HOW TO GO:
What: “There’s a New Girl in Town,” the Opening Celebration Performance for the Jack W. and Sally D. Eichelberger Hall, Stivers School for the Arts
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3
Where: 1313 East Fifth St., Dayton. A pre-performance reception at 6 p.m. will be held at The Liedenkranz-Turner Hall, 1400 East Fifth Street (across from Stivers School for the Arts)
Featuring: Members of The Human Race Theatre Company; Zoot Theatre Company; Dayton Contemporary Dance Theatre; Dayton Opera; Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, along with Stivers students.
Tickets: $20-$40; patron tickets which include pre-performance reception are $100. Tickets are available online at www.theseedlings.org/grandopening or by phone at (937) 212-2044
The folks at Stivers School for the Arts have reason to be excited. They’re about to introduce their newly renovated Jack W. and Sally D. Eichelberger Hall at a gala event, “There’s a New Girl in Town,” on Saturday, Oct. 3.
“Our goal is to showcase this new space as a potential venue for professional arts,” said Aaron Vega, the New York freelance director who is coodinating the grand opening. “We want to make sure that Dayton knows this is a hall — not just for Stivers — but for the whole community.”
Vega, well known locally as a founder of the Zoot Theatre Company, directed “Taking Shakespeare” at The Human Race Theatre Company last spring.
Vega said he has invited many of the Miami Valley’s most popular arts organizations to take the stage for the dedication. Among them are Dayton Contemporary Dance Theatre; Dayton Opera, Dayton Ballet; Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra; The Human Race Theatre Company; Zoot Theatre Company and The Elements — the group made up of Rick and Sharon Good and Michael and Sandy Bashaw. The collaborative evening will pair Stivers Jazz Orchestra with jazz vocalist Sandra Rutledge and a Dayton Contemporary Dance Company with the Stivers Chamber Choir. Michael Lippert of the Human Race will serve as emcee.
Other highlights of the evening: Dayton Opera mezzo-soprano Ryu-Kyung Kim will be singing “Habenera” from “Carmen” by Georges Bizet accompanied by student Alexis Diggs. Stivers alum Steffin Johnson will be performing “Piano. Op. 59 Dumka” by Tchaikovsky.
Senior Neko Cortez will perform in the new hall next weekend as lead trombone player for the Stivers Jazz Orchestra.“A stage is a sacred place for performers, like what a church is for some people,” said Neko. “It’s an absolutely beautiful auditorium that’s old and new at the same time.”
Senior Dominique Worthen, a member of the choir, sang in the old hall when she was in the eighth grade. “To see how much it’s improved is a beautiful thing, it shows that people care about what we are doing here,” said Worthen, who particularly loves the burgundy, gold and salmon hues in the new space.
More about the theater
The renovated venue blends the school’s historic past with today’s state-of-the art technology. Thanks to a $250,000 grant from the Jack W. and Sally D. Eichelberger Foundation of the Dayton Foundation — and its supplemental grant of $36,500 — everything in the school’s old auditorium has been upgraded — from lights and sound to rigging, film and video projection equipment and acoustics. The Victorian plaster frieze that surrounds the stage has been preserved and enhanced as has much of the plaster work on the auditorium’s side walls.
“The original Stivers High School Auditorium was completed in 1914 and when the building was restored in 2007-2009, it was not touched because of budget constraints. It was a shambles,” said Bill Pflaum, a past president of the seedling Foundation, the non-profit organization that raises money to support Stivers programming.
The school’s new 800-seat Centennial Auditorium, completed in 2008, was given its name because the original Stivers building was started in 1908.
“We really needed a second space because there is so much competition for stage time with all of the Stivers productions,” Pflaum explained. “This is an excellent size for community groups as well.”
Three years ago the seeding foundation, with support from alumni and friends, kick-started the restoration of the old auditorium by purchasing and moving 600 seats from Julianne High School to Stivers. A year later the Eichelberger Foundation bestowed its generous grant.
According to Karen Wick-Gagnet, current president of the school’s seedling Foundation and chair of the performance committee, the goal of the $300,000 project was to update the theater but maintain the integrity of its late Victorian-style decor. “It’s very warm and inviting and has a wonderful, intimate feeling,” she said.
More about Stivers
The Dayton Public School arts magnet is open to seventh- through 12fth-grade students with 150 in each class. Students audition in order to be accepted in band, choir, theater, creative writing, visual arts and dance.
“I believe strongly that our communities are only as strong as our public schools,” said Wick-Gagnet whose two children attended Stivers. “This school helps individuals realize their full and unique potential. Everybody feels they have a place, a voice, a way to express themselves. When they are nurtured in the spirit of who they are, it builds their character and discipline and provides success in the academic programs as well.”
Worthen, 17, said Stivers has changed her life for the better. Not only has her voice improved, she said, but she has found it a “great experience” to be around people who share her interests.
Cortez is especially looking forward to playing “At Last” at the upcoming concert. It’s a song, he said, that he has loved forever. “We played it my first year here, so playing it again all these years later will be fun.” He adds that he’s playing it much better now, after years of schooling.
Cortez insists you can do as much as you want to do at Stivers.
“If you work hard,” he said, ” you can get wherever you want to go.”
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