Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts

Last updated

Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts
Formation1972
TypeTheatre group
PurposeMusical Theatre, Youth program
Location
Artistic director(s)
Toby Orenstein
Notable members
Edward Norton, Caroline Bowman, Peter Salett
Website cctarts.org

Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts (CCTA) is a Greater Washington D.C. Area regional theater school based in Columbia, Maryland. CCTA is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that is funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Howard County Arts Council from Howard County, Maryland.

Contents

History

Founded in 1972, [1] as the Columbia School for Theatrical Arts [2] (now Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts) it is known for its productions of musicals and new plays. CCTA was founded by Toby Orenstein. She was asked by businessman and builder James Rouse to create a non-profit theatrical arts school for the then-new Maryland city of Columbia. [1] [2] Its mission is to educate through the arts. [2] [3] CCTA has three distinct departments: it offers a conservatory, theatrical arts productions, and outreach programs. [3]

Theatre programs

Conservatory

The conservatory offers performing arts-based programs to the local community. These include different programs for children in primary and secondary school. [3] The Young Columbians are a performing troupe created by CCTA. The conservatory has been the recipient of five grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. [3]

Outreach programs

The CCTA has a number of incentives such as fundraising, scholarships. The Labor of Love is an annual event that raises money for the AIDS Alliance of Howard County. [2] [4] Another project was the Labels Project in 1992 which was formed to educate young people on how to combat bias and prejudice by supporting individuality, celebrating diversity and teaching adolescents tactics for resisting peer pressure.

CCTA's Outreach Programs are aimed to help make theatre arts available and accessible to local students in need. Partnerships now exist with Baltimore City Public School System and the Loyola University Maryland. [5] CCTA performs the original play Ben Carson, M.D. to local youth. [6] CCTA has a program for students with special needs at Glenelg High School, under the direction of Kassidy Sharp, and the Kennedy Krieger Institute of Baltimore. [7] [8]

Recent productions

Past productions include the 2016 world premiere of Magic Under Glass , the musical, based on Jaclyn Dolamore's book. [3] [9] [10] Performance venues include the White House, Wolf Trap, Walt Disney World, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Merriweather Post Pavilion, The Fillmore, Lake Kittamaqundi, Howard Community College, Toby's Dinner Theatre, The Ellipse, House of the Temple, the Washington D.C. Temple, and others. [1] [6]

Board of directors

People

Awards

Community partners

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard County, Maryland</span> County in Maryland, United States

Howard County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,529. Since there are no incorporated municipalities, there is no incorporated county seat either. Therefore, its county seat is the unincorporated community of Ellicott City. Howard County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also part of the larger Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia, Maryland</span> Planned community

Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland, United States. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. The census-designated place had a population of 104,681 at the 2020 census, making it the second most populous community in Maryland after Baltimore. Columbia, located between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., is officially part of the Baltimore metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilde Lake, Columbia, Maryland</span> Village in Maryland, United States

Wilde Lake is a man-made drainage reservoir dug in 1966 and also named after the surrounding "village" of neighborhoods located in Columbia, Maryland, just north and west of Columbia Town Center. The village was the first part of Columbia's "New Town" to be built in the late 1960s, James W. Rouse and Frazar B. Wilde formally opened the neighborhood on June 21, 1967. The lake and village are named for Frazar B. Wilde, a past chairman of the board of Connecticut General Life Insurance Company and former employer of James Rouse. In 1963, the company agreed to fund the secret land purchases and, in return, acquired an equity participation. This arrangement was subsequently formalized by the creation of The Howard Research and Development Corporation, the joint venture established to develop Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Community College</span> Community college in Columbia, Maryland, U.S.

Howard Community College is a public community college in Columbia, Maryland. It offers classes for credit in more than 100 programs, non-credit classes, and workforce development programs. In addition to the main campus in Columbia, courses are also held at two satellite campuses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilde Lake High School</span> Public high school in Columbia, MD, United States

Wilde Lake High School is a secondary school located in Columbia, Maryland's Village of Wilde Lake, United States, one of 12 public high schools in Howard County.

The music of Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, can be documented as far back as 1784, and the city has become a regional center for Western classical music and jazz. Early Baltimore was home to popular opera and musical theatre, and an important part of the music of Maryland, while the city also hosted several major music publishing firms until well into the 19th century, when Baltimore also saw the rise of native musical instrument manufacturing, specifically pianos and woodwind instruments. African American music existed in Baltimore during the colonial era, and the city was home to vibrant black musical life by the 1860s. Baltimore's African American heritage to the start of the 20th century included ragtime and gospel music. By the end of that century, Baltimore jazz had become a well-recognized scene among jazz fans, and produced a number of local performers to gain national reputations. The city was a major stop on the African American East Coast touring circuit, and it remains a popular regional draw for live performances. Baltimore has produced a wide range of modern rock, punk and metal bands and several indie labels catering to a variety of audiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Reach, Columbia, Maryland</span> Village in Maryland, United States

Long Reach, one of ten villages composing Columbia, Maryland, United States, is found in the northeast part of Columbia along Maryland Route 108. Started in 1971, it is one of the oldest villages, and comprises four neighborhoods: Jeffers Hill, Kendall Ridge, Locust Park, and Phelps Luck. The village, with an approximate population of 15,600, is governed by five elected village board members through "Long Reach Community Association, Inc." The Village Office is located in Stonehouse, the community center, which opened in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atholton High School</span> Public secondary school in Columbia, Maryland, United States

Atholton High School is a high school in Columbia, Maryland, United States and is a part of the Howard County public school system. The school hosts an Army JROTC program. The school mascot is the Raider.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenelg High School</span> Public high school in Glenelg, Maryland, United States

Glenelg High School is a public high school in Glenelg, Maryland, United States. Glenelg HS is located in the western portion of Howard County, Maryland and is part of the Howard County public schools system, which is among the highest-ranked in the nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marriotts Ridge High School</span> Public high school in the United States

Marriotts Ridge High School is a public secondary school located in Marriottsville, Maryland, United States. It is part of the Howard County Public School System. The school was named after the town of Marriottsville, and the height of its location. The pre-opening name of Marriott's Ridge was later changed to Marriotts Ridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenelg Country School</span> Private school in the United States

Glenelg Country School is a nonsectarian, co-educational independent day school in Howard County, Maryland, adjacent to Columbia, Maryland and between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The School offers a continuous college-preparatory program from age 2 through grade 12. GCS was founded in 1954, enrolling 35 students in grades one through seven. In the fall of 1985, the new Upper School division opened with 10 students. The first class graduated in June 1989. Today, Glenelg Country School enrolls over 750 students.

The Greater Baltimore Theater Awards are theater awards to recognize excellence in the professional theater in the Greater Baltimore, Maryland (USA) area since 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company</span>

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company located at 641 D Street NW in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1980, it produces new plays which it believes to be edgy, challenging, and thought-provoking. Performances are in a 265-seat courtyard-style theater.

Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods is a large central park in downtown Columbia, Maryland. The park includes the Chrysalis, a 2016 amphitheater with lawn seating. The Chrysalis has hosted musical performances, ballet, plays, Maker Faire, and numerous community events.

Caroline Bowman is an American theatre actress who has performed in multiple Broadway musicals, including Fame, Grease, Spamalot, Evita, Wicked, Kinky Boots, and the national tour of Frozen.

Toby Barbara Orenstein is an American theatrical director, producer, and educator. She has two honorable mentions for the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre. Orenstein was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 2008. Selected by Eleanor Roosevelt for her federal education project in the Harlem, Orenstein taught Dramaturgy to students in a local public school in the late 1950s. In 1972, at the request of pioneering businessman and philanthropist James Rouse, Orenstein founded the non-profit Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts through which, the nationally acclaimed theatre troupe the Young Columbians was created for the United States Bicentennial. Later, Orenstein established the award-winning Toby's Dinner Theatre in 1975. Her commitment to the performing arts is considered legendary.

The Young Columbians are a theater troupe established by Toby Orenstein in 1975 under the auspices of the Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts. It is a unique ensemble of talented youth aged 15–21.

Toby's Dinner Theatre is a Washington–Baltimore metropolitan area professional dinner theater based in Columbia, Maryland.

Ross Scott Rawlings is an American pianist, composer, conductor, and music director.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kelemen, Carolyn. "Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts celebrates 45 years with reunion, free performance". Columbia Flier. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Shird, Shannon (2008). "Maryland State Women's Hall of Fame: Toby Orenstein". msa.maryland.gov. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "About Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts". Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  4. Solomon, Libby. "This Week in Columbia History: 'A Labor of Love' raised money for AIDS". Columbia Flier. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  5. Holzberg, Janene (2012). "Toby's founder Orenstein wins award for community work". Howard County Times. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Baltimore Outreach Programs". Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  7. Jones, Katie V. "Glenelg's 'Aladdin' creates its own magic". Howard County Times. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  8. Howard County Public School System (May 12, 2017). "Discover HCPSS – Inclusive Broadway Theater at Glenelg High School". hcpss.org. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  9. "MAGIC UNDER GLASS-The Fantasy Rock Musical". whatsupmag.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2017. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  10. Schelle, Crystal (2016). "Smithsburg writer has novels turned into musicial [sic]". Herald Mail Media. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  11. Kubatko, Jill (2016). "The 2016 Cherry Adler Award goes to Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts". Maryland State Arts Council. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
39°11′12″N76°49′26″W / 39.18678°N 76.82398°W / 39.18678; -76.82398