Hillman Center for Performing Arts

The Hillman Center for Performing Arts is a multi-stage performing arts venue on the campus of Shady Side Academy's Senior School in Fox Chapel, a northern suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Featuring dedicated music and vocal practice spaces, the Richard E. Rauh proscenium theater, and the Peter J. Kountz black box theater, the Hillman Center serves as Shady Side Academy's primary performing arts classroom. Additionally, undertaking the development of a professional performing arts series in the fall of 2006, the Hillman Center also serves the community as a public performing arts venue, whose programming goal is to feature “The Best of Pittsburgh and the World.” The Hillman Center's artistic niche strives to support not only Shady Side Academy's curriculum but also the Pittsburgh community. Featuring traditional offerings (such as symphony and orchestral music, classical dance, and opera) and world music and culture performances, the Hillman Center offers globally diverse arts programming to the regional community. International performers celebrate the diverse ethnic and national communities of Pittsburgh and help connect the audience to the rest of the world.

Mission

The Hillman Center for Performing Arts is Shady Side Academy's primary performing arts classroom. As a teaching and learning space, the Hillman Center offers current students a chance to discover and nurture their talents. As a public performance venue, the Hillman Center presents programs of excellence that represent Pittsburgh's cultural traditions and celebrate global artistic innovation. The annual series benefits the current students and alumni of Shady Side Academy, as well as the citizens of Western Pennsylvania, through residencies and performances.

Facilities

The Hillman Center for Performing Arts includes the 641 seat Richard E. Rauh Theater with full orchestra lift as well as the Peter J. Kountz Theater, a black box performance venue of 120 seats. Both spaces were designed by John Sergio Fisher & Associates. The Wean Room, an executive conference room for 40, the Mary Hillman Jennings Plaza, plus vocal and instrumental practice spaces, the Dr. Larry J. Papincak Memorial Recording Studio and a full scene shop, make the Hillman Center a multi-use facility.

History

On Thursday, September 30, 2004, Shady Side Academy celebrated the official opening of the Hillman Center for Performing Arts with an inaugural performance in the Richard E. Rauh Theater. Over 500 guests enjoyed a diverse program, which highlighted talented Shady Side Academy alumni, students, and parents in the performing arts. The performance featured Owen Young ‘82, cellist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Courtney Hershey Bress ‘92, principal harpist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra; Candace Otto ‘98, vocalist and former Miss Pennsylvania; mezzo-contralto Susan Toth Shafer P’06; “Blues on First,” featuring Stanley Chepaitis, Indiana University of Pennsylvania professor, and Roy Sonne, Louis Lowenstein, and Penny Anderson Brill P’09, P’10 of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; Russell Miller; the Shady Side Academy Chamber Choir singing “Dream Lofty Dreams,” a piece specially commissioned for the opening with text by John Ruskin set to the music of Robert Maggio; the Shady Side Academy Jazz Combo, featuring Joseph Reilly ’05, Reid Van Lehn ’05, Jon Weingarden ’05, Brent Abbott ’05, Adam Levine ’05, and Benny Shaffer ’05; and Craig Davis ’90, Jon Ziegler ’97, Cameron Lister ’01, and Michael Papincak ’03.

Performing Arts Series and Guest Performances

Following the official opening of the Hillman Center for Performing Arts in September 2004, Shady Side Academy named faculty member David Liebmann to be Executive Director. He established the Hillman Center's public programming, beginning the first season of its professional, public Performing Arts Series on Friday, October 6, 2006 with a performance given by the Golden Dragon Acrobats from Hebei, China. Subsequent performances during the 2006-2007 Season featured Pittsburgh's River City Brass Band and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.

The 2007-2008 Season included Boys of the Lough, a Grammy-nominated Celtic band, San Jose Taiko, Ira Ross & Friends, Samite of Uganda, Flamenco Sepharad, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Giant Eagle became the first major corporate sponsor. The Henry L. Hillman Foundation and the Weiner Family Foundation provided additional support.

As word of the venue spread, groups began to rent the facilities for performances. Such guests included: Pittsburgh Concert Chorale, River City Youth Brass Band, Chatham Baroque wih the Pittsburgh Opera Center, Nandanik Indian Dance Troupe, Pittsburgh Youth Pops Orchestra, Pittsburgh Youth Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, and Candace Otto MacDonald.

Hillman Center Summer Programs

* Music Institute for the Development of Personal Style, in memory of Jascha Heifetz. Conducted by master violinist and teacher Sherry Kloss.

Shady Side Academy Student Performances

The Shady Side Academy Gargoyle Society, under the direction of Mary Beth Gray, produces a variety of theatrical productions each year, including a children's theatre Homecoming production, a fall play, a spring musical, and a student-directed one-act play series. The spring musical is an inter-departmental effort with Dr. Dan Brill serving as Music Director.

Past fall play and spring musicals include:
*"Fiddler on the Roof", Spring 2008
* Brush Up Your Shakespeare, Fall 2007
*"Footloose", Spring 2007
*"Amadeus", Fall 2006
*"South Pacific", Spring 2006
*"Pygmalion", Fall 2005
*"Oliver!", Spring 2005
*"A Midsummer Night's Dream", Fall 2004
*"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", Spring 2004
*"Arsenic and Old Lace", Fall 2003
*"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", Spring 2003
*"The Miracle Worker", Fall 2002
*"Babes in Arms", Spring 2002
*"To Kill a Mockingbird", Fall 2001
*"Kiss Me, Kate", Spring 2001
*"Twelfth Night", Fall 2000
*"Little Shop of Horrors", Spring 2000
*"Antigone", Fall 1999

Prior to the Fall of 2004, Gargoyle Society performances were held in Memorial Hall on the campus of Shady Side Academy's Senior School.

The Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, and String Ensemble, under the direction of Dan Brill, and the Symphonic Band and Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Stanley Nevola, perform one concert each at the Hillman Center each trimester, featuring varied styles of vocal and instrumental performance.

Additionally, Shady Side Academy's Middle and Junior Schools use the Hillman Center for Performing Arts for performances, productions, and special events.

External links

* [http://www.shadysideacademy.org/arts/hillman.html Hillman Center for Performing Arts]
* [http://www.shadysideacademy.org Shady Side Academy]
* [http://www.candaceotto.com Candace Otto]
* [http://www.goldendragonacrobats.com Golden Dragon Acrobats]
* [http://www.klossclassics.com/ Sherry Kloss and the Music Institute for the Development of Personal Style, in memory of Jascha Heifetz]