Old Brick honored at White House
By CARRA HIGGINS, Staff WriterArticle Photos
The local community may know the The Old Brick Playhouse Apprentice Program for its spring performances in its building at the corner of Davis Avenue and Fourth Street in Elkins. On Thursday the experiences afforded to youth inside the red brick building received national recognition at the White House when First Lady Michelle Obama presented the theater's Apprentice Program with one of 15 Coming Up Taller Awards.
Missy Armentrout McCollam, executive director of The Old Brick Playhouse, and Apprentice Will Stout accepted a 2009 Coming Up Taller Award at the White House on behalf of the Apprentice Program. All but two of the 15 recipients of the outstanding after-school arts and humanities programs were from metropolitan areas, The Old Brick Playhouse being one of the two from a rural area, McCollam said.
Coming Up Taller is a national initiative that recognizes and supports the programs that give children, especially those with great potential, an opportunity for creative expression, according to a prepared statement from the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities. All award recipients receive a $10,000 stipend. The award is allocated by many of the country's highest authorities on Arts and humanities to recognize youth and community encouragement.
"We have flourished due to the tremendous support from the state of West Virginia, our Randolph County community, hundreds of schools in the region, our amazing students and the Old Brick board of directors," McCollam said.
As the Apprentice Program continues to thrive, gifted youth are able to foster their talents and grow as individuals, she explained. McCollam said she is "humbled" by the Coming Up Taller award.
"The Old Brick Playhouse's Apprentice Program is extremely honored to be a recipient of the 2009 Coming Up Taller Awards," McCollam said. "Through a special brand of madcap live theater, the Old Brick has been able to encourage our students along the path from the ordinary into the extraordinary. We strive for an environment in which youth learn that though everyone is equal, everyone is not the same - and in the arts, as in life - those differences are the stuff by which masterpieces are made."
For six years Stout has been involved with The Old Brick Playhouse and says, "What have I not learned from the Apprentice Program?"
Stout explained he has attained not only a better stage presence in the Apprentice Program, but he has also improved people skills and thinks the experiences will be used everywhere, from the theatre to the business world. He is currently a public relations major at West Virginia University, but plans to receive a second degree in theater.
With the prestigious Coming Up Taller award, Stout said he hopes the Apprentice Program receives increased stature, larger audiences and funding to make it available to more students.
"Everyone should experience the Apprentice Program," he said.
Enrollment in the Apprentice Program is around 80 students and its list of alumni boasts more than 1,000 names. McCollam said an alum of the program nominated their alma mater for the award. After a long application process, the field of nominees was narrowed to 50 semi-finalists and from those 15 were selected for the award, McCollam explained.
To also celebrate the award, staff at The Old Brick Playhouse attend a gala at the Kennedy Center Tuesday evening with other recipients and members of national arts and humanities councils.
Coming Up taller is a project of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Coming Up Taller was created to honor programs that offer exceptional arts and humanities learning experiences and have a tangible effect on the lives of young people, such as improved academic scores, enhanced life skills and positive relationships with peers and adults.
"This year's Coming Up Taller awardees exemplify how arts and humanities programs outside of the school setting can impact on the lives of our young people," said Margo Lion, co-chairman of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. "By exciting imaginations and providing opportunities for self-expression through the disciplines of theater, dance, music and literature, these exceptional projects offer their participants windows on possibility and a belief in a more positive future."
The Old Brick Playhouse is a non-profit educational arts theatre and has provided programs for children during and after school throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and overseas since 1992. Its touring company has performed for a total of more than 1.5 million students. The Old Brick's after-school and summer programs are designed to provide educational arts opportunities for children and youth ages 5 to 18. Having completed its 17th season, The Old Brick Playhouse Apprentice Program provides a safe, structured, after-school opportunity for secondary school students to learn, enhance self-esteem, team building, acting, stage make-up, improvisation, technical theatre, publicity, public presentation and stage design
The program begins in mid-October and culminates in a main stage performance during the spring. Past Apprentice Program productions include Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," "Grease," "The Wizard of Oz," "Anne of Green Gables," "Seussical," "The King and I," "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Caucasian Chalk Circle."
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judylaprade
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11-05-09 10:07 PM
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This is an amazing accomplishment! Missy and the whole theatre community should be so proud, as we are of them. Keep up the good work!!
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