News Release

Photos: Director Tom Quaintance (left) with Summer Youth Conservancy students: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/playmakers/playmakersoliver.JPG
Music director Ernie Scarborough with students: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/playmakers/playmakersoliver2.JPG
Play poster: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/playmakers/oliverpost3.jpg

Summer Youth Conservatory brings ‘Oliver!’ to the stage

CHAPEL HILL — More than 40 local youngsters will perform the musical “Oliver!” July 13-15 in the Center for Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The family-friendly, full-scale production will be the culmination of a Summer Youth Conservatory operated by The ArtsCenter in Carrboro and PlayMakers Repertory Company, the professional theater group in residence at UNC. The conservatory is taking place from 1-5 p.m. weekdays through July 12 in the center, located on Country Club Road.

Tickets for “Oliver!” are $15 for the public, $13 for PlayMakers subscribers and ArtsCenter friends and $8 for students. Performances will be at 7 p.m. July 13 and 14 and 2 p.m. July 15 in the Paul Green Theatre. Call (919) 962-PLAY for tickets and more information.

The musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist” is the classic tale of a boy who runs away from an orphanage and hooks up with a group of youngsters trained by an elderly mentor to be pickpockets.

In February, more than 70 youngsters auditioned for the Summer Youth Conservatory. Forty-three children and teens between the ages of 9 and 18 were selected. The participants are taking acting classes covering technique, dialect, movement and Victorian period style. They also will have an intensive five weeks of rehearsals.

Local high school students also are participating, as musicians and as interns with the technical production staff.

Mentoring the young cast are director Tom Quaintance and musical director Ernie Scarborough, professional theater veterans based in Los Angeles, and choreographer Virginia Queen, an instructor in The ArtsCenter’s year-round Youth Performing Arts Conservatory.

Quaintance was an assistant director for two Broadway-bound productions, including “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” with Matthew Broderick. Scarborough has worked with performances ranging from high school productions to national tours for 35 years. He has won seven Ostrander Awards for best music direction in Memphis (Tenn.)-area theatre, sponsored by the Greater Memphis Arts Council and Memphis Magazine.

PlayMakers members involved in the project include assistant director Julie Fishell, a dramatic art professor at UNC, and acting teacher Kathryn Hunter Williams. Fishell and Williams are advisers to the Youth Performing Arts Conservatory. PlayMakers also will furnish a design staff and technical crew for “Oliver!”

A quarter of the youngsters received scholarships for the summer conservatory, thanks to strong community financial support and the backing of PlayMakers and The ArtsCenter.

Based in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, PlayMakers is the Carolinas’ oldest resident professional theatre company. The ArtsCenter, a not-for-profit community gathering place, offers art classes, theatre productions, concerts, children’s and family programs and gallery exhibits. 

Web sites:  http://www.playmakersrep.org and http://www.artscenterlive.org

PlayMakers contact: Pam O’Connor, (919) 621-1230 or pamo@nc.rr.com
The ArtsCenter contact: Lauren Hodge, (919) 929-2787, ext. 203 or conservatory@artscenterlive.org