PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE ANNOUNCES REBECCAH SINGER AS ITS FIRST FULL-TIME EDUCATION DIRECTOR

Singer Joins the Porchlight Team Overseeing Porchlight Education and Intern Programs and Outreach Initiatives

Rebeccah Singer, photo by Chris Popio

Porchlight Music Theatre is pleased to announce the appointment of Rebeccah Singer as the company’s first full-time education director. Singer begins immediately overseeing Porchlight’s education, intern and outreach programs. These programs offer an educational and personal growth environment where youth, professionals and fans from across Chicago may create, practice, perform and appreciate the unique music theatre art form. 

This year, Porchlight, in addition to a variety of music, voice and dance classes, offers a youth Winter Music Theatre Intensive, the Spring Production Intensive (this year presenting Freaky Friday: One Act Edition on the same stage as Porchlight’s mainstage production Disney’s Freaky Friday) and three sessions of its “Make Your Own Musical” summer camps.  Financial assistance may be available for students interested in any of Porchlight’s classes. More information on these programs is available at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org/school/.

Executive Director Jeannie Lukow said, “Porchlight continues to expand its youth education and outreach programming reaching more and more Chicago youth and their friends and families. Rebeccah’s energy and expertise perfectly mirrors the skills needed to continue Porchlight’s trajectory in becoming a leader in music theatre education.”  

Singer added, “Porchlight is offering me an incredible opportunity to help set the strategic vision of our youth education programs as well as expand the reach, particularly in partnerships that serve under-resourced communities. I look forward to working with Porchlight, its teaching staff and, of course, the students.” 

ABOUT REBECCAH SINGER
Rebeccah Singer comes to Porchlight from Emerald City Theatre where she worked in youth arts education for nearly six years, two of them as the company’s education manager. She has also been a teaching artist for Lookingglass Theater, The Playground Theater and the iO Theater. Singer holds a BFA from Syracuse University where she graduated magna cum laude, and is a graduate of the Severn Darden Graduate program at Second City and a current performer at iO Chicago.

ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE AS RUTH PAGE ARTIST IN-RESIDENCE
Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to be a member of the vibrant Ruth Page Center for the Arts community and an Artist In-Residence. Central to the Ruth Page Center for the Arts’ programming is the Artists In-Residence program, which is designed to serve organizations looking for a home base while they grow or expand their artistic and organizational capabilities. The Center is committed to nurturing and assisting dance and other performing artists, allowing for exchange and collaborative relationships to develop within the artistic community. The Ruth Page Center for the Arts is a destination for quality performing arts, accessible to a wide community regardless of race, gender, age, education or disability. An incubator of artistic energy and excellence, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts carries forward the vision of its founder, legendary dance icon Ruth Page, to be a platform for developing great artists and connecting them with audiences and community.

ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
As the home for music theatre in Chicago now in its 25th season, Porchlight Music Theatre is nationally recognized for reimagining classic productions, developing new works and showcasing musical theatre’s noted Chicago veterans and rising stars. Porchlight elevates the genre by providing intimate and powerful theatrical experiences of music theatre through the lens of the “Chicago Style.” The 2017–2018 year marked a milestone for Porchlight as the company became an Artist In-Residence at the historic Ruth Page Center for the Arts in Chicago’s Gold Coast. Porchlight’s rich history includes the staging of more than 70 productions with 15 Chicago premieres and five world premieres. Through Porchlight’s “Off the Porch” new works program, the musicals of the next generation are developed and given a first audience. The School at Porchlight is Chicago’s center for music theatre training in the areas of performance, writing and appreciation including the launch of a youth summer “Make Your Own Musical” Camp in 2017. The company’s many accolades include 30 Black Theatre Alliance nominations and 12 awards, as well as a total of 167 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations resulting in 42 Jeff Awards including five consecutive Best Production awards for The Scottsboro Boys (2017), Dreamgirls (2016), Sondheim on Sondheim (2015), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (2014) and A Class Act (2013).

The 2019 – 2020 25th Anniversary Season is dedicated to the memory of long-time Board Member George K. “Kim” Sargent. 

Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, Actors’ Equity Foundation, Allstate, Bayless Family Foundation, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, Chapman | Spingola, Attorneys at Law, the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Elegant Event Lighting, Elevate Energy, James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation, Harris Family Foundation, Hearty Boys, Hopsmith, A.L. and Jennie L. Luria Foundation, the MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at the Prince Foundation, the Pritzker Traubert Foundation, Daniel and Genevieve Ratner Foundation, The Saints, the Stuart Family Foundation, and the Topfer Family Foundation. The season program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency, and by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.