The Artists' Studio
Encyclopedia
The Artists' Studio, frequently abbreviated TAS, was founded by David and Joellyn Youngin January 2003 as an independent for-profit community theatre
. The couple each have experience on Broadway with David being a musical director and voice teacher who has traveled with Broadway shows such as Camelot
, South Pacific
, and The Music Man
while Joellyn has most notably been Eva Peron in Evita. The theatre, located in Fishers, Indiana
is primitively based as it was renovated from a night club and a stage was added. Despite being in Fishers, Noblesville
considers TAS to be one of its own places of interest. The proscenium stage is made of classic design and allows for a variety of different trims to be placed around as well as the movement of the back wall, though there is no fly space. The remaining space allows for a 220-seat house
complete with sound
and lighting systems
, office space
, and classroom
s. Cast, crew, and various other members are volunteers with few employed within the productions themselves.
. The seasons normally end at the start of summer, picking up again shortly after. Sometime in the summer, the theatre holds General Auditions, that is, auditions for the entire season, though each show normally gets its own as well. Audition notices tend to get notoriety in many papers, such as the Indianapolis Star. Several shows became traditional over the years, primarily due to popularity, and The Artists' Studio began to further embrace them. Ironically, the two major influencing shows within the Artists' Studio's early years were in stark contrast to each other. Each of the two was actually closely linked to different holidays, as Annie was traditionally used as a Christmas
show and The Rocky Horror Show was used around Halloween
, usually boasting a midnight performance on or around Halloween itself.
was arguably the first big hit for the theatre, with Dr. Frank-N-Furter being played by Brent Marty. Rocky Horror was the first of the two prominently recurring shows in the theatre's early lifetime having been held three times in four years (though it would continue to emerge in later seasons), with a season going by between the second and third incarnations. The first incarnation The Rocky Horror Show at TAS was considered one of the best shows of 2003 in Indiana.
Annie
was used as the annual Holiday show until 2006, though it would periodically return in later years. Daddy Warbucks, the lead male character of Annie, was played by Jay Meisenhelder for several incarnations until he was not taken back as a result of controversy stemming from the show itself. Annie was the first show at The Artists' Studio to have 2 casts, a Cast A and B, though it was only for the children involved in the show. This became common practice for all the later productions of Annie and set the precedent for future shows requiring a children's cast.
. After Annie continued as a success for several years, the theatre began casting more and more children in shows that required a children's cast. This included adding more children into shows that didn't necessarily ask for them, such as being urchins in Aladdin
, a Disney production that did not necessarily call for children actors. Soon shows requiring far more children, and several casts of children began to be commonplace at TAS. Shows involving many children, such as Wizard of Oz, Oliver
, Seussical
, The Music Man
, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
, became popular starting in the 2004-2005 season and the trend continued onward into many later seasons.
in the spring, and many other productions from thereon. Performance in these productions has cost upward of $100 for the interested children, something unique of mainstage productions and other theatres in the area.
, acting
and singing
. It also hosts other unique services, such as hosting themed children's birthday parties. The extra services are likely more a reflection on the fact that, unlike most community theatre
s in Indiana, The Artists' Studio is a for-profit organization. This has kept the Encore Association, which provides an award ceremony for community theatres in Indiana, from recognizing any of The Artists' Studios productions, as one of the stipulations is that no one be paid in a nominated production; it must be produced by a not-for-profit theatre group.
Community theatre
Community theatre refers to theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community...
. The couple each have experience on Broadway with David being a musical director and voice teacher who has traveled with Broadway shows such as Camelot
Camelot (musical)
Camelot is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe . It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White tetralogy novel The Once and Future King....
, South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
, and The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
while Joellyn has most notably been Eva Peron in Evita. The theatre, located in Fishers, Indiana
Fishers, Indiana
Fishers is a town located in Fall Creek and Delaware townships, Hamilton County, Indiana, with a population of 76,794, according to the 2010 census. A suburb of Indianapolis, Fishers has grown rapidly in recent decades: about 350 people lived there in 1963, 2,000 in 1980, and only 7,200 as recently...
is primitively based as it was renovated from a night club and a stage was added. Despite being in Fishers, Noblesville
Noblesville, Indiana
Noblesville is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Indiana, United States, located just north of Indianapolis. The population was 51,969 at the 2010 census making it the 14th largest city/town in the state, up from 19th in 2007...
considers TAS to be one of its own places of interest. The proscenium stage is made of classic design and allows for a variety of different trims to be placed around as well as the movement of the back wall, though there is no fly space. The remaining space allows for a 220-seat house
Auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...
complete with sound
Sound design
Sound design is the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating audio elements. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production and video game software...
and lighting systems
Stage lighting
Modern stage lighting is a flexible tool in the production of theatre, dance, opera and other performance arts. Several different types of stage lighting instruments are used in the pursuit of the various principles or goals of lighting. Stage lighting has grown considerably in recent years...
, office space
Office
An office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. When used as an adjective, the...
, and classroom
Classroom
A classroom is a room in which teaching or learning activities can take place. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, including public and private schools, corporations, and religious and humanitarian organizations...
s. Cast, crew, and various other members are volunteers with few employed within the productions themselves.
The First Years
The seasons of The Artists' Studio have thus far consisted of 8 shows, including a holiday show, and for the first several years, a "young artists production" for aspiring actors and actresses ages 13–25. Of the several years the young artists' production took place, the first and last were GreaseGrease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
. The seasons normally end at the start of summer, picking up again shortly after. Sometime in the summer, the theatre holds General Auditions, that is, auditions for the entire season, though each show normally gets its own as well. Audition notices tend to get notoriety in many papers, such as the Indianapolis Star. Several shows became traditional over the years, primarily due to popularity, and The Artists' Studio began to further embrace them. Ironically, the two major influencing shows within the Artists' Studio's early years were in stark contrast to each other. Each of the two was actually closely linked to different holidays, as Annie was traditionally used as a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
show and The Rocky Horror Show was used around Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
, usually boasting a midnight performance on or around Halloween itself.
Annie and The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror ShowThe Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"...
was arguably the first big hit for the theatre, with Dr. Frank-N-Furter being played by Brent Marty. Rocky Horror was the first of the two prominently recurring shows in the theatre's early lifetime having been held three times in four years (though it would continue to emerge in later seasons), with a season going by between the second and third incarnations. The first incarnation The Rocky Horror Show at TAS was considered one of the best shows of 2003 in Indiana.
Annie
Annie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
was used as the annual Holiday show until 2006, though it would periodically return in later years. Daddy Warbucks, the lead male character of Annie, was played by Jay Meisenhelder for several incarnations until he was not taken back as a result of controversy stemming from the show itself. Annie was the first show at The Artists' Studio to have 2 casts, a Cast A and B, though it was only for the children involved in the show. This became common practice for all the later productions of Annie and set the precedent for future shows requiring a children's cast.
Shift into Family Theatre
Annie sold better as a whole than any previous production, despite the first Halloween showing of Rocky Horror marking the first show to sell outSell Out
The first release by Boston hard rock band Halfcocked. It came out in 1998 on Curve of the Earth Records.-Track listing:#"Crash" – 3:24 #"Holly Wood" – #"Return of the Living Dead" – #"Superstar" –...
. After Annie continued as a success for several years, the theatre began casting more and more children in shows that required a children's cast. This included adding more children into shows that didn't necessarily ask for them, such as being urchins in Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
, a Disney production that did not necessarily call for children actors. Soon shows requiring far more children, and several casts of children began to be commonplace at TAS. Shows involving many children, such as Wizard of Oz, Oliver
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
, Seussical
Seussical
is a musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty based on the books of Dr. Seuss that debuted on Broadway in 2000. The play's story is a rather complex amalgamation of many of Seuss's most famous books. After a Broadway run, the production spawned two US national tours and a UK tour...
, The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
, became popular starting in the 2004-2005 season and the trend continued onward into many later seasons.
TAS Kids
In addition to classes and camps, TAS began producing shows exclusively for kids, beginning with Bye Bye Birdie in November 2007, continuing on with GreaseGrease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
in the spring, and many other productions from thereon. Performance in these productions has cost upward of $100 for the interested children, something unique of mainstage productions and other theatres in the area.
Beyond the Stage
The Artists' Studio is especially unique in that it acts as much more than just a performing theatre. It also offers a wide variety of classes in dancingDance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
and singing
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
. It also hosts other unique services, such as hosting themed children's birthday parties. The extra services are likely more a reflection on the fact that, unlike most community theatre
Community theatre
Community theatre refers to theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community...
s in Indiana, The Artists' Studio is a for-profit organization. This has kept the Encore Association, which provides an award ceremony for community theatres in Indiana, from recognizing any of The Artists' Studios productions, as one of the stipulations is that no one be paid in a nominated production; it must be produced by a not-for-profit theatre group.
External links
- http://www.artists-studio.com The Artists' Studio Homepage