We are still in need for male actors ranging in ages 14 to 22 for our upcoming production of GODSPELL.

Rehearsals have begun, but it’s not too late to hop on board.

GODPELL is the very popular musical based on the Gospel of Matthew. The music is beautiful and this is a wonderful opportunity for a young actor to get some fantastic theatre experience in the ensemble cast.

If you’d like to get more information you can contact the director, Ray Hale at 503-619-6523.

Introducing the cast of THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH!

Caleb Rust

Milo

Larry Wyman Jensen

Tock

Hannah L. Wilson

Humbug

Caleb C. Inman

Azaz the Unabridged

Robert Michael Cartusciello

Mathemagician

Hallie Ann Bartel

Princess Pure Reason

Molly Benjamin

Princess Sweet Rhyme

Billy Benjamin

Duke of Definitions & Kakafonous A. Dischord

Isaac Ellingson

Lethargarian, a Page & The Aweful Dynne

Isaiah Espinosa

The Whetherman, Gatekeeper & The Dodecahedron

Bronwyn Grover

The Understudy of Understanding & a Numbers Miner

Zachary Inman

The Count of Connotation & a Numbers Miner

Rachel Jensen

The Minister of Meaning & a Numbers Miner

Aislinn Mae Nelson

Lethargarian, The Letterman & The Senses Taker

Audrey Opager

Lelthargarian, Spelling Bee & a Demon

Katie Rice

Lethargarian, Word Merchant & The Everpresent Wordsnatcher

Elizabeth Solheim

Lethargarian, Word Mercant & The Terrible Trivium

Hannah Solheim

Lethargarian, Word Merchant & Demon of Insincerity

Shalkar Wilkins

The Earl of Essence & a Numbers Miner

Heather Sutherland

Stage Manager

Directed by Donald Cleland

Thank you to everyone who attended our fundraiser! You showed that you truly do care about bringing the magic of theatre to young people!

STAGES Performing Arts Youth Academy’s

production of

WE ARE WITNESSES

By Jacob Boas

Directed by Jennifer Yamashiro

WE ARE WITNESSES is the true accounts of 5 Jewish adolescents who lives are depicted during the time of Hitler’s regime. These beautifully people tell their heart rendering accounts, by bringing their diaries alive with the innocence and ideological endearments only young people can. Audiences will share their struggles and honorable lives as the 3 boys and 2 girls tell their stories. This is a wonderful theatrical experience you don’t want to miss.

May not be suitable for children under 12.

WE ARE WITNESSES is running at HART Theatre for one weekend only. So make your reservations now.

From there the show will be playing in various venues in the Portland Metropolitan area.

September 30 and October 1 at 7:30

October 2 at 2:00.

Adults $10.00 Seniors/Students $8.00

HART Theatre – 185 NE 2^nd Street, Hillsboro, OR

Sponsored by HART Theatre, Cultural Coalition of Washington County and The Oregon Holocaust Resource Center.

As the director of HENRY AND RAMONA I am extremely very proud of the cast, crew and parents of this terrific production. Let’s take it one at a time!

The Cast:

The cast has a wonderful mixture “veterans” and “newbies.” The veterans have helped the newbies bring their characters to life. I am so proud and thankful for the people who have the performance experience. They have brought creativity and professionalism to our production. I have been able to let them do their thing while I concentrate on the new actors.

The new actors to the stage have worked so extremely hard and have taken direction very well. They’ve listened carefully to my direction and tried diligently to incorporate my comments. We’ve had to work very hard, I won’t lie to you, but the hard work has paid off. I am so impressed with the progress they have made. I doubt the audiences can tell who are the pros and who are new to this crazy thing we call, acting!

The adults in the cast have been outstanding. Again, they bring a sense of joy and professionalism to the cast. Thank you Frank McNichol, Butch Vandehey, Kira Taylor and Jeannette Noble. I couldn’t have chose a better group of people to be the adults on Klickitat St.

It’s pure joy for me to see the cast put the whole thing up in front of an audience. That’s when the real magic happens!

The Crew:

I can’t say enough about our young crew. It’s not easy being a crew member under my direction, especially for the stage manager. I tend to change my mind about things often and expect the stage manager to read my mind. Both puts stress on him/her. (I’m always impressed when a stage manager is willing to work with me again!) Luckily we work with amongst a lot of laughter. The stage crew then needs to follow the stage manger’s orders, then again coming from me it can be difficult. Our light and sound crew are the best. I have always considered the stage crew to be the unsung heroes of a production.

The Parents:

I can’t say enough wonderful things about the parents. They allow their families lives to be disrupted in order for their child(ren) to have this wonderful opportunity and they even spend time and money to help the production become a success.

I believe some children’s theatre companies do not have the parents do much in terms of props, costumes, sets, etc. So far, not us and to be honest I hope STAGES never gets to the point where we don’t rely on parents to help in those regards. I believe it contributes a great deal to the family-feel of a show and allows the parents (and siblings) to be a part of the production. They take ownership in it.

I always joyfully marvel at the atmosphere created during rehearsals when the cast is rehearsing and parents are busy working on props and costumes. It’s what theatre is all about for me.

For this show we’ve had to have the parents step forward and take on some tasks usually done by our wonderful Cindy Wilkins. I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done. More heroes!

Thank you to everyone who has helped to make this show a success. Non-parent people of the cast have come out of the woodwork to add their creativity. People like John Ollis, Jeremy Ollis, Josh Cleland, Dan McFarling, William Crawford (though he’s an intregal part of STAGES), Peter Stein. I know I’m forgetting others and will insert them when I think of them.

I love theatre. I love kids. I love children’s theatre. It brings many people together for the good of the kids!

STAGES Performing Arts Youth Academy is excited to announce our next main stage production. We are producing the play, HENRY AND RAMONA based on the beloved children’s books by Portland’s own Beverly Cleary.

Join Henry Huggins, Ramona & Beezus Quimby, Ribsy and many other wonderful characters on Klickitat St in Portland as they entertain us with the gentle humor thousands of children enjoy as they discover their first chapter books.

The production runs the following dates:

June 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 & 25 at 7:30
June 12, 19 & 26 at 2:00 pm

The price is $10.00 adults and $8.00 Seniors/Students/Children. The production is being held at HART Theatre, 185 NE 2^nd Ave. HART is a sponsor of the production.

To make reservations go to our home page and click on the button under the banner.

We want to thank everyone for helping to make HENRY AND RAMONA a huge success.

To view photos of the production go to our “On Stage” page and then “Photo Gallery.”

One of the very exciting things about the progress STAGES has made so far is the wonderful people who have been volunteering to make our beginning such a huge success. There have been people coming out of the woodwork joyfully helping out where they can.

During the rehearsals of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST JR. many parents and other family members worked hard creating the costumes, props, sets, decorating the lobby and much more. It’s a wonderful feeling and environment to see many people working diligently while the kids are rehearsing. The smiles and laughter we hear from family and friends of the cast and crew blissfully doing what they can to make the wonderful kids look good on stage is what the magic of theatre is all about, especially children’s theatre.

Many of the people who are volunteering their time and talents to this theatre do not even have children involved. Our web and graphic designer, Josh is one example. Others include Mark, Peter and their crew who created the set. There is our wonderful scenic designer Coral. Sonja who is in charge of the fundraising committee is another. The list goes on and on. These people not only know the importance of theatre and the arts in our community, more importantly they value children and are willing to give of their resources to help create a place where the kids are valued, and an organization with top quality artistic standards.

We can’t thank these and many other wonderful people enough. We’d also like to have you involved in our organization. Please let us know how you would like to help.

The last week of March we held our first Spring Break Camp. Twenty young people ranging in ages from 6 to 12 joined in the fun on the 7 Seas! They enjoyed a week of singing, dancing, acting, crafts and each other’s company.

Family and friends were entertained at the end of the week with songs from the ocean.

We hope this will become an annual event!

Young Actors’ Summer Theatre (YAST)

STAGES Performing Arts Youth Academy’s Young Actors’ Summer Theatre was created by STAGES Artistic Director Donald Cleland 26 years ago. In the first year of YAST’s long history Donald taught it in Hillsboro. The next year he moved it to Forest Grove where it was held at Theatre in the Grove. From there it was moved to HART Theatre, but now STAGES Performing Arts Youth Academy is excited to have the program for the second year.

YAST is a two-week program in which the actors are involved in exploring their creative side through theatre games and activities. This they will do for about half the time. The other half they are creating an original play which will be performed fee to the public the last day of class. The actors will perform it once in the theatre the last day of class.

Due to the nature of the improvisational performance the actors do not have to memorize a script and they have the ability to be creative with lines, characters, scenario and costumes. Also the improvisational aspect allows the course to be geared towards all ability levels. YAST is not just for kids who show a natural talent in performing. Donald is very good at differentiating the program to meet the needs of the different ability levels and helping each and every student feel comfortable working at his/her level.

In addition to learning about theatre and acting, Donald’s goals are to help the kids feel more creative and at ease in speaking and performing in front of others. He also stresses the cooperative nature of theatre, thus teaching kids to work well with people and enjoy the talents of others.

Below are times and dates of each class. Feel free to contact Donald if you have any questions. Contact information follows the dates of the sessions.

Session 1

*Graded 1 – 3

June 20 – 30

8:30 to Noon

Session 2

*Grades 5 – 8

June 20 – 30

12:30 to 4:00

Session 3

*Grades 4 – 6

July 25 – August 5

8:30 to Noon

Session 4

*Grades 7 – 12

July 25 – August 5

12:30 to 4:00

*Grades refer to grade child will be entering in the fall of 2011.

Fee: $115.00

You can register for YAST two ways:

Click Here and pay by clicking “Buy and Donate Now.”
Contact Donald and request a registration form be emailed to you. Fill it out and mail it to him with your payment.

Make checks out to STAGES Performing Arts Youth Academy

YAST is held at Poynter Middle School, 1535 NE Grant Str. Hillsboro.

Donald Cleland

503-504-4914

Dcleland.stagesyouth@gmail.com