School for Creative and Performing Arts

The School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) is a selective arts school serving grades 4-12 (with plans to expand to K-12) in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, and is part of the Cincinnati Public Schools.

The school consists of seven majors: dance, drama, technical theatre, instrumental music, vocal music, creative writing, and visual art. The school produces nearly two hundred productions encompassing all of these majors, including a main stage season.

History

SCPA was founded in 1973 as part of the effort to desegregate Cincinnati's public schools in the wake of a lawsuit. The founding principal was William Dickinson, a Cincinnati music teacher. The school originally met at Mt. Adams Elementary School, with a student body which expanded to fully occupy that building and overflow into the nearby Immaculata Church. SCPA's first major musical was Babes in Toyland. In 1976, having outgrown its original site, SCPA relocated to the Cincinnati neighborhood of Roselawn, where the school's activities were conducted in several buildings including Chabod House, a Lutheran church, and the Jewish Community Center. [ cite news | title = A Brief History of SCPA | publisher = The School for Creative and Performing Arts | date = 2007-09-01] [cite news | last = Fischer| first = Ben| title = New SCPA to break ground | publisher = The Cincinnati Enquirer | date = 2007-09-03 | url =http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070903/NEWS01/709030326/1092 | accessdate = 2007-09-18]

In 1977, SCPA moved to 1310 Sycamore Street, site of the former Woodward High School, where it occupied the third and fourth floors, while Abigail Cutter Junior High School occupied the lower floors. SCPA took full occupancy of the building in 1978. The first class of seniors graduated in 1979. The building was given to the school system by William Woodward, whose remains still lie buried on SCPA grounds. [ cite news | title = A Brief History of SCPA | publisher = The School for Creative and Performing Arts | date = 2007-09-01] [ cite news | last = Flannery | first = Gregory| title = Burning Questions | publisher = Cincinnati CityBeat | date = 2001-03-15 | url = http://citybeat.com/2001-03-15/bq.shtml | accessdate = 2007-09-18]

During the early 1990s, the school suffered a series of blows to its reputation. Founding principal Bill Dickinson and other staff members resigned after police investigated allegations of sexual abuse of students, and Dickinson's successor, Rosalyn England, also resigned in the aftermath of the school auditorium's destruction by arson. The third principal, Jeff Brokamp, did much to revive the school's low morale and damaged reputation, and student enrollment again rose. [cite news | last = Griggs | first = France | title = The comeback kids of SCPA | publisher = The Cincinnati Post | date = 2001-02-17 | url = http://www.cincypost.com/2001/feb/17/scpa021701.html | accessdate = 2007-09-18 | archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20050110212720/http://www.cincypost.com/2001/feb/17/scpa021701.html | archivedate = 2005-01-10 ]

Performance

The main stage season usually consists of three plays, two ballets, and two musicals. The season begins with a play, usually for junior high students. It is produced in the school's smaller black box theater.

Soon after the first play, schoolwide auditions for the large musical begin. In past years, the school has produced "Ragtime", "The Music Man", "Fame", "Anything Goes", and in the 2005–06 season, "Beauty and the Beast". These shows can be quite complex. In the 2004–05 season, the production of "Seussical" included over three hundred cast, technicians, volunteers and staff.

The dance department presents two ballets, "The Nutcracker" and a ballet from repertoire later in the spring. Both are staged in the school's auditorium, the Abigail Cutter Theater.

After winter break is the high school drama, another large event. Past productions include "The Diary of Anne Frank", "The Madwoman of Chaillot", "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Noises Off". The high school drama is staged in the Jarson-Kaplan Theater at Cincinnati's Aronoff Center.

After this is the small musical in the school auditorium, which is sometimes only for younger students. Finally, rounding out the year is an elementary school drama, usually based on a folktale or widely known story from literature.

Construction plans

Projected to be ready for students in the 2010–11 school year is a brand-new convert|250000|sqft|m2|sing=on building. It will be the first and only arts school in America to serve grades K-12. The creation and organization of the $75 million building will be the result of a collaboration between the Cincinnati Public School District and a group of private businesses and organizations known as the Greater Cincinnati Arts and Education Council. [cite news|author=Mary Ellyn Hutton|last=Hutton|first=Mary Ellyn|title=Dignitaries hail new SCPA at ceremony|work=The Cincinnati Post|publisher=E. W. Scripps Company|date=2007-09-07|accessdate=2007-09-18|page=A1|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CNPB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=11B95833EDD08FB8&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420|quote=With the turn of a shovel and an open-air concert Thursday evening by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the school became 'a physical presence,' said Thomas J. Klinedinst, chairman of the Greater Cincinnati Arts and Education Center, the not-for-profit group organized to bring the project to fruition nearly a decade ago. ] The new School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) will combine the current SCPA (4-12) and Schiel Primary School for Arts Enrichment (K-3).

Notable alumni

*Rocky Carroll
*Carmen Electra
*Joe Kovacs
*Nick Lachey
*Todd Louiso
*Sarah Jessica Parker
*Gran Bel Fisher
*Drew Lachey
*Tony Clark of Blessid Union of Souls

Footnotes

External links

* [http://scpa.cps-k12.org/ School Web page]
* [http://www.thenewscpa.org/ GCAEC Web page]