OVERTURES 2007: THE FINALE

Jane, Eric and Karma appreciate the opportunity to nurture young performers, and they enjoy their work.

The Overtures Musical Theater Institute was founded five years ago by Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and choreographer and Signature Artistic Associate Karma Camp, pictured below with faculty member Jane Pesci-Townsend, performer and Chair of the Music Theatre Department at The Catholic University of America.  The goal of the program is to provide professional training and guidance for emerging young musical theater performers.

What makes Overtures unique?  According to Nathaniel Russ, a graduate of the University of Maryland and a 2007 graduate of Overtures, it is “the number of professionals who come to share their experience and talent.”  Tony® Award nominees Marc Kudisch and Emily Skinner offered vocal workshops in selecting and performing audition material.  Andrew Long, recipient of the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actor and featured last season in Signature’s My Fair Lady and Saving Aimee, joined the Overtures faculty this year.  Focusing on acting, he provided techniques to prepare and present audition monologues as well as specific tools to approach cold readings when you are given minimal preparation time.  Auditioning is an art that must be mastered if you want to get the part.


Marc Kudisch played Darryl Van Horne in The Witches of Eastwick.


Emily Skinner was featured as one of the witches in The Witches of Eastwick.       


Andrew Long pictured as Professor Harold Higgins in My Fair Lady.

Overtures focuses on vocal performance, acting skills, and dance.  Each year a professional dancer/choreographer is invited to teach a Master Class.  This year Dance Supervisor Michael Gorman from the Broadway production of A Chorus Line led a workshop that began with a 90-minute exercise warm-up and followed with Michael teaching the students the choreography for “I Hope I Get It!,” the opening number in A Chorus Line.  The Overtures Showcase, presented in The Kennedy Center’s Lab Theatre on Saturday, July 14, opened with the learned number performed by the 19 students in the 2007 graduating class.


Karma Camp joins Michael Gorman as he leads the Overtures students in a 90-minute warm-up exercise.


The group learns the choreography for "I Hope I Get It!," the opening number in A Chorus Line.


The Overtures company, with pictures and résumés in hand, open the final Showcase with" I Hope I Get It!" from A Chorus Line.


Performing "Should I Be Sweet?," Lauren Calhoun, a student at The Tisch School at NYU, returns for her second year in Overtures.


Nathaniel Russ, singing "I Don’t Remember You," believes that “the number of professionals that come to share their experience and talent” makes Overtures unique.


A graduate of Butler University and member of Actors’ Equity Association, Merrill Grant came from New York City to attend Overtures.  “Thank you for an amazing experience!”


Jon Reynolds, Jr. is a graduate of Mary Washington University.  Here he performs "Open Road," a song from Glory Days that will premiere at Signature this winter.  “It’s not always easy to get through to me.  And [the Overtures staff] made it look easy.”


Jesse Carrey-Beaver, a student at the Baltimore School for the Arts, sings "The Streets of Dublin" in the final Showcase.  “This program has reminded me how much I love musical theater.”


The graduates of Overtures 2007 perform the final Showcase number, "Old Friends" from Merrily We Roll Along.

Overtures is a truly exciting and rewarding experience for the students and faculty as well as the audience that attends the final Showcase.  Hannah Willman, a graduate of Indiana University, a talented performer, and a 2007 Overtures graduate, strongly endorses the program: “Anyone looking to hone their skill set for musical theater should seek out the program; anyone wanting to experience excellence in training and enthusiasm for the craft should auditions ASAP!”  Overtures 2008 will begin on Sunday, June 29 with a final Showcase on Saturday, July 12.

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