also inside: museum shops • our arts history • Fischoff does it 365

THE GREATER SOUTH BEND REGION’S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ARTS AND CULTURESPRING 2012

Kids’Stages

For tickets or more information, visit www.MusicalArtsIndiana.org

Sunday, March 25, 2012 2:30 p.m.

Saint Matthew Cathedral1702 Miami, South Bend

E$35 Preferred Seating (advance sales only) $25 Adult, $20 Senior, $12 Student/Child

Jorge Muñiz’s Stabat Mater

featuring performances by

Vesper Chorale and Vesper Chamber Orchestra

Basically Baroque Concert62387801

62387901

morriscenter.org 574.235.9190

APR. 20-22

Tickets at Morris Box Office. Outlets: Hammis Bookstore/Eddy

Street Commons, South Bend; O’Brien Recreation Center, South Bend; and

Super Sounds/TG Music, Goshen. Groups of 15+, call 1.866.314.7686.

BroadwayTL @BTLSBend

6236

5401

162297801

4.17 - 4.22by Moss Hart

directed by Jay Paul Skelton

Decio Mainstage TheatreDeBartolo Performing Arts Center

Tickets: 574.631.2800 or visit performingarts.nd.edu

garden window

Bring in this ad to receive 25% OFF one item.Offer valid at participating stores until 03/31/12.

Not valid with other discounts, purchase ofgift cards or Oriental rugs. 0412

www.tenthousandvillages.com

HANDCRAFTEDIN VIETNAM

Green Grove Pot(8.5" H), $29

214 W. Cleveland Rd.Between Grape & Main

(Next to Chico’s)Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-6pm

574.277.4900

A preview of spring’s first budding branches, the hand-painted tree motif on this planter

is a welcome sign of greener days to come. Molded, glazed and fired in a family workshop.

62297901

Piano Lessons in Your Own Home

Immediate Openings in South Bend, Granger, Elkhart & Cassopolis

574.256.1878

FREE Piano RecitalMozart Medley

MAY 5, 2012 AT 2:00 PMMishawaka-Penn Public Library

Spencer Gallery, 209 LWE, Mishawaka, IN

62429401

IUSB ForUm By KemBrew mcLeod

“The New market Affair: on media, Pranks, and Pedagogy” 7:30 pm wednesday, march 21

Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Artscommunication Studies // music // New media // Theatre and dance // Visual Arts

IUSB PhILhArmoNIc

Featuring Sibelius’ “The Bard” with harpist megan Barret, Liszt’s Piano concerto No. 1 with pianist Ilya Vanichkin, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 7:30 pm Tuesday, April 17

Tickets and information: 574.520.4203 // arts.iusb.edu

h.m.S. PINAFore

A comic operetta in two acts By Gilbert and Sullivan 8 pm April 12–14 2 pm Sunday, April 15

West Side Story, 2010

62427801

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY • 205 W. JEFFERSON BLVD. • SUITE 610 • SOUTH BEND, IN 46601 • (574) 232-0041 • WWW.CFSJC.ORG

At the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, we understand that everyone wants to have a life with meaning. Part of that meaningful life is our desire to live on in the memories of our family, our friends, and our community through whatever legacy we create.

The cornerstone to planning that legacy is a will. Because we believe that everyone should have a will, we offer a free Guide to Planning Your Will on our website: www.cfsjc.org. In easy-to-understand language, it walks you through the process of collecting and organizing the information you’ll need to share with your attorney or financial planner in order to create a will. Download it today or, if you prefer, we’ll mail you a copy. Create your will, and you ensure that your legacy will last.

An estimated 70% of Americans don’t have a will.

The second largest community

foundation in Indiana, the

Community Foundation of

St. Joseph County is a philanthropic

endowment dedicated to improving

the quality of life for the people

of our county through grants and

initiatives, now and forever.

How about you?

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PHOTOS ABOVE: The South Bend Symphony, from its 1937–38 season; this gorgeous ceramic piece by Lynne Tan is an example of the work

you’ll find for sale at the South Bend Museum of Art’s Dot Shop; at IUSB’s February production of Johnny Appleseed, audience members queue up for autographs at the post-show meet-and-greet; Rob DeCleene,

director of the South Bend/Mishawaka CVB, enjoys a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with the Olivers’ pool table

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ArtsEverywhere magazine is a joint project between the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County and the South Bend Tribune. Published three times annually, the magazine works in tandem with the ArtsEverywhere.com website to showcase the rich arts and cultural offerings of the greater South Bend region, engaging readers as participants, enthusiasts, and informed supporters of the arts.

Editor: Laura Moran WaltonDe sign: Richard Harrison Bailey/The AgencyCo ntributing writers: Judy Bradford, Evan Gillespie,

Andrew S. Hughes, Nancy Johnson, Laura Moran Walton, Jack Walton

Photography: Peter RingenbergAd ditional imagery supplied by: Artpost, Acting Ensemble/

Gary Mester, Broadway Theatre League, Bethel College Theater, Center for History, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center/Kirk Richard Smith, Downtown South Bend Inc., Fischoff National Chamber Music Association/JosefSamuel.com, Moreau Center for the Arts at Saint Mary’s College, Morris Performing Arts Center, Musical Arts Indiana, Patchwork Dance/Kelly Burden, Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend, Southold Dance Theater, South Bend Civic Theatre, South Bend/Mishawaka Convention and Visitors Bureau, South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend Symphony Orchestra

For story ideas and suggestions: Email: laura@cfsjc.orgFor questions regarding www.ArtsEverywhere.com: Email: support@artseverywhere.com

Advertising sales:Jamal HenrySouth Bend Tribune225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626Phone: (574) 235-6088Email: jhenry@schurz.com

COVER PHOTO: Our community has a wealth of options for parents looking to introduce their children

to live theater, such as the annual children’s show performed by students at Indiana University South

Bend’s Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts. This year the show was Johnny Appleseed, and you can tell from

the pleasure on this little girl’s face that it was good.

featured

in every issue

Kids’ StagesSorting through the options in children’s theater

New ExperienceWNIT creates a daily show about local life

What’s in StoreShop museums, find offbeat treasures

Music Never Stops The Fischoff keeps it going 365 days a year

Arts HistoryOur local organizations have VERY deep roots

Stay for the ArtsThe CVB’s director knows about the arts— and their impact on tourism

contents

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Arts BriefsUpdates on local arts news

Upcoming Arts EventsHighlights from the ArtsEverywhere.com calendar

Out and AboutFaces seen on the local art scene

Family FunFamily-friendly events

SpotlightsArtists among us

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Peter Ringenberg (thepedro.com) shot the images for the main feature articles in this issue of ArtsEverywhere,

including our cover. Josef Samuel (josefsamuel.com) shot the photo for the Fischoff feature and “Out & About.”

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arts briefs

ArtsEverywhere Series ReturnsAh, summer in South Bend: Blue skies, warm

temperatures, and free outdoor performances. One of our favorites is the ArtsEverywhere Performing Arts Series, which returns to the Chris Wilson Pavilion in South Bend’s Potawatomi Park this July and August.

Designed to showcase some of our community’s best arts organizations, the series will include performances by South Bend Civic Theatre, the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival’s Young Company, Southold Dance Theater, and Indiana University South Bend’s Raclin School of the Arts. New West Guitar Trio, featuring John Storie, a former student of Chris Wilson, will return for a show. As in years past, the series will conclude with a performance by the South Bend Symphony.

The ArtsEverywhere Performing Arts Series will run Saturday nights from July 21 through August 25, 2012, and all shows will begin at 7 p.m. As the date gets closer, you’ll find more information online at ArtsEverywhere.com.

The South Bend Symphony Orchestra at the 2011 ArtsEverywhere Performing Arts Series at the Chris Wilson Pavilion in South Bend’s Potawatomi Park

Nine Years of DTSB’s Art Beat

Wooden sculpture on display at Art Beat 2011

Get ready for the rhythms of Art Beat, the annual celebration of local arts and artists put

together by Downtown South Bend. The largest event of its kind this side of Chicago, Art Beat draws some 10,000 people to the heart of South Bend every summer.

Now in its ninth year, Art Beat will be held on Saturday, August 25, 2012, from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Visual, culinary, and performing artists will line the streets of downtown South Bend, showing off our community’s wide range of arts offerings.

Artists can register to be part of the event at artbeatsouthbend.org.

Julie Curtis, director of marketing for Downtown South Bend, notes that registration will be open through June 8, but she encourages all artists to start the process early.

At the prestigious Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) semi-finals competition held in

Chicago this winter, Southold Dance Theater earned a third place ensemble award and recognition for several of its soloists.

Simon Costello, who has been studying with Southold for four years, placed third among a field of more than sixty 12- to 14-year-old dancers.

“He did very well and shows remarkable potential,” says Erica Fischbach, artistic director of Southold. “All of my boys have improved tremendously since last year.”

In April, Costello will compete in New York against other regional winners from throughout the world. Last year, Southold dancer Nicolas Cowden was also invited to compete in New York as a soloist.

Southold Earns Recognition

Southold student Simon Costello

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Boosting Local Tourism Efforts

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Broadway Theatre League is one of the recipients of a 2012 tourism grant from the Convention and Visitors Bureau; above, the cast of BTL’s 2009 production of The Wedding Singer.

On February 19, 2012, Musical Arts Indiana ensemble Vesper Chorale sang its fourth

performance of Holocaust Cantata. Held at Temple Jeremiah in Northfield, IL, the concert was a collaborative effort among Vesper Chorale, Glenview Community Church Simple Gifts Concert Series, the Am Yisrael Congregation, and Temple Jeremiah.

With music by Donald McCullough and English lyrics and readings by Denny Clark, the Holocaust Cantata is a powerful work of music and poems created by prisoners at Polish concentration camps during World War II. Approximately 300 people were in attendance at Temple Jeremiah for this performance, which included a talk by Magda Brown, a Hungarian Jewish survivor of Auschwitz. The audience responded with a standing ovation for both Brown and Vesper Chorale.

Soloists were Catherine Hampel, Lisa Bloom, and James Gregory Weaver. Brook Bennet performed on cello and Beverly Butler on piano.

Vesper Cantata Plays Chicago

Steve Campagnoli, tenor member of Vesper Chorale and Holocaust Cantata reader; Brook Bennet performed on cello.

For the second year, the South Bend/Mishawaka Convention and Visitors Bureau has given

a number of local organizations with “positive tourism potential” a financial boost for their marketing efforts with funds allocated by the St. Joseph County Hotel-Motel Tax Board.

Eighteen events and organizations received grant funding totaling $75,000.

On that list are several arts and culture organizations and events, including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Downtown South Bend’s Art Beat, the Oliver Mansion, Indiana University South Bend’s Raclin School of the Arts’ Denyce Graves Weekend, Broadway Theatre League’s My Fair Lady, South Bend Parks Department’s Blues & Ribs Fest, and the Studebaker National Museum’s Come See the Muppets.

The Scholastic Art Awards held its annual awards ceremony at the South Bend Museum of

Art on February 12, 2012, recognizing the work of our community’s best young artists.

Students from 63 different schools throughout the region submitted more than 1,900 works for the competition, and jurors selected 470 of those for the exhibition. Two hundred works won gold-level recognition, and those will go on to the national competition in New York.

The Scholastic Art Awards is the longest-running recognition program for creative teens in the United States.

2012 Scholastic Art Awards

Zig Zag Bird, by Kathryn Kyle, won a gold award at this year’s Scholastics; Kyle is a senior at Washington High School in South Bend

upcoming arts events

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SPRING MAINSTAGE: TWELFTH NIGHTGoshen College Umble CenterMar. 23–Apr. 1, 2012Fri.–Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.; no show on Mar. 31, 2012Tickets: $5–$8Call (574) 535-7566 for more info

LYSISTRATAMoreau Center for the Arts Little Theatre, Saint Mary’s CollegeMar. 29–31, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Apr. 1, 2012 at 2:30 p.m.Tickets: $8–$13Call (574) 284-4626 for more info

STICKS AND BONESSouth Bend Civic Theatre Barbara K. Warner StudioMar. 30–Apr. 8, 2012 Wed.–Thurs. at 7:30 p.m.; Fri.–Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.Tickets: $15–$18Call (574) 234-1112 for more info

THE INTERGALACTIC NEMESISDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterUniversity of Notre DameMar. 31, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $8–$30Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

CHURCH BASEMENT LADIESAmish Acres The Round Barn Theatre, NappaneeApr. 4–May 13, 2012 Wed. at 8 p.m.; Thur. at 2 and 8 p.m.; Fri. at 8 p.m.; Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun. at 2 p.m.Tickets: $6.95–$27.95Call (800) 800-4942 ext. 2 for more info

EDDIE GRIFFIN AND FRIENDS: SET THE HOUSE ON FIRE, COMEDY SHOWMorris Performing Arts Center Apr. 7, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $39.50–$44.50Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

THE GREEN GOSPEL: A STAGED READINGThe Acting Ensemble Stage CompanyCentury Center, South BendApr. 9, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $5Call (574) 807-0108 for more info

Here’s your chance to combine a love of theater with an interest in the visual arts: In April, the

Acting Ensemble Stage Company will perform John Logan’s Red, winner of the 2010 Tony Award for Best Play. Based on the life of Mark Rothko, the play is set in the late 1950s, when the artist accepted a major commission to paint a group of murals for the exclusive Four Seasons restaurant. As he works with his assistant Ken to create the work, Rothko begins to question his credibility as an artist. This is the show’s Indiana premier.

REDThe Acting Ensemble Stage CompanyCentury Center, South BendApr. 19–21, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Apr. 22, 2012 at 2 p.m.Tickets: $9–$18Call (574) 807-0108 for more info

COLOR OF ROTHKOtheaterTHE 39 STEPSSouth Bend Civic TheatreWilson AuditoriumMar. 2–18, 2012 Wed. at 7:30 p.m.; Fri.–Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.Tickets: $15–$18Call (574) 234-1112 for more info

DISNEY LIVE PRESENTS: THREE CLASSIC FAIRY TALESMorris Performing Arts CenterMar. 9, 2012 at 3:30 and 6:30 p.m.Tickets: $17–$57.75Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

THE CLEAN HOUSE: A STAGED READINGThe Acting Ensemble Stage CompanyCentury Center, South BendMar. 12, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $5Call (574) 807-0108 for more info

ARSENIC AND OLD LACETrinity School at GreenlawnSouth BendMar. 16, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $3–$5Call (574) 287-5590 for more info

THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEEElkhart Civic TheatreBristol Opera House, BristolMar. 16–31, 2012 Fri.–Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.Tickets: $13–$15Call (800) 848-4116 for more info

STEEL MAGNOLIAS Bethel College Everest-Rohrer Chapel/Fine Arts CenterMar. 22–24, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $13–$15Call (574) 807-7080 for more info

FLAT STANLEY, JR.South Bend Civic TheatreCentury Center Bendix Theatre Mar. 23, 2012 at 7 p.m.Mar. 24, 2012 at 3 and 7 p.m.Mar. 25, 2012 at 3 p.m.Tickets: $8–$10Call (574) 234-1112 for more info

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H.M.S. PINAFOREErnestine M. Raclin School of the Arts Campus Auditorium, Indiana University South BendApr. 12–14, 2012 at 8 p.m. Apr. 15, 2012 at 2 p.m.Tickets: $5–$9; students and children freeCall (574) 520-4203 for more info

LIGHT UP THE SKY ND Dept. of Film, Television & Theatre DeBartolo Performing Arts CenterUniversity of Notre DameApr. 17–21, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Apr. 22, 2012 at 2:30 p.m.Tickets: $7–$15Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

REDThe Acting Ensemble Stage Company Century Center, South BendApr. 19–21, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Apr. 22, 2012 at 2 p.m.Tickets: $9–$18Call (574) 807-0108 for more info

BLUE MAN GROUPBroadway Theatre LeagueMorris Performing Arts CenterApr. 20, 2012 at 8 p.m.Apr. 21, 2012 at 2 and 8 p.m.Apr. 22, 2012 at 2 and 7 p.m.Tickets: $36.75–$62.75Please note: Dynamic pricing applies based on demand. Purchase early to lock in prices and seats.Call (800) 537-6415 for more info

RED GREENMorris Performing Arts CenterApr. 26, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $48.50Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

CHARLOTTE’S WEBDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterUniversity of Notre DameApr. 27, 2012 at 7 p.m. Tickets: $10Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

GYPSYSouth Bend Civic TheatreWilson AuditoriumApr. 27–May 13, 2012 Wed.–Thurs. at 7:30 p.m.; Fri.–Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.Tickets: $18–$21Call (574) 234-1112 for more info

They’re big, they’re back, and they’re bluer than ever. Last here in the fall of 2006, Blue Man

Group returns to South Bend’s Morris Performing Arts Center in mid-April as the final event in Broadway Theatre League’s 2011-12 season. The performers are known for their eclectic, theatrical concerts that feature a blend of popular music, comedy, and multimedia—and, of course, for their trademark color.

BLUE MAN GROUPBroadway Theatre LeagueMorris Performing Arts CenterApr. 20, 2012 at 8 p.m.Apr. 21, 2012 at 2 and 8 p.m.Apr. 20, 2012 at 2 and 7 p.m.Tickets: $36.75–$62.75Please note: Dynamic pricing applies based on demand. Purchase early to lock in prices/seats.Call (800) 537-6415 for more info

BLUE MAN GROUPmusicLAVENDER JAZZ SPRING CONCERTGoshen CollegeSauder Concert HallMar. 9, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $5–$7Call (574) 535-7566 for more info

RIDERS IN THE SKYDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterUniversity of Notre DameMar. 9, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $8–$30Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

ZEITGEIST! THE COLLEGIANSBethel College, MishawakaEverest-Rohrer Chapel / Fine Arts CenterMar. 9, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $5–$7Call (574) 807-7080 for more info

ERNIE HAASE AND SIGNATURE SOUNDHoward Performing Arts Center, Berrien SpringsMar. 10, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $25Call (888) 467-6442 for more info

FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: REBECCA HOVAN AND CHRISTINE LARSON SEITZGoshen CollegeRieth Recital HallMar. 11, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $5–$7Call (574) 535-7566 for more info

SOUTH BEND YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS WINTER CONCERTSouth Bend Youth Symphony OrchestraNorthside Hall, Indiana University South BendMar. 11, 2012 at 4 p.m.Tickets: $4–$6; students and children freeCall (574) 520-4203 for more info

CELTIC CELEBRATIONSouthwest Michigan Symphony OrchestraMendel Center, Lake Michigan CollegeMar. 17, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $5–$35, children 12 and under freeCall (269) 982-4030 for more info

MORE THAN MOSTLY MOZARTSouth Bend Symphony OrchestraDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMar. 18, 2012 at 3 p.m.Tickets: $8–$32Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

upcoming arts events

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PRAIRIE VOICESRodeheaver Series for thePerforming ArtsFirst United Methodist Church of WarsawMar. 18, 2012 at 2 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 267-6933 for more info

SPRING GLEE CLUB CONCERTNotre Dame Department of MusicDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMar. 23, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $3–$8Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

TORADZE PIANO STUDIOErnestine M. Raclin School of the ArtsCampus Auditorium, Indiana University South BendMar. 23, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $7–$12; students and children freeCall (574) 520-4203 for more info

A MOVEABLE FEAST: JENNET INGLESouth Bend Christian Reformed ChurchMar. 24, 2012 at 3 p.m.Tickets: $4–$10Call (773) 450-4581 for more info

LUCIANA SOUZA TRIODeBartolo Performing Arts CenterUniversity of Notre DameMar. 24, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $15–$35Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

HUMAN NATURE: THE MOTOWN SHOWMorris Performing Arts CenterMar. 25, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $32–$55Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

VESPER CHORALE PREMIERS JORGE MUNIZ’S STABAT MATERVesper ChoraleSt. Matthew Cathedral, South BendMar. 25, 2012 at 3 p.m.Tickets: $12–$35Call (574) 291-0924 for more info

VIOLINIST RACHEL LEE AND PIANIST DANIEL SCHLOSBERGNotre Dame Department of MusicDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMar. 25, 2012 at 2 p.m.Tickets: $3–$8Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

VOCAL AND PIANO STUDIOSErnestine M. Raclin School of the ArtsCampus Auditorium, Indiana University South BendMar. 25, 2012 at 4 p.m.Tickets: $3–$9; students and children freeCall (574) 520-4203 for more info

MICHIANA JAZZ ASSEMBLAGEMishawaka Lions ClubMishawaka High School AuditoriumMar. 29, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $3–$6Call (574) 258-1616 for more info

CHORALE SPRING CONCERTNotre Dame Department of MusicDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMar. 30, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $3–$10Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

THE STEEL WHEELSGoshen TheaterMar. 30, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $15Call (574) 312-3701 for more info

EARTHTONES: SONGS FROM MANY CULTURESGoshen CollegeSauder Concert HallMar. 31, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $5–$7Call (574) 535-7566 for more info

THE TEXAS TENORSSouth Bend Symphony OrchestraMorris Performing Arts CenterMar. 31, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $8–$50Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

EUCLID QUARTET STRING STUDIOErnestine M. Raclin School of the ArtsRecital Hall, Indiana University South BendApr. 4, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $3–$9; students and children freeCall (574) 520-4203 for more info

FIRST FRIDAYS KEYBANK CONCERT SERIES: ROZEN BOMBSDowntown South BendThe Backstage Grill, South BendApr. 6, 2012 at 5:30 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 282-1110 for more info

We’ve all heard that in Texas, folks like things big. It’s hard to get any bigger than the

Texas Tenors, the 2009 finalists from popular TV show America’s Got Talent. But believe it or not, it’s possible: Those celebrated tenors—John Hagen, J.C. Fisher, and Marcus Collins—will perform with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra on March 31, bulking up their three-part harmonies and Texas charm with the immense sound of a full-sized orchestra.

Since their success on America’s Got Talent, the Texas Tenors have toured their modern interpretation of country and classical music all over the world in more than 270 concerts, including a 23-city tour of the United Kingdom.

For this evening of country, pop, and classical music, Robert Franz will be the guest conductor for the South Bend Symphony Orchestra.

THE TEXAS TENORSSouth Bend Symphony OrchestraMorris Performing Arts CenterMar. 31, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $8–$50Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

BIG TEXAS VOICES

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GOOD FRIDAY ANDREWS UNIVERSITY SINGERSFirst Presbyterian Church South BendApr. 6, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 234-4159 for more info

SPRING CHAMBER ORCHESTRA CONCERTBethel CollegeEverest-Rohrer Chapel/Fine Arts CenterApr. 10, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 807-7575 for more info

N-E-W TRIO IN CONCERTFischoff National Chamber Music Assn.Snite Museum of ArtApr. 11, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 631-2903 for more info

SPRING JAZZ & PERCUSSION NIGHTBethel CollegeEverest-Rohrer Chapel/Fine Arts CenterApr. 13, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 807-7575 for more info

TUBACORSouthwest Michigan Symphony OrchestraHeritage Museum and Cultural Center, St. JosephApr. 13, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $5–$20Call (269) 982-4030 for more info

AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRADeBartolo Performing Arts CenterApr. 14, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $15–$40Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

JOHN PRINEMorris Performing Arts CenterApr. 14, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $49.50–$59.50Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

CHERISH THE LADIESSauder Concert Hall, Goshen CollegeApr. 14, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $20–$40Call (574) 535-7566 for more info

POINT OF GRACELake Michigan CollegeMendel Center at Lake Michigan CollegeApr. 14, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $26–$36Call (269) 927-1221 for more info

ANNUAL FACULTY ORGAN RECITAL: JOHN GOUWENSCulver AcademiesMemorial Chapel, Culver AcademiesApr. 15, 2012 at 4 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 842-8387 for more info

CANADIAN BRASSHoward Performing Arts Center,Berrien SpringsApr. 15, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $35Call (888) 467-6442 for more info

IUSB GUITAR & FLUTE ENSEMBLESMishawaka Lions ClubMishawaka High School AuditoriumApr. 19, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $3–$6Call (574) 258-1616 for more info

GOSPEL, CHORALE, AND CHAMBER CHOIR CONCERTErnestine M. Raclin School of the ArtsCampus Auditorium, Indiana University South BendApr. 20, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $5–$9, students and children freeCall (574) 520-4203 for more info

NOTRE DAME SYMPHONY ORCHESTRANotre Dame Department of MusicDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterApr. 20, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $3–$6Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

SACHAL VASANDANIDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterApr. 21, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $15–$30Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLEErnestine M. Raclin School of the ArtsCampus Auditorium, Indiana University South BendApr. 22, 2012 at 4 p.m.Tickets: $5–$9; students and children freeCall (574) 520-4203 for more info

OPERA NOTRE DAME PRESENTS SWEENEY TODDNotre Dame Department of MusicDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterApr. 26–29, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $7–$19Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

FIRST FRIDAYS KEYBANK CONCERT SERIES: EVERYDAY PEOPLEDowntown South BendThe Backstage Grill, South BendMay 4, 2012 at 5:30 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 282-1110 for more info

THE TORADZE STUDIOSouth Bend Symphony OrchestraMorris Performing Arts CenterMay 5, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $8–$50Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

SOUTH BEND YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS SPRING CONCERTSouth Bend Youth Symphony OrchestraNorthside Hall, Indiana University South BendMay 6, 2012 at 4 p.m.Tickets: $4–$6, students and children freeCall (574) 520-4203 for more info

FLEUR DE LYSNotre Dame Department of MusicDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMay 8, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $10Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

TRACE ADKINSMorris Performing Arts CenterMay 11, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $39.75–$103Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

FISCHOFF NATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC COMPETITIONFischoff National Chamber Music Assn.DeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMay 11, 2012 from 9 a.m.–8 p.m.May 12, 2012 from 8:30 a.m.–6:25 p.m.May 13, 2012 from 11 a.m.–3 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 631-2800 for more info

FISCHOFF NATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC COMPETITION GRAND PRIZE CONCERTFischoff National Chamber Music Assn.DeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMay 13, 2012 at 3:30 p.m.Tickets: $12–$15 adultCall (574) 631-2800 for more info

MUSIC OF THE RUSSIAN MASTERSVesper ChoraleKern Road Mennonite Church, South BendMay 19, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $8–$15Call (574) 291-0924 for more info

upcoming arts events

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visual artsSCULPTURE FERNWOODFernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve, NilesJun. 19, 2011–Sep. 2, 2013 Tues.–Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun. 12–5 p.m.Tickets: $3–$7; children 5 and younger freeCall (269) 695-6491 for more info

DRAWINGS BY LUIGI GREGORISnite Museum of ArtUniversity of Notre DameJan. 15–Mar. 11, 2012 Tues.–Wed. 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Thur.–Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun. 1–5 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 631-5466 for more info

DIGNITY: HUMAN RIGHTS & POVERTYSnite Museum of ArtUniversity of Notre DameJan. 15–Mar. 11, 2012 Tues.–Wed. 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Thur.–Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun. 1–5 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 631-5466 for more info

A GRAND FLOURISH: DRAWINGS OF ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENTSnite Museum of ArtUniversity of Notre DameJan. 15–Apr. 1, 2012 Tues.–Wed. 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Thur.–Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun. 1–5 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 631-5466 for more info

SIRENS OF CHROME Studebaker National Museum, South BendJan. 20–Apr. 1, 2012 Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun. 12–5 p.m.Tickets: $5–$8; children 5 and younger freeCall (574) 235-9714 for more info

THE HOME FRONT: LIFE IN ELKHART COUNTY DURING WWIIElkhart County Historical Museum, BristolFeb. 1–Aug. 31, 2012 Tues.–Sat. 9 a.m.–5 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 848-4322 for more info

LEA GOLDMAN ART EXHIBITIONBlue GalleryLaSalle Grill, South BendFeb. 2–May 31, 2012 Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 276-6001 for more info

PAINTINGS BY ANTHONY DROEGEMain Street Galleries, Benton HarborFeb. 3–Mar. 25, 2012 Thurs.–Sun 12–5 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (269) 925-2991 for more info

MEMBERSHIP SHOWNorthern Indiana Artists, Inc.Gallery East, MishawakaFeb. 6–Mar. 23, 2012 Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 217-8099 for more info

GIZMOS, CORSETS & CONCOCTIONSCenter for History, South BendFeb. 11–Dec. 31, 2012 Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun. 12–5 p.m.Tickets: $5–$8; children 5 and younger freeCall (574) 235-9664 for more info

THE FLOWERING CROSS: HOLY WEEK IN AN ANDEAN VILLAGESouth Bend Museum of ArtFeb. 25–Apr. 15, 2012 Wed.–Sun. 12–5 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 235-9102 for more info

UNDILUTED: PAINTINGS BY JULIAN ALCANTAR AND JAMES PALMOREArtpost, South BendMar. 1–Apr. 29, 2012 Thurs.–Fri. 12–6 p.m.; Sun. 12–4 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 287-6293 for more info

ROBYN LOUGHRANCirca Arts Gallery, South BendMar. 2–31, 2012 Wed.–Fri. 10 a.m–6 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.–3 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 233-8400 for more info

YOUTH ART 2012Midwest Museum of American ArtElkhartMar. 2–Apr. 1, 2012 Tues.–Fri. 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Sat.–Sun. 1–4 p.m.Tickets: $2–$4Call (574) 293-6660 for more info

STILL MAKING HISTORY: SOUTH BEND MEDICAL FOUNDATION’S 100 YEARS OF LEADERSHIPCenter for History, South BendMar. 3–Sep. 30, 2012 Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun. 12–5 p.m.Tickets: $5–$8; children 5 and younger freeCall (574) 235-9664 for more info

Prefer your artwork at full strength, rather than watered down? If so, you’ll love Undiluted, the

current exhibition at Artpost in South Bend.Undiluted features new abstract paintings by

regional artists Julian Alcantar and James Palmore. Both artists make use of color, form, and line to create visual metaphors about human experience and emotion.

Works on display include Palmore’s Being That We Are, above, which is mixed media on wood.

UNDILUTED: PAINTINGS BY JULIAN ALCANTAR AND JAMES PALMOREArtpost, South BendMar. 1–Apr. 29, 2012Thurs.–Fri. 12–6 p.m.; Sun. 12–4 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 287-6293 for more info

ART, FULL STRENGTH

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danceDANCES FOR A FESTIVE NIGHTBattell Community Center, MishawakaMar. 9–10, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $10–$15Call (574) 258-1667 for more info

GISELLESouthold Dance Theater DeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMar. 16, 2012 at 7 p.m.Mar. 17, 2012 at 2 and 7 p.m.Tickets: $15–$25Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

IN CONCERT!Patchwork Dance CompanyO’Laughlin Auditorium, Saint Mary’s CollegeMar. 17, 2012 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $8–$15Call (574) 247-1590 for more info

IN CONCERT!Patchwork Dance CompanyLerner Theatre, ElkhartMar. 18 at 2 p.m.Tickets: $15–$20Call (574) 293-4469 for more info

RIVERDANCE FAREWELL TOURMorris Performing Arts CenterMar. 21, 2012 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $29.75–$69.75Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

A TIME TO DANCEMoreau Center for the Arts O’Laughlin Auditorium, Saint Mary’s CollegeApr. 27, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. Apr. 28, 2012 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $8–$13Call (574) 284-4626 for more info

BALLET HISPANICODeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMay 3–4, 2012 at 7 p.m.May 5, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $8–$35Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SLEEPING BEAUTY AND REPERTORYConservatory of DanceEverest-Rohrer Chapel/Fine Arts Center, Bethel CollegeMay 6, 2012 at 3 p.m.Tickets: $8–$15Call (574) 273-8888 for more info

EXHIBIT: JUANITA YODER, FIBER ARTHershberger Art Gallery, Goshen CollegeMar. 4–25, 2012 Mon.–Fri. 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; Sat. 1–4 p.m.; Sun. 2–4 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 535-7566 for more info

MICHAEL LASATER: VIDEO, ANIMATION, SOUNDSouth Bend Museum of ArtMar. 10–Jul. 8, 2012 Wed.–Sun. 12–p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 235-9102 for more info

CHILDREN’S RAIN BARREL ART PROJECT GALLERYIUSB Center for a Sustainable FutureCounty-City Building, South BendMar. 15–27, 2012 Mon.–Fri. 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 520-4429 for more info

23RD ANNUAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL EXHIBITIONSouth Bend Heritage Foundation Colfax Cultural Center, South BendMar. 16–Apr. 13, 2012 Mon.–Fri. 9 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m.–1 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 289-1066 ext. 215 for more info

THE VIEW FROM HERESouth Bend Museum of ArtMar. 24–Jul. 8, 2012 Wed.–Sun. 12–5 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 235-9102 for more info

ELFA JÓNSDÓTTIR: DWELLINGSFire Arts, Inc, South BendMar. 16–Apr. 27, 2012 Tues. and Thurs. 12–9 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.– 4 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 282-2787 for more info

2012 THESIS EXHIBITION BY BFA AND MFA CANDIDATESSnite Museum of ArtUniversity of Notre DameApr. 1–May 20, 2012 Tues.–Wed. 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Thurs.–Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sun. 1–5 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 631-5466 for more info

Event information is subject to change. For the latest information about these

and many other local arts events, be sure to visit ArtsEverywhere.com.

Continuing its commitment to dance, the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center will

bring Ballet Hispanico to our community for three performances in May. Founded in 1970, Ballet Hispanico explores, preserves, and celebrates Latino cultures through dance, and is also known for its dance school and its extensive education and outreach programs. The program for the May performances features three premieres: works by Eduardo Vilaro, the company’s artistic director; award-winning choreographer Andrea Miller, founder of Gallim Dance in New York City; and Ron K. Brown.

BALLET HISPANICODeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMay 3–4, 2012 at 7 p.m.May 5, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $8–$35Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

BALLET HISPANICO

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Out & About in the Arts Martin Short brought some of his most popular characters to Fischoff’s Annual Gala on January 28, 2012, including Ed Grimley and Jiminy Glick, and more than 800 Fischoff supporters turned out for the fun. Because of his belief in Fischoff’s mission, Short’s performance was a gift—which helped the organization raise more than $118,000 for its educational programs.

1) Peter Coburn, Betsie LaVelle; 2) Rev. Edward Malloy, CSC; Martin Short; 3) Mayor Peter Buttigieg, “Jiminy Glick”; 4) Miki Strabley, Martin Short, Pam O’Rourke, Ann Divine, Anna Mlodzik, Doug Hildeman; 5) Tucker and Rich Fleorea, Jason and Darla Lippert, Martin Short, Jay and Nancy Wilkinson, Tom and Mary Lowe, Mary and Gary Graham; 6) Steve Camilleri, Chris Elchico, Bob and Debbie Bernhard, John and Jeny Sejdinaj, Martin Short, Jane and Ron Kraemer, Ann and John Firth, Erin Camilleri

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Six dollars? Is that all?”

The young man behind the ticket window nods, patiently.“There’s no charge for students, and the two adult tickets are

$3 each,” he explains, as he slides four tickets for Johnny Appleseed under the glass partition.

Without argument, one of the biggest selling points of the annual children’s show at Indiana University South Bend’s Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts is the price of the tickets.

The Campus Auditorium in IUSB’s Northside Hall is a comfortable space for kids, too, many of whom appear to be more interested in the mechanics of the fold-up theater seats than the action on stage. Others watch, fascinated, as Johnny Appleseed asks the audience, “Is there someone behind me?” and then—despite the delighted shrieks of “YES! YES!” from the audience—somehow manages to turn around so slowly that he misses Josh Pierce, the

Kids’ Stages

Autographs and Razzle Dazzle:

Local Live Theater for Children

character in his shadow. About 250 people have turned up for this Saturday matinee, including energetic preschoolers, awestruck toddlers, and at least one infant, who sleeps peacefully in her carrier until about halfway through the show.

IUSB has had a commitment to children’s theater for a long time: The 2012-13 season will mark its fiftieth year of producing shows for children. Founded by professor emeritus Warren Pepperdine, the program’s purpose is to develop those young audience members into lifelong theater fans, even if they never set foot on a stage themselves.

“We want those kids to dig the theater and go to it,” says Randy Colborn, Associate Dean of Academics for the Raclin School. “Whether they ultimately make theater or not is beside the point.”

Colborn has been with IUSB for more than half of those 50 years of children’s theater. When it comes to making theater, he says, he’s never thought of children as significantly different from adult audiences.

by Laura Moran Walton

Characters from Johnny Appleseed, performed in February by students in IUSB’s Raclin School of the Arts, sign autographs for children at a post-show meet-and-greet.

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“You never want your actors to think, ‘Oh, it’s just a bunch of kids,’” he says. “You don’t play down to them.”

But, he confirms, there are some technical distinctions. Most shows for children run less than an hour with no intermission in order to give community schools enough time to bus in students for the performances. School schedules also dictate the time of year for productions, which is why children’s shows are often scheduled in February and March.

More than 6,000 children from area schools came to see Johnny Appleseed in February; those numbers vary each year based on available school funding.

Traditionally, IUSB’s children’s shows conclude with a meet-and-greet. After the 11 a.m. matinee, dozens of children head for the lobby of Northside to surround the members of the cast. Johnny asks what they thought of the show (“I liked the pretty dresses,” offers one preschool girl), and then signs programs with a flourish: “Johnny Appleseed,” rather than Jared Wagner, his real name.

You’d never see that on Broadway, but it’s standard operating procedure for the children’s shows, Colborn says.

“Kids are great,” Colborn says, with a laugh. “They don’t really care that I’m the Tin Man; they want the Tin Man’s signature, not mine.”

Next year, kids will have the opportunity to collect that specific autograph: IUSB will perform The Wizard of Oz, marking its 50 years of children’s theater with an audience favorite.

Performing for Peers“Theater teaches teamwork even better than sports do,” says Tami

Ramaker, executive director of South Bend Civic Theatre. “In sports, if something goes wrong, you’ve got a back-up—second string, third string. In theater, you can’t pull one peg out of the system or the whole thing falls apart.”

Since its early years in the 1950s, SBCT has produced children’s theater and occasionally offered children’s acting classes. But focusing and growing the program was not possible until 2005, Ramaker says, when the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County’s ArtsEverywhere initiative provided a three-year Major Venture Grant that allowed the theater to hire a full-time director of

“Our goal is to create a safe space for kids to enjoy the theater experience—just like watching a movie at

home,” says Tami Ramaker, executive director of SBCT.

children’s theater. From there, the program grew quickly, becoming known as Kids4Kids in 2009.

In conjunction with SBCT’s children’s classes, Kids4Kids emphasizes the integrated experience of learning about theater and then applying the learning in performance—although, as Ramaker notes, many of the children cast in the shows are not in SBCT’s classes.

In 2012, SBCT will produce three Kids4Kids shows: Flat Stanley, Sideways Stories, and All Shook Up. The three, Ramaker says, illustrate a continuum of theater for young people, moving from simple to more complex.

“Each year, we try to have one show that makes for a good ‘first experience’ with theater,” she says. “This year, it’s Flat Stanley.”

An hour long, the musical—based on the 1964 picture book by Jeff Brown—will be performed at Century Center in the Bendix Theatre. SBCTs children’s shows are peripatetic; Ramaker explains that she tries to match each one to the space that makes the most sense for it.

For Flat Stanley, she says, “I like the steep rake in the Bendix because tiny kids can still see and hear what’s going on. They can sing along, they can clap, they can make noise… It’s a very lively audience. At that age, children don’t have theater etiquette nailed down yet, and we don’t expect them to. Our goal is to create a safe space for kids to enjoy the theater experience—just like watching a movie at home.”

The size of the Bendix also works well for SBCT’s school performances. Like IUSB, SBCT busses in elementary and middle school groups for its performances; some come from as far away as Plymouth, IN, or from school districts in Michigan.

The experience of seeing their peers excel on stage makes the trip more than worthwhile, Ramaker says.

“Theater can be terribly important to young people,” Ramaker says. “It teaches teamwork, discipline; kids develop confidence from being in front of a large group. And it’s wonderfully empowering for a child to see another eight-year-old up on stage. Every kid thinks ‘I can do that!’”

Razzle-Dazzle Special EffectsOn March 9, hundreds of little girls, many of them in sparkling princess

dresses and related accoutrements, will pour into the lobby of the Morris Performing Arts Center, looking around eagerly for Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle.

That’s right: Disney Live Presents: Three Classic Fairy Tales is in town.Large-scale, nationally touring children’s shows like Three Classic Fairy Tales

are built around stories and characters that children recognize, incorporating music, fancy costumes, and razzle-dazzle special effects. Dennis Andres, executive director of the Morris, sees three or four of these shows come through the building each year, most of which are outgrowths of children’s TV shows or movies. Blue’s Clues, Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, and dozens of others have played the Morris in the past.

“These are commercial shows,” Andres says, matter-of-factly, when asked how they compare to smaller, local productions. “They’re pure entertainment.”

With prices ranging from $17 to $57.50, parents will shell out a lot more for Three Classic Fairy Tales than they did for Johnny Appleseed. But Andres points

A young audience member examines the nose of a bunny in Saint Mary’s College’s February production of the children’s opera Puss in Boots.

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Laura Moran Walton is the director of public relations and communication for the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, and the editor of this magazine.

out that they’ll pay less than they would for many of the Morris’s other shows (tickets for country star Trace Adkins, for example, top out at $103). That’s because children’s shows seldom have a “name” star, he explains. Children love Big Bird, but the actor under the familiar yellow costume could be anyone at all.

Anyone, that is, who’s up to the demands of an extremely heavy, hot costume.

“The actors are cooking inside those costumes,” Andres says. Big Bird’s costume, he adds, is so immense that it has to be lifted onto the actor with a winch. Actors have to limit the amount of time they spend in costume due to the physical demands of the work.

“Otherwise, they’ll pass out,” he says. The elaborate costumes are the primary reason that these shows seldom

invite audience members backstage. As soon as the performance ends, actors want out of their weighty feather-and-glue outfits.

“And you can’t let the kids see Blue with his head off,” Andres says, raising his eyebrows. “Talk about a traumatic experience!”

Unlike local shows, national tours rely heavily on merchandise and concession sales to contribute to their profit margins.

As soon as children come through the doors for Three Classic Fairy Tales, they’ll see prominently displayed products such as dolls, coloring books, t-shirts, and tiaras, as well as show-specific concessions such as cotton candy and juice boxes.

“All of the things,” Andres says, “that you can possibly imagine that a child would want.”

It’s all for sale, and the vendors, who travel with the show, are as expert as the actors at attracting their audience’s attention.

Andres’s advice to parents?“Come with cash,” he says, with a wry smile. “They’re going to get you.”

Theatre That TeachesNotre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, which presents

professional touring artists, is a relative newcomer to the world of children’s theater. Under the leadership of Anna Thompson, who joined the organization as executive director in July 2007, DPAC has begun to add educational performances for young people to its roster.

“A lot of people don’t realize it, but Anna has a Master’s degree in library science,” says Sean Martin, DPAC’s community engagement program manager. “Because of that, curriculum-based performance is really important to her. You’ll notice that many of our shows are literature-based.”

He mentions The Adventures of Harold and the Purple Crayon and If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, both of which came to DPAC in 2010, and Charlotte’s Web, scheduled for late April.

All of these shows are great quality, he says.“Most of the actors are earning their Equity cards,” he explains, referring

to the process through which young actors accumulate theatrical “credits,” allowing them to become eligible for membership in Actors Equity Association, theater’s biggest union. “They’re performing at a really high level.”

In early February, DPAC presented The Magic School Bus—Live! in the Decio Theatre. There were two daytime matinees for children from Notre Dame’s Early Childhood Development Center, several local Montessori programs,

and the entire student body of Perley Elementary School, the South Bend Community School Corporation’s fine arts magnet; the evening performance was open to the public.

“It was awesome,” says Martin, who worked at the shows. “The kids were really excited. That’s the difference between the kids’ shows and any other DPAC performance: the excitement in the lobby. We don’t see that in a college performing arts setting very often, all that sound and craziness happening at once. It’s very refreshing.”

He pauses, and then adds, “If we did that every weekend, I’d go crazy.”At what age are children ready for theater? It varies by show, Martin

says, but he points out that even more advanced shows can work for younger children, although they may not catch every detail. He uses the example of The Magic School Bus—Live!, which included material about climate change.

“Some of it was over the heads of the four-, five-, and six-year-olds, but through the larger actions and the slapstick, they were able to get the context.”

Ultimately, he says, it’s up to parents.“As soon as you feel comfortable bringing your child to the theater,” says

Martin, “you should start. Even very little children can absorb the music.”

Get involvedDISNEY LIVE PRESENTS: THREE CLASSIC FAIRY TALESMorris Performing Arts CenterMar. 9, 2012 at 3:30 and 6:30 p.m.Tickets: $17–$57.75Call (574) 235-9190 for more info

FLAT STANLEY, JR.South Bend Civic TheatreCentury Center Bendix TheatreMar. 23, 2012 at 7 p.m.Mar. 24, 2012 at 3 and 7 p.m.Mar. 25, 2012 at 3 p.m.Tickets: $8–$10Call (574) 234-1112 for more info

CHARLOTTE’S WEBDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterUniversity of Notre DameApr. 27, 2012 at 7 p.m. Tickets: $10Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

The Magic School Bus—Live! at Notre Dame’s DeBartolo in February

“As soon as you feel comfortable bringing your child to the theater,” says Sean Martin, DPAC’s community engagement program manager, “you should start.”

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New ExperienceWNIT-TV Launches Daily Show on Life in Michiana

The station’s Community Advisory Council decided that WNIT was the organization that should tell those stories, and the production team set about figuring out the best way to do it. The solution they came up with was innovative and ambitious.

“We said, if we had a local show that was about arts and culture, but that also encompassed business and lifestyle and politics,” Hernandez recalls, “we could take the great ideas, the great stories that are happening in our community and put them in front of people.”

If that sounds like a blend of WNIT’s current programming, including public affairs shows like Economic Outlook and the original arts and culture programming that has appeared on the station in the past, the similarity is no accident.

“Life is all about that blend,” Hernandez explains. “We love to go to our concerts, but we also want to know what’s going on in politics at the local and

On March 19, WNIT Public Television will introduce a bold new addition to its original programming. Experience Michiana, a half-hour program hosted by former WNDU anchor Gordy Young, will air five nights a week and will cover life in Michiana from every conceivable angle, from business and

politics to arts and culture. It’s a daring project, but one that WNIT thinks Michiana sorely needs.

“About two or three months ago, we were talking about the fact that news isn’t about the good things that are happening in our community any longer,” says Angel Hernandez, WNIT’s vice president of production.

“The news on commercial stations doesn’t spend time on the positive things now, and people are starting to notice that these things are missing. It’s that vacuum that made it urgent to do something like this now. Somebody has to tell these stories.”

by Evan Gillespie

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state level. We want to know about things that are happening economically in our area.”

In terms of content, Experience Michiana ends up looking like a hybrid news program and lifestyle showcase, which is just what Hernandez wants. The cultural side of the show will fill a gap left by the departure of Open Studio, a community lifestyle program that ceased production a few years ago.

“We miss the interaction with the arts and culture in the community,” says Kelsy Zumbrun, Experience Michiana’s producer/director. “It was great to have local artists and musicians in the studio, getting to see what’s going on out there.”

“Open Studio gave us the opportunity to take on projects, things to do with arts and culture in the community, that we don’t normally have a venue for,” Hernandez adds.

The other ingredients in the show’s recipe—the business, politics and current events—will be supplied from diverse resources, including WNIT’s existing programming.

“There is a practical side to it,” says Hernandez. “We’re producing five other shows, and this allows us to pull excerpts from those shows and use them in this one. We can draw on Economic Outlook; we can draw on Politically Speaking.”

Being able to draw on resources already in place is important because of the most ambitious aspect of Experience Michiana: its schedule. The show will air five nights a week, Monday through Friday, at 6:30 p.m., with a repeat airing later in the evening—and five shows a week demand a lot of content.

“If we need 25 minutes of content for each show, that’s 125 minutes of content each week,” says Zumbrun. “We’re used to doing series, where you need 25 minutes a week over 44 weeks for a show like Economic Outlook. Here you need 125 minutes a week over that same 44 weeks. And when you consider that the format of this show lends itself to shorter segments—a minute and a half, two minutes each—the list of things you have to come up with adds up really quickly. We try to not think about the numbers involved.”

“I was talking to someone in Merrillville,” Hernandez says. “They do a nightly local news show there—and he said ‘Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?’ It’s a huge undertaking, and it’s ground-breaking.”

Fortunately, the team knows exactly what they’re getting themselves into, and there is a plan in place to take on the challenge. The show will be shot “live to tape” each afternoon, meaning that the half-hour program will be laid down on tape in real time. The crew, however, has set aside two hours for the production every day, leaving extra time to shoot more segments with guests, footage that can be used in programs throughout the week.

“Seventy to eighty percent of the show will be pre-taped,” Hernandez explains. “But in that two hours, we’ll also have time to shoot various segments with each guest, not just one, and include them in other shows.”

The station is also seeking funding to purchase a remote broadcasting unit, a piece of equipment that will make it much easier for the show to cover the arts in WNIT’s entire 22-county viewing area.

“It will allow us to be in different parts of the community,” says Zumbrun. “We can be at the Blueberry Festival in Plymouth. We can be in Warsaw. It will also give us an opportunity to send a crew to parts of the viewing area that are farther away, where maybe there are people who can’t come to us to do an interview.”

In addition to extending the show’s reach, a remote unit could bring a sense of immediacy to the program.

“We’ll be able to go to live events,” says Hernandez. “We’re on from 6:30 to 7:00, and that’s the time when things are starting, when there’s an opening at the Lerner or at the Civic Theatre, and we’ll be able to do a live broadcast and ask people, ‘How do you feel about the show you’re going to see? Are you excited?’ We’ll be able to create a positive buzz around these events.”

The demands on Zumbrun, Hernandez, senior producer Brenda Bowyer and the rest of the crew will be great, but they’re counting on partnerships with local arts organizations—and even with the viewers themselves—to make the load a little lighter.

“Producing a show like this is about research and phone calls,” says Zumbrun. “But it’s also about building partnerships, making connections. We hope that when we make connections with organizations like the Center for History or the Kroc Center, organizations that are regularly coming up with new programs and events, that then they’ll know we’re here and they’ll reach out to us when something comes up. We also want the show to be interactive—and Gordy will help with that; he’s very personable—and we want people to call us with ideas for things to cover. Hopefully eventually, just as much as we’re calling out, we’ll have people calling in.”

It won’t be easy, but being on the air five nights a week is something that Hernandez feels strongly about.

“It allows us to create viewer habits,” he says. “PBS doesn’t typically have the star power that commercial channels have; we have Elmo and Big Bird and Downton Abbey, but it’s an ongoing challenge for PBS to bring viewers back without the kind of star power that other channels have. By being on five nights a week, we hope to give viewers something that they can find on our channel all the time, that they know will be there. So they can watch their local news, and then they can come to us for a program that looks at those issues in a wider way, and then they can stay for the News Hour.”

The producers know they can be successful if they can show the viewers what the team already knows about the arts in Michiana.

“We joke that it’s an unfair benefit that we get, that we get to see and hear the art and music that’s going on in the community firsthand,” says Zumbrun. “But this allows us to share it with the viewers, and that’s really exciting.”

Get involvedEXPERIENCE MICHIANA WNIT-TV Public TelevisionMon.–Fri. at 6:30 p.m.Debut date: March 19, 2012Call (574) 675-9648 for more info

“I was talking to someone in Merrillville,” Hernandez says. “They do a nightly local news show there—and he said ‘Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?’

It’s a huge undertaking, and it’s ground-breaking.”

Evan Gillespie is a freelance writer based in Mishawaka.

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Tired of searching for gifts from stores that offer the same bland merchandise from coast to coast? It’s time to take a fresh look at the museum shops in our community.

Museum shops offer one-of-a-kind artworks and hand-crafted items, often by local artists. They sell merchandise that will remind

out-of-towners of a visit to South Bend. They stock books and DVDs that continue the learning experience after a museum visit. They provide unusual and exotic items from around the world. And visitors who drive home still thinking about that logo glassware can just order it from the museum’s website.

Museum store managers are always thinking, “What can I offer my visitors that they can’t find anywhere else?” says Marilyn Thompson, director of marketing and community relations at the Center for History.

The Center for History chooses merchandise that enhances the learning experience, often directly relating to an exhibit, Thompson says. Visitors who

have just completed the tour of the Oliver Mansion, for example, often will want to learn more about the Oliver family and its history, so the museum provides related books and DVDs. There’s merchandise to enrich children’s learning, too: At the family-oriented summer programs at the Navarre Cabin in Leeper Park, the museum sells calico bonnets and faux-coonskin caps so that children can continue to play and think about history after the event.

“If your children have an experience that intrigues them and you can purchase a book that they can take home and read that night, that’s priceless,” Thompson says.

The museum shop’s best sellers are books, many of which focus on history and especially regional history. Also popular are reproductions of historic photographs, glassware with the museum logo, and T-shirts, such as one that reads, “Women Who Behave Rarely Make History.”

The Center for History is currently revamping its shop to improve the

Museum Shops Offer Offbeat, Unique Giftsby Nancy Johnson

The South Bend Museum of Art’s recently reopened gift shop, now known as the Dot Shop

What’s in Store

19

visitor experience, says Ken Cencelewski, director of visitor services and manager of the shop. Plans include relocating the shop into the lobby area over the next few months and offering merchandise soon through the Center’s website, centerforhistory.org. Those plans will tie in with increased use of social media such as Facebook to help the museum reach a much wider audience.

At the South Bend Museum of Art, the museum shop has made a dramatic reappearance. The museum had a shop for many years, but it was closed a few years ago because it didn’t garner the foot traffic needed to justify having a paid staff, says Susan Visser, executive director. But people missed it, so a new store—the Dot Shop—opened its doors in August of 2011. Named after museum benefactor Dot Wiekamp, the shop sells original artworks and handmade crafts on consignment from more than 40 artists. Many of the artists are faculty members who teach art classes at the museum, so displaying and selling their work allows the museum to support local and regional artists, Visser says.

The Dot Shop looks like a gallery, but the merchandise is enticingly displayed on tables, inviting a touch. Counters display porcelain pots and whimsical pottery armadillos by Tom Meuninck, intricate beaded jewelry by Ginny Williams, porcelain vases by Gundega Penikis, colorful knitted hats, scarves, necklaces, and card cases by Birgit Scott, leaf-patterned bowls by Sue Lowe, and watercolors by Natalie Klein. Those seeking unusual gifts might explore Gwen Diehn’s offbeat wallets made of recycled papers featuring pictures of roosters or dogs, or Maureen Trubac’s handmade notecards decorated with miniature mixed-media paintings, or Patty Dueringer’s bird feeders, made from found objects like sugar bowls and decorated with copper leaves and vines.

The new store has been very well received, Visser says.“In early February, we did a ‘Meet Me in the Gallery’ and we had a mob of

visitors in the shop.” Once visitors to the Studebaker National Museum have torn themselves

away from the gleaming autos on display, they encounter a shop well suited for car buffs.

“After visitors have seen the museum, they always want to take home something that reminds them of their childhood or a special date,” says Sue Boocher, museum store manager.

The museum often coordinates merchandise with exhibits, such as the hardcover book The Sirens of Chrome, about the glamorous women who posed with cars at the Detroit auto shows. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Avanti, the museum will sell a new book this spring that will coordinate with an exhibit. Both books are written by Studebaker archivist Andrew Beckman.

Studebaker logo merchandise such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, magnets, mugs, and pens are popular at the shop as well as the online store at studebakermuseum.org. The store carries a popular line of DVDs about the Studebaker factory, specific Studebaker makes and models, and old Studebaker TV commercials, including one that shows the Lark auto featured on the Mr. Ed show. Also popular are South Bend Chocolate Company candies such as wheel-logo chocolates and boxes of Turtles decorated with a photo of the customer’s choice of Studebaker car.

“Anything that says Studebaker on it is a big hit,” Boocher says.

The Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame has found a comfortable spot, offering a select assortment of merchandise at the visitor service desk and online at sniteartmuseum.nd.edu. The Snite had a museum shop until 2004, when its manager, Iris Mensing, retired, says Gina Costa, marketing and public relations specialist. At that time the museum wanted more space for artworks, so the shop space was converted into a gallery for works on paper. Visitors can buy catalogs of collections, posters, T-shirts and greeting cards at the visitor service desk. Art books and collection catalogs are available online.

An advantage of the website is that people can download the catalogs for free.“We’re adhering to Notre Dame’s mandate to go green and use less paper,”

Costa says.The Potawatomi Zoo shop offers a variety of unusual gifts that support

sustainable practices, giving an income to African artisans to deter them from hunting wildlife, says Sharon Smith, food services and retail manager. The shop sells handmade decorative wood and beadwork animal statues, hand-carved wooden African wild dogs, and animals made from wire reclaimed from poachers’ snares. For unusual gifts, it’s hard to beat the colorful stationery sets by Ellie Poo, which makes its paper out of elephant dung. The paper has no scent, Smith explains, and since it is acid-free, it’s great for scrapbooking.

Plush animals, though, are the top seller at the zoo shop. Visitors are eager to buy furry toys after seeing the zoo’s white tigers, leopards, and river otters, Smith says. In fact, the first thing a shop visitor sees when he or she comes through the door is a seven-foot-long plush tiger.

“He’s there for the ‘wow’ factor,” Smith says of the $459.95 toy.Popular gifts for children include toy vehicles for boys, plastic animals for

girls, and animal books for both. For little girls, the shop will introduce a line of colorful handbags with a plush animal peeking out. For adults, big sellers are T-shirts. A popular one features an image of the North American River Otter plus the zoo’s name and city.

Potawatomi Zoo doesn’t sell merchandise online, but hopes to do so soon.A portion of the shop’s proceeds go to the zoo’s animal welfare and

conservation program.“It’s nice to have a trinket to remember your visit and to know you are

helping the animals themselves,” Smith says.

Nancy Johnson is a freelance writer based in South Bend, Indiana.

Staffers Ken Cencelewski and Marilyn Thompson show off some of the merchandise available through the Center for History’s gift shop, which is in the process of changing locations within the Center.

Many of the artists [in the Dot Shop] are faculty members, so displaying and selling their work allows

the museum to support local and regional artists.

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The FischoffCompetition Is

Only Part ofthe Story

The Music Never Stops

A member of the Linden String Quartet, Grand Prize and Gold Medal winner in the

Fischoff’s Senior String Division, 2009

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For three intense days in May, a couple hundred young musicians battle for the spotlight on stage at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association’s annual competition. At stake is $24,000 in prize money, as well as subsequent “Winner’s Tour” opportunities. The weekend is a whirlwind for everyone involved.

Behind the scenes, though, Fischoff’s staff stays busy all year long, planning and making arrangements.

Ann Divine, Fischoff’s executive director, explains that the amazing spectacle of those three days of musical showdowns can only happen with a determined push that requires hard work in every season.

“As soon as one’s done, we start on the next year’s,” she says.For instance, over the summer, Divine and her staff work at securing jurors

for the following year’s event, knowing that the prestigious professionals who serve as judges need plenty of time to free their schedules and save the dates for their Fischoff duties. One of the jurors for 2012 is Joel Smirnoff, who spent over two decades as a violinist with the elite Juilliard String Quartet.

Also over the summer, preparations begin for the design of each year’s poster. A whopping 13,000 posters go out in the mail in October, with the goal of reaching every teacher and musician who could possibly benefit from the Fischoff experience.

“We still like the idea of the physical piece of paper, the poster. It does seem to get put up on walls in studios. We send them around the country to all of the individual teachers, professors, to all of the deans of music, to every music school, university, and conservatory in the United States,” Divine says. “We blast them all over.”

Fischoff has certainly grabbed the attention of plenty of fine musicians over the years. Past participants who have gone on to prominent careers include the Avalon String Quartet, Axiom Brass, eighth blackbird, Imani Winds, Pacifica String Quartet, and Trio Wanderer. All of those chamber ensembles —ranging in repertoire from the old masters to the avant-garde—have become internationally acclaimed recording and touring artists.

Joshua Bell, prior to becoming perhaps the most celebrated violinist in the world, came through the ranks of Fischoff as a member of a chamber trio from Bloomington.

As a phenomenon within the chamber music world, Fischoff has grown exponentially since its fairly humble inception. In 1973, Joseph E. Fischoff and members of the South Bend Chamber Music Society gathered together six ensembles for the event’s first contest. Now, Fischoff has become the world’s largest chamber music competition, with no indications of slowing down.

“This past year, we had the largest number of entries that we’ve ever had in the history of Fischoff,” Divine says. “It’s good to see that it keeps getting stronger in that way. We thought that, with the economy, if ever it would go down it would be over the last couple of years. But we had just tons of applications.”

The competition begins with a field of 48 slots, and choosing which 48 groups make the cut can be a grueling exercise for the selection committees. The surge in applications has given those committees a few extra headaches.

“It makes things harder for the screening committees. Longer hours of

reviewing the videos, a hard decision of who actually gets to come,” Divine says.Entry submissions must come in the form of a DVD, so that the committees

can see as well as hear the audition performances. The Fischoff’s website provides guidelines for what kind of hall to choose and how to get a good sound on the DVD recordings. For the most part, though, the musicians have to handle that technical side of things themselves, or with the help of some tech-savvy friends.

Divine says that this has not presented a problem because of the recent advances in free recording software programs and young students’ familiarity with them. The audition videos usually look and sound pretty good.

Those DVDs are due March 1 of each year. By the end of March, the 48 positions are decided, and Fischoff’s competition director, Miki Strabley, can start assigning who is playing where and when during the five rounds of competition over the three days of concerts.

“Around the same time, we pick the groups that we send into the community for soirées and classroom performances at schools,” Divine says.

This engagement with the community—particularly in the form of educational outreach—is a vital dimension of the Fischoff competition. For those three days at Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, all the focus is on the ensembles’ sheer musical abilities. Who imbues a Mozart piece with the most pristine clarity? Who can seize a prickly Schoenberg work and drive its complicated point home? When that big pressure is off, the musicians stay engaged by means of musical activities in community outreach.

A lot of those activities are relaxed and lighthearted.In an outreach program called Peer Ambassadors for Chamber Music

(PACMan), junior ensembles visit second- and third-grade classrooms in the area for informal workshops. Kids get an up-close tutorial on the instruments, with none of the stiffness of a formal lesson.

Another of the educational programs is called S.A.M. I Am, in which a chamber group presents a children’s book with the aid of music. In 2001, Imani Winds returned to Fischoff to present Margaret Wise Brown’s Big Red Barn, and came back for four more years to present a new book in the Stories And Music series.

“Fischoff is really where we cut our teeth in outreach, which is an area where we’re now considered authorities,” says Mariam Adam, who plays the clarinet with Imani Winds. “Now we’re doing it with our own festival.”

by Jack Walton

Get involvedFISCHOFF NATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC COMPETITION DeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMay 11, 2012 from 9 a.m.–8 p.m. May 12, 2012 from 8:30 a.m.–6:25 p.m.May 13, 2012 from 11 a.m.–3 p.m.Tickets: Free and open to the publicCall (574) 631-2800 for more info

FISCHOFF NATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC COMPETITION GRAND PRIZE CONCERTDeBartolo Performing Arts CenterMay 13, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. Tickets: $12–$15Call (574) 631-2800 for more info

Joshua Bell, prior to becoming perhaps the most celebrated violinist in the world, came through the ranks

of Fischoff as a member of a chamber trio.

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The Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, begun in 2010, has many similarities to Fischoff, including a children’s book program.

“You’re out of your conservatory, straight-edged, sterile presentation,” Adam says. “You get to be a little bit silly. You also get to animate not only the story but also your own music.”

Adam also notes that educational outreach practices are only just now making their way into conservatory curricula. Fischoff helped put Imani Winds ahead of the pack.

“A lot of musicians may feel that it’s beneath them, and they really don’t want to give back in that way,” Adam says. “But Fischoff encourages that part of your musicianship.”

Imani Winds tours extensively, and has released several critically acclaimed albums. Fischoff helped get all of that in motion for Imani Winds, and there’s a detail about the group’s first year at the competition in 2000 that might surprise a lot of fans.

Imani Winds did not win the competition. The ensemble did not even get a runner-up award. The musicians still had such a positive experience that they kept working with Fischoff anyway.

“The ones who are eliminated, of course, are devastated,” Divine says. “So we immediately put them into master classes with the jurors who have just said

‘You’re out.’ Very quickly, they realize it’s all about growing and learning and working on the repertoire, finding out what they can do better. It’s not telling kids they’re not good enough—it’s taking the next step with the educational part.”

Those programs reach a lot of local children, and the best way for the community to return the favor is just by showing up at those competition performances. All of them are free of charge, with the exception of the finals on the third night. Audience members can dress casually—no top hats or tuxedos required—and stay for as long or short a time as they want. Junior (18 and under) ensembles play for 20 minutes; senior division (18-35) ensembles play 25-minute sets.

Divine stresses how much the edge-of-your-seat excitement at the concerts can resemble the charged atmosphere of sporting events.

“It’s visceral, intense, and physical,” she says. “We jokingly call it ‘full-contact chamber music.’ The kids are sweating it out on the stage. It’s almost like going to an Olympic event, watching these kids who are so highly skilled and trained.”

With so many of the groups going on to high-profile careers in chamber music, the Fischoff concerts are a great way to scout the classical music stars of the near future. Many players in the junior division still have years of school ahead of them, but in the senior division, the ensembles are ready to turn professional. The competition can be that vital springboard.

“What groups will often say to us is that Fischoff was the place where they decided, ‘We’re going to launch’,” Divine says. “’We can do this as a professional ensemble’.”

For the Fischoff competition, audience members can dress casually—no top hats or tuxedos required—and

stay for as long or short a time as they want.

Jack Walton is a freelance writer, DJ, and record collector based in South Bend.

Early childhood education. The arts.The well-being of our community’s older adults. Issues of importance to African Americans. Through the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, you can direct your charitable giving to the causes that matter most to you. We’ll help you create a legacy that will make an impact—forever.

Learn more at www.cfsjc.org.

Causes that matter.

13988 Range Line Rd • Niles, MI 49120269•695•6491

www.fernwoodbotanical.org

Sculpture Fernwood

An exhibit of10 outdoor sculptures

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Many thanks to the local arts organizations that provided these photos.

Arts History It’s Been a Long, Long Time

1) South Bend Symphony Orchestra with conductor Dr. Edwyn H. Hames for the 1937–38 season; 2) First public exhibit of the Northern Indiana Historical Society, which owns the Center for History, in 1900; 3) The Morris Performing Arts Center, which opened in 1921 as the Palace Theatre, featuring vaudeville shows; 4) Actress Helen Hayes lays the cornerstone of the Moreau Center for the Arts at Saint Mary’s College, Nov. 18, 1955; 5) Members of Southold Dance Theater, shown outside the historic Navarre Cabin in South Bend, 1975; 6) Bethel College’s The Curious Savage, 1963; 7) South Bend Civic Theater’s Damn Yankees, 1963; 8) eighth blackbird, winners of the Fischoff Wind Division,1996; 9) Acting Ensemble’s A Little Less Than Kin, 1987

1 2

3

4

876 9

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Did you realize that your great-grandparents enjoyed the art of some of the same organizations that we do today? Take a look at these fantastic old photos and our arts organizations’ start dates: You’ll find that many have remarkably deep roots.

Center for History (founded as the Northern Indiana Historical Society): 1867Morris Performing Arts Center (as the Palace Theatre): 1921

South Bend Symphony Orchestra: 1932

South Bend Museum of Art (founded as the South Bend Art Association): 1947

Moreau Center for the Arts (Saint Mary’s College): 1956

South Bend Civic Theatre: 1957

Broadway Theatre League: 1959

Indiana University South Bend’s Raclin School of the Arts: 1962 (theater), 1965 (music)

Bethel College Theater: 1963

South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestras: 1968

Fischoff National Chamber Music Association: 1973

Southold Dance Theater: 1973

Snite Museum: 1980

Acting Ensemble: 1981

Vesper Chorale (now Musical Arts Indiana): 1993

Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival: 2000

DeBartolo Performing Arts Center (University of

Notre Dame): 2004

LOOK BACK

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great demographic—they’re eager, optimistic, and can really make a community feel vibrant.

When I was working in Bloomington, I used to say that I had 70,000 ambassadors for the city. Everyone who lived there loved the community, and they were very vocal about promoting it. That’s essential for us to cultivate here. It’s all about quality of life, and the arts go hand-in-hand with that.

What are some of our community’s most attractive arts and culture resources?

RD: First, there’s everything associated with the schools—Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, IUSB’s Raclin School of the Arts, Bethel, Saint Mary’s Moreau Center for the Arts—and then you’ve got the city, with the South Bend Symphony, the Morris Performing Arts Center, South Bend Civic Theatre.... and the [Community Foundation of St. Joseph County’s] ArtsEverywhere initiative really is a tremendous resource. In Bloomington, there was no counterpart to ArtsEverywhere—it had disbanded years ago, in part because there were so many different arts organizations that it was tough to get them all on the same page. When I found out about ArtsEverywhere and the resources that are associated with it, I actually bragged about it to a former

Rob DeCleene has been the executive director of the South Bend/Mishawaka Convention and Visitors’ Bureau since May 2010. Previously, he spent nine years with the Convention and Visitors Bureau in Bloomington, IN, most recently as director of tourism. DeCleene is an enthusiastic supporter of the arts, and he’s not

afraid to admit it. Under his leadership, the CVB has increased its attention to the importance of arts and culture resources in marketing our community— a move that DeCleene anticipates will have a significant impact on tourism. ArtsEverywhere spoke with DeCleene during a recent visit to South Bend’s Oliver Mansion, one of the arts and culture resources included in the CVB’s 2012 Visitors Guide.

You spent nine years working for the CVB in Bloomington, IN, a town known for its vibrant arts scene, much of which is associated with the main campus of Indiana University. How does South Bend compare?

RD: Like Bloomington, South Bend is a collegiate city. We’ve got five major educational institutions here, rather than just one, but the common denominator is that we both have 25,000 young people between the ages of 18 and 22. That’s a

Stay for the Arts

Talking with the Arts-Savvy Director of the South Bend/Mishawaka CVB

DeCleene in the library of the Oliver Mansion, a South Bend arts and culture asset which played

a special role in bringing him back to town

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“I’d love to see some of our abandoned buildings and lots used as canvasses. It’s a way to beautify, revitalize, and create an attraction for visitors at the same time.”

Get involvedEleven museums—who knew? How many you can name before you look at the list below? They might test your definition of museums, but when you think about it, you’ll see they all fit the bill.

CENTER FOR HISTORY AND OLIVER MANSION CIVIL RIGHTS HERITAGE MUSEUM COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME HEALTHWORKS! KIDS MUSEUM MILITARY HONOR PARK AND MUSEUM POTAWATOMI PARK CONSERVATORIES POTAWATOMI ZOO SNITE MUSEUM OF ART SOUTH BEND CHOCOLATE FACTORY AND MUSEUM SOUTH BEND MUSEUM OF ART STUDEBAKER MUSEUM

colleague in Bloomington—it’s really something to be proud of.

You told me that when you were considering whether or not this job was the right fit for you, the tipping point came at the Center for History. What’s the story?

RD: At the end of my two-day interview process, I still wasn’t sure whether or not this job was the right fit for me. I’ll be honest with you—I was perfectly content with my situation; I’d made Bloomington my home. But that day, I’d had lunch at Tippecanoe and then toured the Studebaker Museum and the Oliver Mansion. I’d never been to either one. I loved Studebaker—my Dad worked for the company, so I had a personal connection—but the Oliver Mansion! I was speechless. Here I was, in the heart of downtown South Bend, in this completely intact family mansion. I’d stack it up against any other mansion tour elsewhere in the country. Even though I had grown up here, I’d never heard of it. That’s when I knew I’d take the job.

As a South Bend native—Adams High School, class of 1990—did you participate in the arts in our community when you were younger?

RD: I have really fond memories of my family’s involvement with the arts, growing up. I was the youngest in the family, and my parents would take me along with them for all kinds of performances. I saw Gone with the Wind for the first time at the Morris—the Morris Civic Auditorium, then—and Nutcracker, of course. I saw Mildred Pierce for the first time in the basement of the Snite, as part of the movie series they used to do. I remember performances at Saint Mary’s College. The arts were a part of what we did as a family, consistently.

Under your leadership, the CVB has gotten more involved in the arts than in the past—for example, working with IUSB’s Raclin School of the Arts to bring the Governor’s Arts Awards to South Bend. Why did you take on that project?

RD: The Governor’s Arts Awards was a great event when we hosted it in 2007 in Bloomington. For that one night, the focus of the arts in Indiana was on our city. I thought, here’s a great opportunity to help the rest of the state see that South Bend is a significant arts community, to change people’s perception of us. Even better was the decision to have it at Indiana University South Bend. I’d just assumed we’d host the event at the Morris, or Notre Dame, but it made perfect sense to have it at IUSB: Here’s a state university hosting the Governor’s Arts Awards for the first time ever in South Bend.

Working with the community’s 11 museums (go ahead, readers—see if you can name all of them without peeking at the sidebar), you put together a brochure for visitors that showcases these local gems. Is this the beginning of a trend?

RD: Quite frankly, the museum brochure is modeled on something we did in Bloomington, and it works beautifully here as well. Eleven museums—I mean, who knew? When I got to see the Civil Rights Heritage Center for the first time, I knew it had to be done: People need to know about that place. With this type of brochure, you can turn an “experience” into an “itinerary.”

We know you’re passionate about the value of the arts as a selling point for our community; in your own day-to-day life, what role do the arts play?

RD: Me? I don’t have an artistic bone in my body. I don’t play an instrument, I don’t act in plays, I don’t paint pictures—but boy, do I appreciate that stuff! I’m inherently drawn to the arts. I dig it, I love it, I get it. I love the art on my

walls in my home, attending performances… Art changes everything. It’s what makes life different.

Do you have any big dreams for the arts here, projects you’d like to see happen?

RD: Definitely! There’s one in particular: I’d love to see some of our abandoned buildings and lots used as canvasses. It’s a way to beautify, revitalize, and create an attraction for visitors at the same time—the perfect combination.

I saw this happen firsthand in Bloomington, as part of the Rails to Trails project. As one of the trails was being developed, its route passed behind the back of the Convention Center. No one had ever thought about the back of the Convention Center before because it wasn’t a public entrance, and it was very unattractive. A local artist—one of my best friends in Bloomington—turned it into a canvas for a 3D grass pattern. It’s become one of the most photographed sites in Bloomington. Kansas City has a great example of this type of thing, too: There, the library’s parking garage has been painted to look like a row of books on a shelf, books that are several stories tall. Just think about it: What if Abe’s Warehouse [the former Studebaker Manufacturing Building #84] suddenly became a row of books?

Of course, it’s got to be art that satisfies most palettes. This isn’t the place for the avant-garde, or the ultra-modern. It needs to be art that’s tasteful. Done well, though, it has the potential to take some of our least attractive areas and turn them into assets, and at a fraction of the cost of demolition. I’d love to see that happen.

You can contact Rob DeCleene through the South Bend/Mishawaka Convention and Visitors Bureau website: www.visitsouthbend.com.

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For tickets call 574-234-1112 or order online at SBCT.org

Two tales. Either way you win. For a smoking drama, the South Bend Civic Theatre presents the Pulitzer Prize winning selection, Anna in the Tropics. Storytelling at its best, set in a Cuban-American cigar factory in Florida, this work is so superbly written, you’ll feel the heat and savor the rich flavor. Our other mid-summer offering is Into the Woods, one of the most imaginative musicals ever written. The fractured fairy tales will leave you spellbound.

www.sbct.org

Some like it hot.Some like it twisted.

Tales for two different tastes:Anna in the Tropics – June 22 – July 1

Into the Woods – July 27 – Aug. 12

ArtsEverywhere Ad 2_12.indd 1 2/17/12 4:03 PM

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Interactive Children’s ExhibitOpening April 2, 2012!

Designed for children ages 3 to 8Replicates an automobile service center.

Schedule a tour: schools,daycares, summer camp!

201 S. Chapin StreetSouth Bend, IN 46601

574.235.9714www.studebakermuseum.org

New!

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family fun

Put away those cell phones. Shut down the computer. Turn off the television, because it

doesn’t get any more in-the-moment than a live dance concert.

With tickets about the same price as what you’d pay to see a movie, Patchwork Dance Company has put together a visual feast made up of works created by seven different Midwest choreographers.

Pieces in In Concert!—which will be performed in O’Laughlin Auditorium at Saint Mary’s College and, on the following day, in Elkhart’s recently renovated Lerner Theater—range from upbeat to introspective, according to Debbie Werbrouck, Patchwork’s artistic director. Werbrouck promises that they’ll create a “live exchange of energy” between performers and audience.

“Celebrity Status,” for example, is over-the-top, hard-driving rock ‘n’ roll.

“It’s one of those explosive pieces where, when the dancers are finished, they want the curtains to come down so they can just collapse on the floor. It’s full blast,” Werbrouck says.

Lauren Bodle, 16, will dance in “Celebrity Status.”“It’s very athletic with music that motivates

everyone to dance,” she says. “The song comes on and there are lots of drums and you just have to dance.”

“You Picked Me” is among the new pieces that Patchwork will perform. It’s set to a song with the same name by A Fine Frenzy, the professional name of singer, songwriter, and pianist Alison Sudol.

The choreography for “You Picked Me” was created by local choreographer Jaci Mullins.

“It’s about someone picking you to be the chosen one, whether that means a best friend or a life partner,” Mullins says, reflecting on the work. It’s not necessarily a love story, she says; the work can be interpreted in many different ways.

Mullins, an instructor at Debbie Werbrouck’s School of Dance, will also dance with Patchwork’s apprentices in In Concert! to an acoustic version of Irene Cara’s pop hit “Flashdance... What a Feeling.” Like the movie which used the song as its theme,

Pieces of Patchwork the piece is about a young woman who shares her passion for dance with the world. In this case, the “world” consists of the Penn High School girls that Mullins teaches in a four-year program.

Lindley Hipsher, 17, a junior at Penn High School, has been dancing with Patchwork for four years and will be in eight pieces at the performance.

“It will be a very neat experience to see high school girls dancing with their teachers, and with so many ages on stage,” she says.

“Turning Tables,” choreographed by Salena Watkins, another Chicagoan, is danced to a song by Grammy-winning Adele with tender, rippling piano accompaniment. Two dancers serve in major roles and two others in supporting roles. The lyrics pull the listener into the delicate but deliberate maneuvers of a struggling relationship. Dancers interact, and the use of counterpoint demonstrates the push-pull of conflicting emotions. Teenagers can certainly plug into lyrics such as “I can’t keep up with your turning tables/Under your thumb, I can’t breathe.”

“I think the concert is a good match for that age [middle school and older],” says Werbrouck, “with the range of emotions that they go through. Plus, it’s a lot of fun seeing dancers that you may know up there on the stage.”

Lighter content can be found in “The Winner Is,” which has dancers emulating the movements of various kinds of birds.

“It’s like being in an aviary,” says Werbrouck.In addition to their tutus, dancers will be

wearing headpieces that depict the different birds—a new take on tulle.

In Concert! will feature more than a dozen different pieces, with the longest one lasting about five minutes. With an intermission, the show runs under two hours and includes dancers from Patchwork’s adult troupe, PDC II, apprenticeships, and the Dance III program at Penn High School.

Katherine Lozon, 23, is a member of the adult Patchwork group and has been teaching dance at the Werbrouck studio for about a year. Judy Bradford is a freelance writer based in South Bend.

IN CONCERT!Patchwork Dance CompanyO’Laughlin Auditorium, Saint Mary’s CollegeMar. 17, 2012 at 7 p.m. Tickets: $8–$15Call (574) 247-1590 for more info

IN CONCERT!Patchwork Dance CompanyLerner Theatre, Elkhart Mar. 18, 2012 at 2 p.m.Tickets: $15–$20Call (574) 293-4469 for more info

by Judy Bradford

“This year’s concert has some amazing choreography. All the pieces are one hundred percent different from each other, and so is the costuming. And the dancers are very committed to making it a lively performance.”

If you’re wondering how such an array of choreographers came to be in one concert, Werbrouck says it’s just the accumulation of years in the business. That diversity, she adds, is the very heartbeat of Patchwork.

“People here know us for Christopher’s Christmas,” Werbrouck says, “but this variety of work is really who we are.’’

28

spotlights

James Geisel

and Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, which played at the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The Acting Ensemble’s 2012 Summer Repertory season includes Geisel’s adaptation of Carl Van Vechten’s Ambrose in Hollywood novel.

“I truly believe that if you’re going to take someone else’s work and adapt it, you stay close to their voice,” he says. “There’s nothing worse than to see a work you’re familiar with where they’ve veered so far off the original.”

Other Acting Ensemble members have directed some of the StageWorks productions, but Geisel handles the Chamber Series and the Summer Repertory series.

“I kind of like the bigger theatrical-ness of plays,” he says about his approach to designing a show. “I like that when you come see something that I’m doing, you know you’re seeing a play as opposed to some Method production, so sometimes I’m broader than life.”

“I know there’s a perception out there that the Acting Ensemble was created as an alternative to Civic,” he says. “I didn’t really anticipate there would be issues with some people simply because other cities our size have other theaters… I know it’s out there with some people, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Since the company’s August 2010 return with its production of Geisel’s The Tiernan Affair, the Acting Ensemble has produced original plays, instituted the StageWorks series of staged readings and its Chamber Series of full productions of edgier works, revived its children’s production, produced a musical, and grown to more than three times its size in the ’80s, from 15 people to 55.

As with its first incarnation, the Acting Ensemble’s mission remains to present plays that are area and regional premieres of original, contemporary and unorthodox works.

“We’re going into our second year,” Geisel says, “so we have a tremendous amount of growth ahead of us.”

After the Acting Ensemble folded in 1991, Geisel concentrated on writing.

“For the longest time, I thought of myself as a regional writer, that I wanted to write about Indiana or the Midwest or the region because so many people go off to New York and start writing about New York,” he says. “I thought there was a need for our voice to be heard. I read a lot of Booth Tarkington. That’s when I realized it was okay to stay in South Bend and write about what’s important to you.”

Such regionalism, Geisel says, means some of his plays may not get produced in larger cities, but he’s willing to take that risk.

“I love South Bend,” he says. “That’s ironic, because when I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to get out of South Bend.”

Early in his career, someone advised Geisel to start with adaptations because those are easier to get produced, and he’s had success at that—enough for his royalties to support him most years—with his adaptations of Tarkington’s The Magnificent Ambersons, Kenneth Grahame’s The Reluctant Dragon,

James Geisel hasn’t acted since he was 19, but he’s still spent most of his adult life working in

theater.“I think a lot of it has to do with my

personality,” he says. “I like to be in charge and the boss. I’ve thought about that a lot: Why am I on this side of the footlights? I think I like to be creative with a [whole] play, and you can do that with directing.”

A South Bend native who graduated in 1979 with a theater degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Geisel cofounded the Acting Ensemble in 1981 and served as its artistic director through its initial 10-year run, when it became known for its productions of plays by such playwrights as David Mamet, Beth Henley, Sam Shepard, and Christopher Durang.

“We were 20, 21, 22, so we considered ourselves rebels and we wanted to do something different than what was being done in the community,” he says. “There were a lot of plays that were being written and not performed. We considered ourselves avant-garde.”

At its height, the Acting Ensemble presented six adult shows, a weekend festival of staged readings of plays by local playwrights, three or four children’s shows, and children’s acting classes.

And then it took what Geisel thought would be its final curtain call in 1991.

But for the last two years, he’s staged a remarkable theatrical revival with a new Acting Ensemble that’s changed—and is changing—the dynamics of community theater in South Bend.

“I had no intentions of doing it,” he says about bringing back the Acting Ensemble. “I never thought in a million years that I’d be reviving it.”

But nostalgic talks about the original Acting Ensemble got him thinking about it in 2009.

When he decided to try it, he found a willing and talented pool of actors to work with him, many of them veterans from South Bend Civic Theatre.

Although Geisel says “a little competition is always good,” that wasn’t his motivation for reviving the Acting Ensemble.

by Andrew S. Hughes

.

Andrew S. Hughes is the Arts & Entertainment editor for the South Bend Tribune.

29

w w w . s o u t h b e n d s y m p h o n y. o r g

THE TORADZE STUDIO, Masterworks IV Saturday, May 5, 8:00pm., Morris, Tickets: 235-9190 Guest artist Alexander Toradze and the Toradze Studio

BRILLIANT SPRING PERFORMANCESSOUTH BEND SYMPHONYMOSTLY MOZART, June H. Edwards Chamber Series Sunday, March 18, 3:00pm., DeBartolo, Tickets: 631-2800 Guest artist Katherine Larson, soprano

THE TEXAS TENORS, KeyBank Pops Series Saturday, March 31, 8:00pm., Morris, Tickets: 235-9190 America’s Got Talent 2009 finalists, an evening of classical and country music with a Texas flavor

3Chamber Series Sponsor: June H. Edwards Guest Artist Underwriter:The Brennan Group, LLC

MOSTLY MOZART THE TORADZE STUDIO Guest Artist Underwriter: Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, IU South Bend

KeyBank POPS Series Sponsor: Guest ArtistUnderwriter:

THE TEXAS TENOR

62365501

62416101

INCLUDING THE CLOSING GRAND PRIZE WINNER’S CONCERT, SUNDAY, MAY 13, 3:30 P.M.

P H O T O B Y J O S E F S A M U E L

www.fischoff.org

MAY 11-13, 2012

LOL!(LUDWIG OUT LOUD)The Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, held in the world-renowned DeBartolo Performing Arts Center at the

University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, is the largest chamber music competition in the world. From May 11 – 13, 2012, more than 48 ensembles will compete for $27,000 in prizes and tours in the Midwest and Italy. You can watch them

elegantly do battle with wind and strings for free.

LIVE-STREAMING OF THE COMPETITION MAY 12 – MAY 13

62388001

Mishawaka High SchoolPerforming Arts Center

at the

2011-2012All Performances are on Thursdays at 7:00 pm

Fine Arts Music Series

Tickets available at the City Clerk’s Officeat Mishawaka City Hall or at door

574-258-1616

TICKETS:Family: 2 Adults &2 or more students

$10

IndividualAdult / Student

$6 $3

SeasonAdult / Student$20 $10

April 19, 2012Guitar & FluteEnsembles IUSB

March 29, 2012Michiana Jazz

Assemblage

62295101

Fat & Skinny Tire Bike FestMay 19–20: Fun for all ages including races, road rallies, hill climbs, kids’ events, prizes, national speakers and much more.

Art FairJune 2–3: Artists from across the country display and sell their artwork at this annual event enjoyed by thousands. This two-day event features juried artwork, live music and a food court.

Northern Lakes FestivalJune 10: Come and enjoy the great outdoors at the Northern Indiana Lakes Festival. The day includes a fishing tournament, mountain bike race and 5K run. See lakesfestival.org for more.

MasterWorks FestivalJune 17–July 14: A four-week festival featuring outstanding performing arts students and professionals from around the world. Over 40 free public concerts performed. See masterworksfestival.org for a complete schedule of performances.

Patriotic Pops ConcertJune 30: Come and see a patriotic musical celebration featuring the MasterWorks orchestra followed by fireworks over Winona Lake.

Antique Car FestivalAugust 18: A nostalgic display of pre-World War II vintage vehicles along with entertainment, food and fun.

Fall FestivalOctober 6: A popular fall tradition featuring artisan demonstrations, seasonal foods and shopping throughout The Village. Also, enjoy a display of British cars from the 1930’s to the present.

Empty Bowls–Feed The HungryNovember 3: Help The Village reduce hunger in our county. Proceeds go directly to feeding those in need right here at home.

Holiday FestivalDecember 1: Experience the joy of Christmas in The Village. Enjoy seasonal favorites while you find the right gift for those on your holiday list.

Village VenuesArtisans & ShopsThe Island Weaver | The Lake HouseThe Olive Branch | Pottery BayouSACS & Co. | Signature StudioThe Shop Upstairs | Trailhouse Village Outdoor Store | Village Barber | Village Spa Whetstone Woodenware | Winona Mercantile

EateriesBoatHouse Restaurant | Cerulean Restaurant Kelainey’s Coffees & CreamsEagle Creek Farms Market 1000 Park Bãkafé

GalleriesCanal Street Gallery | MudLove Pottery Ortega Gallery & Studio

Shop Hours Open year round. Monday-Saturday 10am–6pmSpecific shop and restaurant hours may vary. See website pages for times.

2012 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

THE VILLAGE AT WINONA

EXPERIENCE

SOMETHING EXCITING

Visit villageatwinona.com for the latest event details. Located in Winona Lake, Indiana.62410101