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The 8th Annual Cleveland School of the Arts New Play, Film, and Poetry Festival @ Cleveland Play House and Karamu House 4/22-4/29 Spring is a wonderful time of year for new growth, eager young daffodils sprouting forth, reaching up toward the sun. Spring is also time for the Cleveland School of the Arts New Play, Film, and Poetry Festival, April 22-May 2, at the Cleveland Play House Brooks Theatre and Karamu Performing Arts Theatre.

The Cleveland School of the Arts (CSA) stands resolutely on the corner of Carnegie Avenue and Stearns Road with a sculpture out front and a mural on its side wall. Many cars drive past the school everyday heading east up Cedar Hill. This old brick building is home to budding young writers, actors, film producers, singers, musicians, dancers, rappers, and audio and lighting technicians. The school provides a fertile garden where teachers nurture and plant seeds, and students grow their talents and creativity. They follow a standard high school curriculum as well as taking additional hours in their art majors.

The CSA Festival, organized into groupings (Bill 1, Bill 2, Bill 3), represents the students' final projects covering a wide variety of original short plays, films, poetry readings, and musical song and dance numbers. Damaged, a play written and produced by Erika Kinney, gives the audience an inside view of two contrasting women sharing a prison cell. Their interactions reveal how their lives have been damaged by themselves and their families. Pop Champagne, by Gregory Green II, Nick Vereen, Ricardo Simmonds, Tra'Mell Taylor, Brandon Cleveland, Brandon Dixon, and Kyle Taylor, is a charming song and dance homage about celebration at graduation.

I Want It All from the Ben Elton/Queen collaboration We Will Rock You, was performed by the 10th Grade Theatre Arts Majors and featured strong, energetic performances -- where the audience gladly cheered on the students. Dreamgirl, a film written by Kasandra Seiling and directed by Drew Harty and Scott Miller, is the story about a young girl facing pregnancy while being caught between feeling loyalty to her boyfriend and her mother. This is an emotional yet effective portrayal.

RACE – Fact or Fiction, a film by CSA photo students, commissioned by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Contemporary Art in conjunction with their Race Exhibition, illustrates their artistic skill and candor to interpret the conundrum of race. The students also incorporated archival photographs from the Civil Rights Movement to add documentation to the film. 96,000 from In the Heights, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, performed by the 11th grade drama majors, is a wonderful musical and dance romp through the excitement of winning the lottery.

Many Broadways stars like Bernadette Peters, Harvey Fierstein, Ben Vereen, Chita Rivera, and Patti LuPone all got their starts at an early age from schools and theatres like CSA where they could exercise and develop their skills. Applause, applause to the Cleveland Municipal School District, School Principal Dr. Barbara E. Walton, Theatre Arts Chairman, Dr. Scott Miller, and sponsoring organizations for producing this one-of-a-kind, unique, creative arts festival showcasing the students' talents.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Susan Schaul susn1ATatt.net
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