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at home with: Richard E. Rauh Conservatory & Pittsburgh Musical Theater By Janice Milliner
The Secret is Out!
The Richard E. Rauh Conservatory Theater Company, akin to the Pittsburgh Musical Theater (PMT), draws both children and parents alike for a very powerful reason. It is not merely an arts education program, but rather an ideal that is realized through the passion of talented people who are alive with creatively and nurturing warmth. If you’ve ever spied a child at play then you most certainly have experienced the warmth and magic that seems to ooze from witnessing pure imagination. Children are notoriously vivid pretenders who briefly whisk themselves off to secret far away places where they dramatically act out triumphant quests, bold proclamations, and conquering feats, all the while having serious fun. As it turns out, the Pittsburgh Musical Theater and Richard E. Rauh Conservatory is proof positive that such secret places really do exist—especially in Pittsburgh! The Richard E. Rauh Conservatory and Pittsburgh Musical Theater, is an important contributing factor in the tasteful redevelopment of the West End and in the growing notoriety of the community’s magical mystique as the “secret city” next to the city itself. As a professionally astute educational facility and seasoned community, one can certainly not imagine a better place for children to experience the wonderful riches of Pittsburgh’s cultural heritage. The Richard E. Rauh Conservatory and Pittsburgh Musical Theater is the vision of Founding Director, Ken Gargano. Though the company has undergone much throughout its 16-year history, the past two, most notably, have established remarkable recovery, stability and growth to where the organization is now, more than ever, accelerating as a viable Arts and Education Company leader. The organization is comprised of two distinct identities. The Pittsburgh Musical Theater Company is the professional company that successfully produces Broadway favorites as reflected in their 2007 spring calendar: Cats, Footloose and Beauty And The Beast. Performances typically run for two weeks at the Byham Theater in downtown Pittsburgh’s cultural district. The professional experience is shared with children both on and off stage, within the conservatory and outside the conservatory, by offering school matinee performances at a mere $10 a seat. The Richard E. Rauh Conservatory Theater Company is an educational company that offers training in three primary disciplines: acting, dance and voice. Students can attend in the evenings and on Saturdays. Depending on the age, students may also attend weekday classes for credits in lieu of traditional course studies at their respective high schools or colleges.
 “Its all about the children’s experience,” says Colleen Petrucci, PMT Conservatory Director and General Manager. So say the students themselves who have benefited from their experience and training as saplings in the program. Throughout the company’s history, the conservatory has fostered the talents of many students who’ve expressed professional career ambitions in the performing arts. Those who have gone on to accomplish their goals have a deep-rooted gratitude for the training and opportunities they received while students at the Conservatory. “CSI”’s Melina Kanakaredes and Paul McGill (presently performing on Broadway’s “A Chorus Line”) and Audra Blaser of NBC’s “30 Rock” all feel as though their start in the business began with their enrollment at the school. Each attributes the phenomenal experience gained while under the direction at Richard E. Rauh Conservatory as a vital part of their success. “Not everyone seeks to make professional careers out of what they find here,” Petrucci adds. “But if that’s their goal, we can help them. The experience is enriching to personal growth and development and is positively reflected in whatever the children go on to do, even simply public speaking. There is an element of the ‘one school room’ philosophy from which children and adult performers alike benefit from the experience or perspective of the other.”
 Regardless of economic stature, the conservatory’s commitment to all children being given the opportunity for arts education is unwavering. The small class sizes of young children training alongside seasoned older children, all under the direction of professionally accomplished instructors, provides an excellent dynamic to which the school credits its success. All of the children have the opportunity to participate in a professionally produced show, complete with costumes, in a performance staged at Pittsburgh Hazlett Theater. For parents, children, students and instructors, the positive energy that comes from self-expression flows into gratification. Everyone benefits when a child learns. The confidence, self-assertion and hard work to achieve a goal as team provides positive affirmation to the individual by saying, “You being here really mattered!” The conservatory is a wonderful place where children of all ages and economic backgrounds have the opportunity to develop and expand their interests in the performing arts, and also become more socially conscious about our city’s diversity. As many at the Conservatory have witnessed, the impact of arts education on a child’s development cannot be understated. Arts education has a way of opening children up. The Richard E. Rauh Conservatory and Pittsburgh Musical Theater provides a safe, supportive and professional atmosphere for them to grow both independently and cooperatively as a participant and as an artist captivated by world around them.
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