stories with a medical theme told in comic book format. As a final project, the students create their own comic book stories, relating a personal experience from their own time in medical school. The students display and discuss their graphic stories at the end of the course.

Student Jessica Walrath displays her story, "My Dream Vacation"

Dr. Michael J. Green, Internal Medicine physician at Hershey Medical Center and professor in the Department created the class five years ago. He read comic books growing up, mentioning Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and Superman as some of his favorites. But around 10 years ago he discovered the Pulitzer-prize-winning graphic novel, Maus, by Art Spiegelman, about the Holocaust. He realized that comics could deal with serious subjects in an effective way.

Dr. Green has shared a personal story of his own in comic-book form. It involved a misdiagnosis brought about by trusting the assurances of another medical professional, which eventually resulted in the patient’s death. That story, illustrated by Ray Rieck, was published in the March 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. It marks the first time a story in graphic format has appeared in a mainstream medical journal.

The student stories are available to view on the Penn State College of Medicine website. The first page of Dr. Green’s story, Missed It, is available as a preview on the website of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Below you can hear our interview with Dr. Green and feature on the class.

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Submit the Documentary

2013-04-02T17:30:00Z

Photo by www.submitthedocumentary.com

Bullying used to be something that was a face-to-face confrontation. These days, it's extended into online barrages of tweets, Facebook posts and websites. And this new arena for bullying is one that kids have inhabited while most parents know very little about it.

"You have...kind of a wild west in terms of the behavoir that goes on online," says Les Ottolenghi, co-producer of "Submit the Documentary". Les wanted to make this film when he heard about a young boy who hung himself after being bullied both off and online. He thought about his own son and what he could do to help find solutions so something like that would never happen again.

Citing the possibility to bully anonymously online, "Submit the Documentary" reveals that not only are more kids likely to participate in bullying when they can remain anonymous, but in fact the depth and breadth of the bullying increases dramatically.

"Submit the Documentary" is made available for public and private screenings via request on the film's website. "What we think about social good is that you shouldn't have to wait for it to come to a theater near you," says Les. "You should be able to demand it and then take action in your own life."

http://www.submitthedocumentary.com/

Listen to the feature:

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Harrisburg's Shakespearian History

2013-03-28T14:39:25Z

Clark and Melissa Nicholson launched the Harrisburg Shakespeare Company in 1994, presenting free Shakespeare productions in Levitt Pavilion at Harrisburg’s Reservoir Park. It’s a part of Gamut Theatre Group, which offers children’s theatre under the banner of the Popcorn Hat Players and mainstage productions at their facility in Strawberry Square.

This year’s production of Measure for Measure in late May and early June will mark the 20^th anniversary for the free Shakespeare performances. With funding from the economically strapped city gone, the company has had to use creative ways to find other sponsors to keep the tradition alive.

Edwin Booth as Hamlet, 1870

The 20 year history of the Harrisburg Shakespeare Company is only a part of a long legacy of Shakespeare performances in the city. Strawberry Square, where Gamut Theatre is located, sits upon the site of the old Harrisburg Grand Opera House. Here, many famous American actors of the 19^thcentury performed Shakespeare, including John Wilkes Booth and his brother Edwin, known as one of the great Hamlets of his time.

Joseph Jefferson, the patriarch of a famous American acting family, is buried in Harrisburg Cemetery, having died here while on tour in a Shakespearian production.

Clark Nicholson as Hamlet, 1997

Clark Nicholson knows a lot more about that story, and about other theatre history in Harrisburg. Below you can hear our interview with Clark, as he takes us on a tour of some of the sites around the city, and unfolds some of the rich theatrical legacy of the city of Harrisburg.

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History, Meet the Future: The Gettysburg Story

2013-03-26T13:08:09Z

With the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg taking place this year, how does a filmmaker go about making the story of Gettysburg new again? One way is to go to the folks at the Gettysburg National Park and say, "I had an idea for a film to use helicopters...and also potentially to use this new technology of an RC aerial drone helicopter with a camera." That's how the new documentary "The Gettysburg Story" got its start.

"The challenge with Gettysburg," says filmmaker Jake Boritt, "is to tell it in a way that hasn't been done before." He and his crew, which included RC drone operators and helicopter pilots, shot for ten days in June of 2012 on the battlefields of Gettysburg using cutting edge technology to capture the location in ways that are not only new for any documentary about Gettysburg, but new to film in general.

The arial drones "basically allow shots going from a few inches off the ground to 400 feet in the air, so it's really like no other camera possible." Another technology of note is the motion-control time-lapse. A camera moves slowly along a track, covering maybe six feet in the course of a few hours, taking a picture a handful of times each minute.

"The time-lapse gives you a real sense of the geography of the place itself," says actor Stephen Lang, the narrator of "The Gettysburg Story". In addition to his recent work as Colonel Miles Quaritch in "Avatar", Lang has also played "Stonewall" Jackson in "Gods and Generals" and George E. Pickett in "Gettysburg". "The power of the story, the beauty of the photography and the dramatic impact of the film techniques [Jake] used will tell the story in a very different and fresh way."

Jake also employed the use of the Kickstarter website to help fund the "The Gettysburg Story". The Kickstarter campaign ends March 31. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boritt/the-gettysburg-story

Listen to the feature:

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See some of the film and hear Jake talk about making and funding the project.

2Cellos at Whitaker Center

2013-03-22T15:41:18Z

After a worldwide tour with Elton John and appearances on TV Shows such as Ellen Degeneres and Glee, the duo performing group 2Cellos has launched its first solo American tour. They will be bringing their unique arrangements of pop and rock tunes to Whitaker Center in Harrisburg on April 4. The concert begins at 7:30 in the evening.

Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser were both young, classically trained cellists from Croatia, who launched their career as 2Cellos through YouTube, by posting their arrangement of Michal Jackson’s Smooth Criminal.

They now have a second album out called In2ition, which features a number of guest artists performing with them including Elton John and Naya Rivera from Glee.

You can hear our interview with Luka Sulic below.

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And check out a live performance of their version of U2’s With or Without You.

Benefit Concert for Cancer-Stricken Guitarist

2013-03-21T16:54:51Z

Ernesto Tamayo

Cuban-born classical guitarist and recording artist Ernesto Tamayo has performed across the United States and around the world. He is also well-known in this region as a teacher, having been on the faculty of the Pennsylvania Academy of Music in Lancaster and founding the Lancaster Classical Guitar Institute at the Ware Center of Millerville University. He also launched the annual Lancaster International Guitar Festival, which has presented concerts and competitions over the past four years in March

But this year Ernesto is unable to work on the festival he founded, suffering from a serious medical condition. He has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer which has made it impossible for him to perform or teach.

On Saturday, March 23, a number of Ernesto Tamayo’s friends and former students will present a benefit concert to honor and support the guitarist. All of the money raised will go to helping with medical and other bills. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Ware Center.

Well-known classical guitarist Ana Vidovic, who headlined last year’s Guitar Festival, will perform along with guitarists Allen Krantz and David Cullen. Two of Tamayo’s former students, Paul Morton and Matthew Bacon, who have gone on to their own careers as guitarists, will also perform. The finale will include a guitar orchestra of at least 50 guitars made up of Ernesto Tamayo’s friends and students.

Tickets can be purchased online, and special patron tickets are available by calling the Ware Center Ticket Office at 717-872-3811.

You can hear our interview with Harvey Owen, Director of the Ware Center below:

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