Jim Schlader Musical Theater Education Award Recipients

Woodminster Summer Musicals
Oakland's Summer Theater Under the Stars
Summer 2011 – 45th consecutive season of musical theater in Oakland's beautiful Joaquin Miller Park

Press contact: Kathy Kahn, woodminsterpr@yahoo.com, 510-418-8523
Theater contact: Harriet Schlader, harriet@woodminster.com, 510-531-9597

PRESS RELEASE (For immediate release)

Andrew Moorhead Wins 1st Annual Jim Schlader Musical Theater Education Award
Piedmont Teen Will Use the $3000 Award for College Education at Chapman University

September 3, 2011, Oakland, CA -- Producers Associates announced the finalists and winner of Jim Schlader Musical Theater Education Award at Opening Night of Finian's Rainbow on September 2.

The winner of the $3000 award is Andrew Moorhead, a recent graduate of Piedmont High School, who is attending Chapman University this year. Both of Andrew's parents have performed on the Woodminster stage many times. (Robert Moorhead of Piedmont just played Henry Higgins in Woodminster's My Fair Lady. Robert is also a drama teacher at Alameda High School. Amy Moorhead, Andrew's mother, is dance teacher at Piedmont High School.) But Andrew has developed his own reputation as a Woodminster company member, and has himself been in the cast or on the crew (or both!) for 9 different Woodminster productions. He debuted as a Snow Child in Carousel in 2001, he's since developed into a reliable member of the theater's adult ensemble. He performed in both earlier shows this summer, in the ensemble of My Fair Lady and as the despicable Noah Claypole in Oliver! Andrew has also been involved with local community theatres, and was very active in the drama and music programs of Piedmont High (class of 2011) as an actor, singer, director, and playwright. He has won numerous awards and honors, including Berkeley Rep's Teen One Act Playwriting Festival and the Piedmont High School Birdcalling Contest, which included an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. This fall, Andrew is attending Chapman University in Orange County, where he will enter the BA program in Acting and Directing.

The other three finalists, who each received $500, are Natalie Fong of Oakland, Adam Maggio of San Francisco, and Tara Steward of Castro Valley.

Natalie Fong has been dancing in Woodminster shows since 2006, when she was in The King and I, and she has done at least one show every year since then, 6 shows in all. She has been dancing since she was 5, has performed with Dance 10, Piedmont Youth Ballet, and Oakland Ballet, and one of her dance teachers told us that she's "bright, energetic, amibitious and talented and will always strive for her best at whatever she does." Natalie lives in Oakland, just graduated from Bishop O'Dowd High School, and will be attending UC Irvine in the fall. There, she'll study dance, French and Spanish languages, computer science, and business. She hopes to have the opportunity to study abroad at some point during college.

Adam Maggio first performed at Woodminster in 2008, when he was in the ensembles of both Seussical, The Musical and Pirates of Penzance. Earlier this year, he was in Oliver! Adam has worked for 11 years with SFArtsEd Players, first as an actor in the children's musical theater company, and later as a director's assistant and faculty member for the summer programs. Adam now attends the Music Theatre Conservatory at the University of Miami, where he studies acting, movement, voice and speech, improvisation, ballet, jazz, tap, musical theatre, and singing. He expects to receive his BFA in Musical Theatre in 2014. For the 2011-12 year, he's been cast in the main stage musical at his University, the world premiere of a show written and directed by the legendary Tommy Tune. He also plans to work with Miami Theatre Outreach, that sends students into the public schools to expose Miami-Dade County children to theatre, movement, and song.

Tara Steward has been a key member of the technical crew for all three shows this year, as well as all three shows in 2010. This year, she's a senior at Castro Valley HIgh School where she has a 4.32 grade point average, and is planning to apply for 2012 admission to a number of prestigious universities, including NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, and UC Irvine. She has recently been selected as head director/writer of the Castro Valley High School Pops Concert, an annual tradition with high visibility in the community. Simultaneously, she's student director for the Castro Valley High School's American Sign Language 2012 show, The Little Mermaid: An Eternal Perspective. She's an honors student, a sign language interpreter, a writer, a singer, an actor, a technician, a Ham radio operator, and a community volunteer. She was "student of the year" for Castro Valley Unified School District in 2008. In her spare time, she tutors math, science, history, and English.

The Jim Schlader Musical Theater Education Award is given in memory of Jim Schlader, founder and producer of the Woodminster Summer Musicals , who died in May 2010 at the age of 96. Jim had a special interest in cultivating young talent in musical theater, and was fond of advising young performers to get further education and training. In his memory, and because of many generous contributions made in his name, his organization can now offer more concrete encouragement to members of the Woodminster company who are pursuing higher education.

Starting in 2011, the Jim Schlader Musical Theatre Education Award will be granted each season to a member of the company of Producers Associates’ Woodminster Summer Musicals in recognition of:
• Talent in musical theatre performance and production;
• Consistent contributions to the organization;
• Positive attitude and accomplishments as a team player.

The Woodminster Summer Musicals are performed under the stars at Woodminster Amphitheater, an open-air performance facility in Joaquin Miller Park high in the Oakland Hills. The park's spectacular views and serene woodsy environment made it the perfect setting for the amphitheater, cascades, reflecting pool, and paths that were originally built as a WPA project in 1939-40. For many East Bay families, it is a long-standing summer tradition to enjoy a picnic in the park and then see a musical at Woodminster.

Producers Associates, Inc. was founded in 1967 by the late James Schlader and his wife Harriet to provide affordable live summer family entertainment in the East Bay, and to foster a love of live theatre. For more than four decades, the organization, in partnership with the Oakland Park and Rec Department, has been producing summer musicals at Woodminster Amphitheater. Healthy season tickets sales, attendance by groups, and special opportunities for families have made Woodminster shows the best attended performances in Oakland. Today, it sells the highest number of individual tickets of any resident performing arts organization in the city.

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