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(via Bringing art to our city: Part 2)

Bringing art to our city: Part 2

By: Trinity Stevens // The Cauldron  

As promised, “The Cauldron” returns to you with the latest update about the Great Lakes Financial Company mural project. Our Cleveland State University art students have been hard at work. The first article left off with three different potential designs for the mural, two by Mya Rowe and one by Taylor Johnson.

A lot has happened since then. For starters, Great Lakes has made their final decision which design, to go with. They chose not only one design, but one design from each artist, expanding the mural project to include two images rather than just the one.

The selected designs were Johnson’s piece, which comprises various local images and the word “Ohio,” and Rowe’s piece, with the couple eating dinner in front of the Playhouse Square chandelier. 

The artists have begun work in the actual space for their larger creations of these designs. The murals are going up in the Osborn building downtown, in the building’s breezeway. Since Great Lakes went with two images, there will be one on either side of the walkway as you enter the building.

Johnson and Rowe have completed a sketch of their designs in the space and have started on the larger bulk of the work using acrylic paints. 

The students are expected to be wrapping up the project around early May. “The Cauldron” will get back to you on how it goes with a third and final article closer to that time. So stay tuned!

Credit: Lauren Brooks, Jacquelyn Wilson and Cleveland State University. Lauren Brooks (top) and Jacquelyn Wilson are two Cleveland State University film students who had the opportunity to work as extras on the set of “Cherry.”

CSU FILM STUDENTS APPEAR AS EXTRAS IN NEW FILM, "CHERRY"

During its filming in fall 2019, Lauren Brooks and Jacquelyn Wilson had the opportunity to work as extras on a professional film set.

By COURTNEY BYRNES // The Cleveland Stater

If you make it out to the movie theater or scroll through AppleTV in the next few weeks, you may stumble across the newly released film, “Cherry” which features some familiar sites to Clevelanders — and even some familiar faces.

And no, not just the faces of the film’s stars Tom Holland and Ciara Bravo who are sure to entice viewers, but even closer to home with Cleveland State University students appearing as extras.

“There was a lady posting in the film school Facebook group that she needed extras one day and I kept checking her page like every single day and then I got to be an extra twice because of that,” Lauren Brooks, a sophomore film major on the production track, said.

“Cherry” is a film based on Cleveland native Nico Walker’s novel of the same name. This semi-autobiography tells the story of Cherry (Holland) who suffers from PTSD after serving as an army medic in Iraq and becomes addicted to heroin, then goes on a spree of bank robberies.

“The story itself is amazing because it’s a little bit of a biography about the writer who wrote it but he made it more fictional — the writer/author that Tom Holland plays — he was robbing a lot of banks in Mayfield, Ohio because he had an opioid addiction because of PTSD,” Brooks said. “And they really portrayed how bad the opioid problem here in our area is so well.”

The movie, directed by Cleveland natives Joe and Anthony Russo, was filmed mostly in Cleveland and the surrounding area back in October 2019 through January 2020 and features backdrops of Little Italy, Lake View Cemetery, Coventry Road, Detroit-Shoreway and Case Western Reserve University’s campus.

Brooks described her on-screen moment from one of her days as an extra when she was chosen to walk past Holland and Bravo on camera. It was “a college scene — at Case actually — and I think we were outside, in November, for like 6-7 hours and it was just a small scene that ended up being on-screen for like two minutes.”

Her second day as an extra took place inside a gymnasium in Akron where the army homecoming scene was shot. Also there on that day was another CSU film major, Jacquelyn Wilson, a sophomore on the writing and producing track.

“They were shooting the homecoming scene which is the scene where Tom Holland’s character just gets back [from the army] and he gets the badge of honor and meets with his girlfriend [Bravo] again,” Wilson said.

Although she is not visible on screen, Wilson spoke highly of the experience of working on a professional film set and everything she learned from it.

“When I went to see the film and I was with my friends, I saw my cousin and I saw my other friend and then I didn’t see myself,” Wilson said. “And I’m sure people were like ‘aw that must stink,’ but I still think it was really cool that I got to be there and learn things.”

Before filming began in the fall of 2019, there was a big push to get “Cherry” filmed in Cleveland, especially with the story’s connections to the region.

“I remember I went to go see the premiere of the movie “The Last Summer” and the director of the Cleveland Film Commission was giving a talk about trying to get more movies filmed in Cleveland and he was like ‘Oh, the Russo Brothers are trying to get this one story made here — we don’t know if they’re going to make it here yet',” Wilson said. “And I was like fingers-crossed, I really hope they do because they’re a big name.”

“Cherry” was released exclusively in limited theaters February 26 for two weeks before opening more widely on March 12. The film is now showing at a wider range of theaters and is available to stream on AppleTV with a subscription.

For Brooks and Wilson, “Cherry” was their first look at how a professional film set runs and hopefully not their last as they complete their studies and build upon their resume at the School of Film and Media Arts.

“There’s actually two movies apparently that might be filming this summer here too,” Brooks said. “So hopefully there’s more opportunities for me to get in, or just anyone in Cleveland and the film school."

Student Success is the Heart of Lift Up Vikes!  

After hearing about Lift Up Vikes! in a session through freshmen orientation four years ago, Paige Simons thought it was an awesome opportunity, but too good to be true. Now a first-year occupational therapy (OT) graduate student, she has a lot to share about the benefits of the Lift Up Vikes! program and how students should take advantage of it.

Lift Up Vikes! (LUV) is a resource center for students at CSU that provides programming and materials for students to overcome non-academic challenges to their success. These include a food pantry, financial assistance, finance education, and referrals to on and off-campus service providers.

“There are a lot of benefits to having these programs available to students and it is absolutely something to take advantage of, even for graduate students. This is nothing to be ashamed of,” Simons shared.

Simons, who received a bachelor of health sciences on a pre-OT track with a psychology minor, received assistance from LUV emergency grants and food pantry throughout her undergraduate years and into graduate school.

“Both helped me put my money towards other needs with less worry about how and where I am going to get my groceries.”

With a few less stressors weighing on her, Simons was able to breathe a little easier and truly focus on her studies and extra curriculars. She is a member of the Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA) and as a grad student, is starting to pin down career plans and future goals.

“I wanted to do occupational therapy so that I could help those who have lost certain functions or abilities that affect their daily life. This includes things like grooming, hygiene, and making meals,” explained Simons. “As of right now, I am thinking of using my studies to work in a school setting to help special needs children thrive in their environment.”

Everyone needs help sometimes. Simons knows that firsthand – she has received help herself. And she will work closely with patients who rely on OT to gain back pieces of their independence. It isn’t always easy to accept help, but Lift Up Vikes! makes it easy.    

The LUV Food Pantry, located in BH 122, allows students to have access to donated food items from both the community and the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Students can shop once a week and have additional resources available to combat food insecurity challenges.

Photo: Playhouse Square, located steps off of CSU’s campus, celebrates its 100th anniversary, By: Molly Bregar. (via Celebrating Playhouse Square’s 100th Anniversary)

Celebrating Playhouse Square’s 100th Anniversary: 100 years of art, perseverance, and bringing people together

By Abigail Jarvis //  The Cauldron

The spring of 2021 marked the 100th anniversary of Playhouse Square. When the bright theatre marquees flashed to life for the very first time, there were five original theaters - the Allen, Hanna, Mimi Ohio, KeyBank State, and the Connor Palace. Each had its own specialty, but the district was known for hosting vaudeville performances, orchestras, jazz bands, spoken drama, and silent movies. The Great Depression became a threat for the district, however, and audiences simply needed cheaper forms of entertainment. The theaters struggled to maintain crowds with their live performances; many instead presented silent films or were pushed to close.

After World War II, the theaters continued to scramble for revenue throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. The rise in suburban living, small movie theaters, and at home television forced the remaining theaters to close. The once magnificent theaters were abandoned, vandalised and nearly forgotten. If not for the efforts of grassroots activists in the 1970s, Playhouse Square’s theaters may not have survived. The movement to save the venues continued through the ‘80s and ‘90s, successfully saving, reopening, and reshaping each of the historic theaters.  

In 2009 Playhouse Square, Cleveland Play House (CPH), and Cleveland State University partnered and became known as The Power of Three. The Power of Three continued to uplift the theatres downtown. Together, they created a plan to renovate and build where the Allen, Helen & Outcalt Theatres are housed- the Allen Theatre Complex. CSU’s Technical Theatre Director, Cameron Michalak, was heavily involved in the process.

“They [The Power of Three] worked to renovate the Allen theatre from around 2800 to 500 seats, and built the Helen and Outcalt theatres. The theatres were finished in 2011 and that’s when we [CSU] got to take over those spaces to use,” Michalak said.

Michalak has an active career with the theaters in Playhouse Square. He worked with Cleveland Play House for 10 years before transitioning to CSU, where he now designs and teaches technical theatre. Some of his favorite productions that he has designed and/or built for Playhouse Square stages have been “Into the Woods” for CSU, Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” for Case Western Reserve with CPH, “The Crucible” for CPH, and “The Importance of Being Earnest” for CSU.

Michalak recognized that Playhouse Square is special and described the relationship between CSU and Playhouse Square as “everything.”

“I saw this program at CSU beginning to grow and figure out itself in a lot of exciting ways. I saw that Cleveland State was poised to make a big mark in educational theatre.”

Although the theatres in Playhouse Square are currently on intermission, the communities that occupy those theatres are staying active. Cleveland State has been staging productions in their Pandemic Theatre space, and both Cleveland Play House and Playhouse Square are present on social media where they have been hosting online events since the beginning of the pandemic. Playhouse Square continues to celebrate its history by encouraging safe participation and by making their Emmy winning documentary “Staging Success” available to stream.

The perseverance of these theatres in the face of economic disparity, World Wars, closings, and now the pandemic promises a triumphant return to the stages once audiences are vaccinated. The 101st anniversary of Playhouse Square is bound to be a celebration of all the rich history and a mark of future engaging performances.

“I am excited to get back into a theatre with a live audience. I hope they [Playhouse Square] get a chance to celebrate even more. They have been so resilient and if one thing would have gone differently, they might not have been around anymore. Those theatres could have been lost.” Michalak said. “To celebrate their return is really exciting, but I am even more excited to see when they celebrate thriving rather than surviving.”

Leading Lady President: Honoring Claire Van Ummersen

On her very first day as president of Cleveland State University in 1993, Dr. Claire Van Ummersen was greeted by The Plain Dealer with a cartoon version of herself in a little rowboat, swirling around an emptying tank. At that time, the university was in a challenging financial situation, and Cleveland’s largest paper was expressing little faith that this new president – the first female president of CSU – would be able to stop the school from going “down the drain.”

However, Cleveland State not only survived but prospered during Van Ummersen’s eight-year tenure. During a recent phone interview, she recalled several significant relationships forged between CSU and other important regional institutions in that time, institutions which were also helmed by women leaders.

Van Ummersen and Jerry Sue Thornton, president of Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) created a strong collaboration early in her tenure, helping students who started at Tri-C complete their degrees at CSU, keeping young talent in the region, to the advancement of both institutions.

“We took good care of the students,” Van Ummersen said, “to get their degrees and get decent jobs.”

She also worked closely with Jacqueline Woods, president of Ohio Bell Telephone (now AT&T Ohio). Together they created a communication network between CSU, Tri-C, and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District so that high school students could take college level classes from their schools.

“Colleges today are having a lot of problems with how they are going to bring people together,” she said. “CSU was concerned about that and worked very hard at it, and they have continued doing that for years.”

Van Ummersen was very aware of CSU’s place within Cleveland’s diverse population, and these institutional relationships were created with the interests of that population in mind. Cleveland’s diverse academic and professional needs were also top of mind.

Bioengineering was emerging as an important field in the late 20th century, so Van Ummersen sought collaboration with Cleveland Clinic. Researchers at the Clinic were able to take advantage of CSU’s programs in biology, chemistry and physics, and to acquire degrees in engineering. This partnership expanded to include University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University and led to the establishment of Biomedical Research Cleveland.

One of the most visible achievements during Van Ummersen’s time at CSU was the “17th-18th Street Project,” which resulted in new buildings and offices for the College of Business Affairs (now the Monte Ahuja Business College) and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, greatly expanding the university’s prominence on Euclid Avenue, adjacent to the burgeoning Playhouse Square Theatre District.

As part of Women’s History Month, we honor Dr. Claire Van Ummersen as one of CSU’s leading ladies – our first and only female president to-date – who left CSU a strong and stable university and went on to advocate for women as part of the American Council on Education in D.C., working to increase the presence of female faculty members and advance their senior leadership opportunities among the nation’s college and universities.

CSU Grounds Department: From the Field to the Classroom  

Small buds studding trees, delicate flowers pushing up through the ground, the occasional 55-degree afternoon – the signs are all around us. Tomorrow marks the first day of spring and we aren’t the only ones ready!

The Grounds team at CSU will be dusting off their equipment to bring campus grounds back to life this spring. But when they aren’t working hard to keep our campus looking great, they partner with classes to share knowledge and experience beyond the classroom.

Last fall, students in Dr. Emily Rauschert’s plant ecology lab worked with groundskeeping staff in a plant propagation workshop. Students learned how to propagate – or grow new plants from parent plant seeds, cuttings, or other plant parts – multiple species of plants, including those common to campus like Ficus benjamina (weeping fig or ficus) and Crassula ovata (Jade plant).

This workshop stemmed off the propagation that takes place in CSU’s own greenhouse, which is located in the Grounds Department’s Plant Annex!

“This kind of integration of course concepts and our local campus environment helps [students] remember these concepts longer-term,” said Dr. Rauschert, Associate Professor of Plant Ecology. “We appreciate all the hard work [CSU grounds members] do to keep the campus beautiful and support our students’ learning!”

During the workshop, workstations were set up, each with a different propagation technique, while the ground’s staff lead horticulturists, Timothy Joseph and Timothy Square Jr., gave presentations on each method. Students then rolled up their sleeves to give each method a try and went home with fledgling plants of their own.

“It’s good for myself and my staff, knowing that there are young budding professionals that are interested in what we do. Our hope is that these skills will benefit them in their careers,” shared Timothy Square Jr., Superintendent of Grounds. “We believe campus should be a living lab to provide opportunities to learn and apply new ideas. We want to do our part to help educate.”

The groundskeeping team intends to continue educating and keep campus partnerships strong. Next month, they will be embarking on part two of the tree identification project they assisted with in 2019 as part of plant biology courses taught by Dr. Andrea Corbett.

To provide students with an interactive activity for their class, the groundskeeping team collaborated with the Center for Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, Maker Space, and Dr. Corbett to create an interactive tree map.

QR code tags were secured to trees across campus. Students then embarked on a scavenger hunt to find different tree numbers, scanning the QR codes to learn about the biological content of the tree and answer questions based on the information they learned.

“I really enjoyed seeing the overall diverse array of trees CSU has on campus,” shared senior biology major, Hans Bogenrief. “I appreciate the work put in by the groundskeeping team at CSU because the amount of tree species they have to manage, and how widespread they are around the greater campus of CSU is pretty impressive.”