Click here to read the lastest newspaper article about UpStage!

Please join us in congratulating

Our Founder and Executive Director
Mrs. Bernadette Walsh
on receiving the 
2010 Community Hero Award!

Read the front page article below or follow the link http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/12/community_hero_2010_bernadette.html

Community Hero 2010: Bernadette Walsh gets spotlight for work with Collinwood children's theater troupe
Published: Friday, December 31, 2010, 5:31 AM
By Sarah Crump, The Plain Dealer
Upstage Players founder Bernadette "Bernie" Walsh poses with with a homemade prop. "The elephant is a diva," she said.
There have been some real scene-stealers over the years in Upstage Players, the youth musical theater troupe in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood.

Upstage founder Bernadette "Bernie" Walsh loves to tell about the time during "Annie" when Sandy the dog relieved himself on stage while Little Orphan Annie sang "Tomorrow."

"Annie's real mom came out after the song, dressed as an orphan and cleaned up the mess," said Walsh. The audience loved it, of course, but that's just one example of how parents have pitched in to make Upstage Players a success. They've also sold ads, made programs, costumes and scenery and flipped pancakes at breakfast fundraisers.

"I couldn't do this without the parents," she said.

Walsh herself deserves a standing ovation for forming the theater company, which has a no-cut policy, in 1994. Every child gets a part, and the lead actor one year cannot be the lead the next. "We always try to be fair, allowing each child their moment to shine," she said.

And shine they do - even in the bit parts. The snake charmer in "Aladdin" stole the show, said Walsh. "The tech person who raised the snake up on cue also had her moment." In "Fiddler on the Roof," "the bottle dancers didn't drop one bottle. They were terrific."

Walsh and her staff - including her two daughters and son-in-law - don't take salaries from Upstage's tiny budget of about $13,000 to $14,000 a year. Most of the group's financial support comes from $6 ticket sales and fundraisers like the group's annual "Speakeasy" adult party where $10 buys a beer, food and entertainment.

Much of the budget goes to renting the stage and rehearsal hall at the Slovenian Workmen's Hall on Waterloo Road and renting sound and light equipment. The rights to perform Broadway shows are also costly. Upstage Players actors and tech crew pay $25 to participate, but scholarships are often given.

Along with its annual spring production, ("Suessical" is 2011's offering), the teenage portion of the troupe has performed summer one-act plays in locations as diverse as the West Side Market and on Cleveland streets as part of Ingenuity Fest.

Ingenuity and frugality fuel Upstage Players. When the company put on "Singing in the Rain," the tech crew rigged hoses and at the right moment, turned on spigots to pour 35 gallons of water into a hidden trough on the stage. "It took a lot of practice," said Walsh.

Mark Taylor, who nominated Walsh as a community hero, said she has empowered hundreds of youngsters including his own, "to take a bold step into the spotlight."

Walsh, 65, who has never acted, thinks that every kid has talent. "This is my hobby, investing in children," she said. "Some kids are never going to bounce a basketball, they're never going to cheer a cheer, but for one moment, they're going to be somebody."

Walsh's late husband, Joe, who led the tech crew of many an Upstage Production, put it best, she said. They both hoped the young actors would remember their moment for a long, long time.

"He said that someday, these kids might be walking with their own kids in the mall, hear a tune and say, 'That was my song!' "

Plain Dealer news researcher JoEllen Corrigan contributed to this story.


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