Thursday, April 06, 2000
Variety spices Mason event
Music and drama added to exhibits
BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer Contributor
MASON — Every kind of art from the basic kindergarten crayon drawing to sophisticated sculptures will be on display this weekend at the high school as Mason Schools present its first annual Fine Arts Festival.
“We're very excited about this,” said Darlene Hicks, the district's operations manager, who is coordinating the festival. “It's an opportunity to showcase our very best student works. We'll have a broad variety of arts.”
Sponsored by the two-year-old Fine Arts Council (FAC), the festival expands on the district's yearly art show to include performances by the district's choral and instrumental groups along with dramatic productions by middle and high school students. The festival will culminate Sunday with a free 2 p.m. performance at Mason High School, by Mason resident and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra pianist Michael Chertock.
Mr. Chertock, who also plays piano and organ at Mason United Methodist Church, will incorporate several students and ensembles into his 90-minute program using the school's 10-month-old baby grand piano. It's among three pianos the FAC acquired for the school just as classes ended last June. Several musical genres from jazz to gospel to classical will be featured.
“Sometimes the arts are second to athletics,” said Mason Board of Education member Marianne Culbertson, who has worked on the FAC since its inception. “Anything the kids are donating so much time and energy to should be celebrated.”
The FAC includes representatives from all the arts from each school, parents, community members and a representative from each of the district's booster groups for band, drama and choral.
The festival opens at 6 p.m. Friday,with a public reception for the art show. The show, in the gymnasium, will run until 9 p.m. In the auditorium, middle school students will present the drama The Ol' Homestead, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $3 for adults, $2 for students and can be purchased at the door.
The art show opens at 9:30 a.m. Saturday and runs until 12:30 p.m. It reopens from 6-8 p.m. Two performances of the high school drama class' 45-minute production of Alice in Wonderland are scheduled for 11 a.m. and noon. Visitors may combine the shows with brunches, set for 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Cost is $5 for the brunch and show, $3 for just the show. Tickets are available at the door.
Evening entertainment is a 90-minute talent show that begins at 7 p.m., in the auditorium. Tickets are $3 for adults and $2 for students with proceeds going toward costs for the drama club's spring musical, The King and I.
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