Where Dreams Begin....
Stage Right is a school for the performing arts and professional theatre company located in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Our mission is to bring high-quality, professional musical theatre productions and education to Westmoreland County and the surrounding areas at affordable prices.
Stage Right was founded in 1998 as a school only, with a roster of twelve students. Since then, student registration has grown to 175 students and a professional theatre company was added in 2000. Since then, the theatre company has produced such shows as: Annie, Peter Pan, Joseph...Dreamcoat, Wizard of Oz, Godspell, and West Side Story. These productions featured professional casts as well as a number of Stage Right students. This practice of having students work alongside Equity actors is a hallmark of the Stage Right education ideology and one of the things the organization is most proud of. The result of this has been students who are finding success in their pursuits of attending the best colleges and universities in the country. Stage Right students can currently be found pursuing theatre degrees at: NYU, Penn State, Bucknell and Point Park. While still in high school, Stage Right students have been chosen to attend the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts, have been finalists and winners of the Pittsburgh Public Theatre’s Shakespeare monologue contest and have been chosen as leads in their school plays and musicals. In addition to their artistic pursuits, the majority of our students also find great academic success and doing so is greatly encouraged by Stage Right.
Stage Right is also a champion of the local professional actor, and hires from the western Pennsylvania area exclusively, as well as hiring New York based actors with ties to the region. Creating a local theatre for these artists to purvey their craft is an important initiative for anyone who is interested in keeping our area alive with creativity. These actors are also used as guest instructors for our school. Their contact with the students has been highly beneficial in the student’s development.
Stage Right’s producer, Chris Rizk, and its Artistic Director, Anthony Marino, are dedicated to keeping Stage Right an organization that responds to the needs and desires of area theatre goers and those interested in learning as much about the art form as possible. In keeping with this idea, Stage Right has branched out aggressively into outreach theatre as well as creating new original works.
Outreach
In keeping with one of our organization’s chief goals--making a difference in people’s lives through the art form of theatre--Stage Right’s outreach programs are one of our most important projects.
Books Come Alive--our series of best-loved children’s books adapted into mini musicals--has been bringing smiles to audiences for three years. Touring up to12 local libraries a season, Books Come Alive has shown the great opportunity that exists in attracting new generations of theatre lovers, as well as being an extremely effective tool in getting kids excited to read. Our newest season, beginning in March, will once again take three new books to 12 libraries in Westmoreland, Fayette, and Allegheny counties. Stage Right is also in negotiations to take the series to the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum.
Along with Books Come Alive, Stage Right also offers the school assembly program, Kids Take a Stand, which includes the shows The Bully Twins, and Name that Bully which were seen this past year by thousands of school children in 4 different districts. This program directly addresses the problems of bullying and teaches character development as well. Educators from every school we’ve attended hailed Stage Right’s Kids Take a Stand as being one of the best assemblies they’d ever had. Stage Right plans on adding new parts to this program every year, addressing the same issues being tackled by guidance counselors across the nation.
Original Works
One of the long-range goals of Stage Right is to develop and produce new musicals. Our first foray into this arena is the historical musical “River’s of Destiny” written by Anthony Marino with original music composed by Warren Shirer. This powerful musical drama traces the history of the French and Indian War and the role of the young George Washington in the conflict that eventually led to America becoming a free nation. Conceived as a destination musical that is partnered with the many historical locations in the region, “Rivers of Destiny” will debut this summer with one of its initial performances being held at the Palace Theatre in Greensburg, August 5-7. Funding for the development of “Rivers of Destiny” came in the way of a $25,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.
History
Stage Right began as the dream of Executive Director Christine Rizk. The youngest daughter of a local musician, Angelo Marino, who instilled in his whole family a love of music and a spirit of independence that would serve them all well as they grew older. While all of them pursued music and performing at various times, by 1998 only the youngest, Anthony, was working at it full time. Then Chris who, after years in the medical field as an office and business manager for a number of doctors and medical companies, decided to start her life over, doing something she loved. After taking part in an entrepreneurial program that gave seed money to new businesses, Chris, now joined by her brother and his wife, local Equity actors Tony and Renata Marino, opened Stage Right’s doors in 1998. Thus, fulfilling a dream that had started years earlier when Chris was giving voice lessons to local kids in her house. After two years and consistent growth in number or students and interest, the three decided it was time to add a performance arm to the company. Stage Right Theatre Company debuted at the Palace Theatre in spring of 2001 with “Godspell.” Since then Stage Right has seen its audiences and enrollment grow every year and everyone at Stage Right is looking forward to many, many years of helping dreams begin