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Summer Stage celebrates its 20th anniversary in style, thanks to a massive gathering in cyberspace

Mainstage Center for the Arts is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Summer Stage program with a birthday bash at Camden County College.

By Robert Baxter

Courier Post July 6, 2008

Baking the cake are almost 100 alumni from across the country who — with some help from Facebook.com — have banded together through the Internet to write songs, choreograph dances and organize the entertainment for the Saturday celebration. Putting on the icing are singers and dancers who will perform musical hits from popular Summer Stage shows. Lighting the candles are solo singers celebrating the anniversary with songs they performed in previous summer productions.

“As soon as we announced our anniversary show, alumni started calling and sending e-mails,” says Ed Fiscella, Mainstage’s artistic director. “The Internet has brought us all together again. The outpouring has been incredible.”

Fiscella immediately created a message board on Facebook.com. More than 200 alumni signed up to help plan the anniversary show and share their stories with friends around the country.

Ryan Power, who lives in Astoria, in Queens, N.Y., heard about the 20th anniversary show on Facebook and immediately messaged Fiscella that he wanted to participate. Power, 29, will reprise “Some Enchanted Evening,” the song he sang at the age of 17 in Summer Stage’s production of “South Pacific.”

“Summer Stage gave me two important skills, confidence and the ability to communicate.”

Power used those skills to win a job with a software company, even though he had majored in vocal performance in college. Three years ago, he founded Get.Lessons.Now.com, a Web site that hooks up students with music teachers across the country.

10,000 strong

The reunion is “a blast” for Summer Stage Executive Director Joe Bretschneider, who founded Mainstage with Fiscella, a fellow teacher at the Glenn Landing Middle School in Blackwood. In two decades, Summer Stage has trained more than 10,000 young people in every aspect of theater, from singing and dancing on stage to designing sets and lighting.

“The thrill for me is seeing kids come into our program and watching them grow and blossom,” says Bretschneider. “Many have gone on to professional careers in New York, Los Angeles and other cities.”

Liz Power, Ryan’s older sister, is another Summer Stage veteran returning for the anniversary celebration. Power, 30, is a professional actor who has toured the United States in “Annie” and Europe in “Evita.”

“My years at Summer Stage were the best summers of my life,” recalls the actress. “I feel like it put me on the path to becoming a professional actor. Summer stage was a place not only to hone my skills but to experiment and grow.”

Ryan Gravett of Tabernacle enrolled in Summer Stage a decade ago when he was a student at Shawnee High School. Gravett, already a veteran of the Ritz Theatre’s educational program, wanted to learn more about building sets and lighting.

Gravett, 25, mastered technical skills at Summer Stage and then earned a B.A. in theater design and production at the University of Findlay in Ohio. Since graduating, he has worked in technical theater for the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and on the national tours of shows such as “The Producers” and “My Little Pony Live.”

Gravett cannot attend Saturday’s anniversary show. He will be in New Haven, Conn., working as the head sound engineer for the national tour of “Altar Boys.”

Near and far

Chrissy Katina is flying from Nashville, Tenn., to participate in the anniversary show. She will be singing one of her original songs.

For eight years, Katina toured major entertainment centers in the United States with ZOEgirl, a four-woman pop-rock band that sold more than 1 million CDs before disbanding in 2006. After the birth of her daughter, Katina has remained active as a songwriter and singer.

Katina had one line in her first Summer Stage show, but that brief moment sparked her love of performing. “Summer Stage gave me the training to follow my dream. I used to sing in my room. Summer Stage gave me the chance to appear on stage in front of an audience. I’m so grateful for that experience.”

Pitching in to help put together Saturday’s anniversary show are Greg Harr and his wife, Erica Scanlon Harr, who live in Mount Laurel. They met at Summer Stage and, after their marriage, have continued to be involved on the summer theater program’s staff.

“This is the first place I got to experience live theater as a performer,” says Erica, a former Miss New Jersey who performed in Summer Stage productions of “Guys and Dolls” and “Barefoot in the Park” with her husband. “There’s something magical about this place. The anniversary show will be a celebration of youth, friendships, opportunity and magic.”

Greg, who teaches history at Moorestown High School, says playing roles in shows such as “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “Bye, Bye, Birdie” gave him the public speaking skills he uses in the classroom. “The bonds made here last forever. The rehearsal and performance process brings you together like a sports team. You bond with everyone.”

Finishing touches

Greg and Erica are putting together the lineup for the reunion show.

“It’s going to be a fascinating show,” says Greg. “We are trying to figure out who will sing what. So many people are so good. We could put on a 10-hour concert.”

Fiscella is helping to solve the problem with a couple of medleys featuring songs from shows performed in Summer Stage’s mainstage Broadway musicals and from the children’s theater series.

Much of the show will be put together in a day-long rehearsal before Saturday’s show. Performers will rehearse each segment separately with a music director and choreographer.

Several songs must be performed, says Fiscella. From the first summer, Harry Dietzler’s “Magic Up Our Sleeve” has been the theme song for Summer Stage. “Fill the World With Love” from “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” sums up Summer Stage philosophy. “The show is important for us, but the child is just as important,” stresses Fiscella. “Our key to success is that people come first. We have never compromised on the art, but we have always served the kids first.

“The reunion means the world to me,” he continues. “Our former students tell us they have taken something lasting away from Summer Stage. The reverse is true. They are part of me.”

Once the reunion ends, Bretschneider and Fiscella focus on the Summer Stage programs which have almost 600 children enrolled. Children’s Theatre program for grades six to 12 is performing four shows: “Peter Pan” (July 16 to 18), “Cinderella” (July 23 to 25), “Seussical Jr.” (July 30 to Aug. 1) and “Magic Up Our Sleeve” (Aug. 6 to 8).

Hot tickets

The centerpiece of Summer Stage is Mainstage, which produces a Broadway musical. “Ragtime” is performed July 25 and 26 and Aug. 1 and 2 in the Dennis Flyer Theatre on the Blackwood campus of Camden County College. Several performances already are sold out. “Tickets are going like crazy,” says Fiscella. “This is the most ambitious show we’ve put on at Summer Stage. It stretches us in every direction.”

Designing and directing “Ragtime” is Thomas R. Weaver, who teaches at Cherry Hill High School East. The production team also features Suzi Waldie (choreography), Amber Shernoff (vocal music direction) and Vince Gentless (orchestra).

Laura Wade, 17, of Erial enrolled in the Summer Stage program in the 8th grade. Now a senior at Paul VI High School, Wade is working as an intern for “Peter Pan.

“I fell in love with performing and made life-long friends here,” says Wade. “I’m involved in every aspect. from directing and choreography to watching the kids. There’s a sense of family at Summer Stage that makes this place special to everyone.”

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