Sawyer Shafer selected as director for JM’s production of ‘Oklahoma!’

SILER CITY, N.C. — Sawyer Shafer, a theater professional based in Greensboro, has been selected to direct “Oklahoma!,” the spring musical at Jordan-Matthews High School. Dates for “Oklahoma!” will be confirmed later this month with a possible, one-week shift from the originally announced dates to accommodate the new director’s schedule.

Before moving to North Carolina earlier this year, Shafer spent two years as director and producer of Finneytown High School’s musical theater program in Cincinnati. Before that, he was founder and CEO of Sansami Creative Works, which produced plays and original sketch comedy, and volunteered as an acting and production consultant at Mechanicsburg High School in Urbana, Ohio. He holds a bachelor’s degree in theater studies magna cum laude from Wright State University.

Shafer was introduced to students in early December during a short lunch and overview of the musical, and was encouraged by that first impression.

“Having worked with student-aged performers in some capacity every year for the last seven years, I can honestly say that I have never had a group of students that has been this excited for auditions,” he said. “I’m excited to see what they bring to the show, and extremely ready to get to work with my collaborators on the creative team.”

He is hoping that audiences will get a new perspective on the plot of this iconic musical that recently ran for 328 performances on Broadway in a re-imagined production that closed just weeks before the pandemic shutdown.

Shafer succeeds Jessica Nunn, the longtime director at Jordan-Matthews, who relocated this fall to teach in England.

“I’m impressed with Mr. Shafer’s qualifications, experience and outlook,” said Rose Pate, who produces JM theater. “We share the goal of providing a quality learning opportunity for students as well as a great theater performance for our community.”

“Oklahoma!” is produced with assistance from JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, which provides funding for the director, costumes, set supplies and incidental expenses. JMArts is supported by contributors throughout the community and occasional grants for special educational programs.

This year, those special programs include a Latin jazz clinic for student musicians and a free public concert on Jan. 28 by Gregg Gelb and La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet, as well as the third-annual JMArts Spring Theater Workshop for student actors that runs after school from Apr. 25 through May 6.

More information about JMArts, including a schedule of all upcoming arts events and information on membership, is available online at JMArts.org.

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Sawyer Shafer, who is directing the Jordan-Matthews production of “Oklahoma!” this spring, provides an introduction to the musical for students interested in participating. About 70 students so far have expressed an interest to be part of the musical, either backstage or on stage, and most of them attended a free, two-hour lunch on Saturday, Dec. 4, to meet Shafer and learn about the upcoming production.

JMArts offers third-annual Spring Theater Workshop supported by Galloway Ridge grant

SILER CITY, N.C. — Jordan-Matthews students interested in theater will once again have an opportunity to expand their acting expertise during the third-annual Spring Theater Workshop organized by JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, and supported by a grant from the Galloway Ridge Chatham County Charitable Fund.

As in previous years, the two-week workshop — scheduled for April 25 to May 6 — will be held after school for about 30 JM students. But this year’s event is a collaborative venture with RhinoLeap Productions, a professional theater company based in Asheboro that draws artists from all over the United States who are committed to performing and teaching in North Carolina.

RhinoLeap Artistic Director Jeremy Skidmore says residencies like the one with Jordan-Matthews can emphasize a wide range of skills — including film, puppetry, music, movement, writing and improvisation — but all allow students to work and create with each other and with accomplished professionals.

This residency will be led by three of RhinoLeap’s professional actors, including Associate Artistic Director Patrick Osteen, who will provide intensive dramatic work for outstanding JM actors and an opportunity for less-experienced students to try their hand at acting and learn more about dramatic arts. The workshop will conclude with participants attending a performance of RhinoLeap’s “Unnecessary Farce” at the Sunset Theatre in Asheboro.

Osteen worked for three years as a puppeteer in Cirque du Soleil’s international tour of “Toruk” and also in the Broadway national tour of “War Horse.” He has taught acting, movement, improv and puppetry to high school students all over North Carolina.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for our students to work closely with professional actors,” said JMArts President Rose Pate. “We want them to develop both their acting skills and their overall communication skills, which is important given our ongoing need to strengthen students’ social and emotional learning.”

Because the high school has no theater or dance teacher, JMArts launched its annual spring theater workshop in 2019 to provide outstanding JM actors with an opportunity for more intensive dramatic work and experience in technical theater.

That inaugural workshop, titled “Scene X Scene,” featured weekly, two-hour sessions focusing on working “scene by scene” and concluded with a free public showcase performance demonstrating various acting exercises used during the workshop. The second workshop, postponed one year to last spring because of the pandemic, once again offered more intensive acting instruction, this time leading to a public performance of “The Lottery,” the school’s first live performance after the pandemic shutdown.

This season’s Spring Theater Workshop is being supported by a grant from the Chatham County Charitable Fund, a way for residents of Galloway Ridge and other donors to support local not-for-profits, schools and government agency projects. Last year, the fund awarded 16 grants totaling $100,000.

More information about JMArts, including a schedule of all upcoming arts events and information on membership, is available online at JMArts.org.

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Patrick Osteen, who is directing the JMArts Spring Theater Workshop, performs in RhinoLeap’s production of “An Iliad,” a one-man show currently running through November 29 in Asheboro. (Photo courtesy of RhinoLeap)

Patrick Osteen, who is directing the JMArts Spring Theater Workshop, has worked as a puppeteer and performed all across the United States in the national tour of Broadway’s “War Horse.” (Photo courtesy of RhinoLeap)

JMArts announces Latin jazz clinic and free public concert supported by Grassroots Grant

SILER CITY, N.C. — Jazz musicians at Jordan-Matthews High School will have an opportunity to explore Latin jazz, learn directly from professional musicians and perform with them in a free public concert — thanks in part to a 2021 Grassroots Arts Grant awarded by the Chatham Arts Council.

Gregg Gelb and La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet will begin the day’s activities on January 28 with an afternoon clinic attended by members of the JM Jazz Ensemble and selected eighth-grade musicians from Chatham Middle and Silk Hope schools. Sessions will be conducted for trumpet, trombone, woodwind and percussion musicians.

After the clinic, Gregg Gelb and La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet will perform a free, public concert at 7 p.m. in the JM Auditorium with student musicians joining the professionals for one of their numbers.

Gelb is a professional saxophonist, clarinetist, jazz composer and jazz band leader who leads The Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra and has performed with many different groups, including the North Carolina Symphony. He currently directs the award-winning Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble, which has been selected five times for the finals of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition and festival, and has served as an interim assistant professor of jazz at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C. State University and UNC Greensboro.

La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet includes players from North Carolina, one of whom is originally from the Dominican Republic. The ensemble teaches jazz history, the improvisation process and performs at events all across the state — drawing for its repertoire on music by jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea and Horace Silver.

“I’m excited that our students will have the chance to learn from and perform with musicians of this caliber,” said JC Harper, JM’s band director. “This experience will give them a great introduction to playing jazz.”

The clinic and concert are being supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The 2021 Grassroots Arts Grant for $1,550 covers half of the program cost; the rest will be matched by JMArts through member contributions and fundraising project like the current sale of JMArts greeting and holiday cards.

JMArts President Rose Pate, who developed the program and grant application, wanted to do something to bring the entire community together. “We are thrilled to partner with the Chatham Arts Council to bring this opportunity to current and future Jordan-Matthews musicians,” she said. “We also wanted this free Latin jazz concert to be a wonderful event for our entire community."

More information about JMArts, including a schedule of all upcoming arts events and information on membership, is available online at JMArts.org.

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Members of La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet will perform a free, public concert on January 28 after providing a clinic for members of the JM Jazz Ensemble and selected eighth-grade musicians. (Photo courtesy of Gregg Gelb)

The Gregg Gelb and La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet clinic and concert are being supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.