In February, Brenna Feeney (HHS-2012) was one of 60 young artists from top conservatories and universities in both the US and abroad admitted into Oberlin College's intensive 5-week Opera, instrumental, and stage managing program in Arezzo, Tuscany.  The program combines language and musical study with Italian cultural emersion-- all while working closely with a faculty of distinguished professors, coaches, conductors, and stage directors.  The five week summer program will be spent in rehearsals, private lessons, Italian courses, and performing at prestigious venues across Tuscany.  At the end of the program participants will perform a full-staged Opera-- this year it's Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.  Students earn college credit, including a semester's worth of Italian courses.

Brenna says, "I couldn't be more excited about this amazing opportunity-- it's going to be such an adventure, not to mention a great way to get a taste for the opera business and establish valuable contacts across the country."

You can learn more about Brenna's adventure and consider making a donation to her fundraising goals at GoFundMe.com

Dear Friends,

I hope this letter finds you all well. I’m writing to inform you of a small project I have started, a scholarship for Hanford High School students who have been active in technical theater. I am perhaps not the prototypical graduate of Hanford Theater, but that’s exactly the point: the lessons we learned there helped prepare us for wherever our lives may have taken us. Hanford Theater has an enviable reputation with scores of alumni going on to careers in the performing arts, and for this they, and Hanford, should be lauded. For those of us who found a different career path the lessons learned and friendships made during our time in Hanford Theater are no less relevant. The “life skills” instilled by sports are oft touted, and they are not wrong in that regard, but many of those skills are developed, even better developed, by the performing arts. Maybe they helped us speak in public, work with others, come out of our shell, or run a team, the things learned beneath the proscenium are with us all today. I use them daily. In that spirit, I’d like to ask your help in remembering one of our own.

Ruth Richman was a mother to us all, and an amazing influence on many of our lives. I know that, upon reading this, she’d turn red and tell me not to write it. For that I offer her my sincerest apologies, but I couldn’t think of any way better to express my gratitude (at least since she’d never give me her chocolate chip cookie recipe…which wouldn’t have turned out right anyway because she didn’t make them). In that spirit, I’d like to propose a scholarship in her honor, the Ruth Richman Memorial Scholarship. This will be awarded to a graduating senior for excellence in technical theater at Hanford.

Should you wish to contribute to the Ruth Richman Memorial Scholarship, donations can be made to Hanford Drama Boosters – just note they are for the “Ruth Richman Memorial Scholarship.” Send the donations to:

Matt Leggett
Hanford High School
450 Hanford St
Richland, WA 99354

Just write "Ruth Richman Memorial Scholarship" on there somewhere so it gets into the proper account. Hope all is well with all of you, and again, please pass this on to anyone else who may be interested. The HHS Drama Boosters is a registered nonprofit, and can provide receipts for tax purposes as well.

Ryan Winter, MD

5thavenue.org

HHS Alum Jared Brown was understudy Curly and performed in the 2012 5th Avenue production of Oklahoma!

(Photo clipped from a 5th Avenue promotion for the 5th Avenue Awards for High School Musicals)