Theatrical Student Success Through Magnet at Pebblebrook!

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Do you have a student who likes to sing at the top of their

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lungs or dance around the house?

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If so, this is the podcast for you.

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Cobb Center for Excellence in the Performing Arts is the topic of discussion

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on this edition of the Inside Scoop.

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Hello everyone.

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Welcome back to another episode of The Inside Scoop.

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I'm David Owen.

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Listeners, make sure you click on that subscribe button so that you get the

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scoop on what's going on in Cobb schools.

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If you've ever seen a Broadway show, the chances are that you've

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experienced excellence that was cultivated in Cobb schools.

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Our guest today is the director of the Cobb County Center for

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Excellence in the Performing Arts,

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Robert John Connor.

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Welcome to the podcast, Robert.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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So let's start off with just a brief overview of, of who you are.

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Uh, Robert John Connor.

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I, um, I am actually a product of a performing arts magnet program.

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I'm originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Okay.

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And, uh, you know, in the late sixties and seventies, they began to

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develop magnet programs, um, that.

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Would help kids specialize.

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I was that kid around the house singing and acting, not so much dancing.

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And, uh, my mother needed to find a place for me, and they had

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just developed a performing arts program in Pittsburgh called Kappa.

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And uh, she hastily took me to the audition.

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And, uh, the rest is history.

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I went on to, uh, get an undergraduate degree from Morehouse and, uh, M f a in

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theater and dramatic media from University of Georgia and have worked, uh, for about

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23 years in, uh, specifically performing arts magna programs around the country.

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So I've had a, a great, um, time being in the room at the genesis, at

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the development and at the launching.

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Part mm-hmm.

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Of young and upcoming talents.

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Yeah.

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And I've seen many of them go on and explore such, um, such

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a rich career, either in the performing arts or in other places.

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But that's kind of me.

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I've been a magnet performing arts magnet person.

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That's kind of been my niche, and so I've learned some really.

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Incredible things, and I hope to be able to share them

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with this generation of kids.

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Well, that's part of the reason you're here, is to get the word out about, uh,

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all the wonderful things that you're doing that's gotta be exhilarating to see those,

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those young careers, uh, launching out.

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Right?

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Oh, listen, I have a student, um, who just, uh, recently won the

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Tony for Best actress in a musical.

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Ooh.

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Her name is Joaquina kgo.

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And when she won the Tony and performed on the Tony's, I,

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as they say, Oprah ugly cried.

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I was, and, and really, you know, I'm kind of a wannabe, tough guy, but the truth

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is, um, to see where kids start Oh yeah.

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And see them manifesting their destinies in that way.

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You, you know, it's a calling that we do as educators and arts educators,

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so to see that is, was just wonderful.

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So, yeah.

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I agree.

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I'm glad you used the phrase a calling because I, I think, would you agree

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that some kids are just born with Yeah.

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Uh, this carries some negativity.

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I don't mean it to be, but some, some drama just wells up inside them.

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I mean, you can't, like the kid we were in the open here where they're dancing

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around the house or in your case acting around the house, you can't stop it.

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It's coming out.

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So it's a matter of redirecting that or, or refining

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it, right?

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Correct.

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I, I think that, and I have always said this when I was a, a teacher,

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uh, we cannot teach talent.

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Yeah, we can only cultivate it.

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Oh yeah.

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Um, we can teach the practices, the techniques to refine that

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talent, but talent is something that I feel is God-given.

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And um, sometimes talent shows up.

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Immediately.

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Sometimes under cultivation it grows.

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And with young people especially, the growth is meteoric.

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You'll see a kid one year that couldn't sing two notes together, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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And the next year they're fully commanding a song.

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Really?

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And so that is the treasures for, uh, arts educators, that you can see

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this, this talent manifest so quickly.

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Yeah.

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With the right nurturing and the right incubation.

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So let, let's back up a notch.

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Performing arts is a, a really broad term.

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Mm-hmm.

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Uh, we hear that used in like, uh, you know, high school band

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performances and and so forth.

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Can you give us an idea of what that means, particularly in the

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context of your magnet program?

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And, and I'm glad you asked that because, uh, a lot of people have this idea

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that if you are not a performer mm-hmm.

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That you don't have an opportunity to learn and grow at Pebblebrook.

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Uh, and it couldn't be quite.

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The opposite of that, that we house now five, five programs, uh,

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dance drama, vocal music, technical theater, and we have a new major where

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students can study musical theater.

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And I will say the glue.

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That ties all of those programs together is our technical theater

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program where students who may not have an aversion for performing can

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learn in costume design set designs.

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Oh yeah.

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Scenic technology, all the,

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the stuff that makes it happen.

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Right.

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So the global.

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Performing arts, this idea is the entity.

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It's like when they ask you about how do you define theater?

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You spell theater two ways.

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Theater is the building.

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T H E A T e R.

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Uhhuh.

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But theater, t H e A T R e is the craft.

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Oh.

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Now, I've never heard that.

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Yes.

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As a distinction.

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That's interesting.

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So if you see it spelled with an re, that's the craft that's

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similar to performing arts.

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It is.

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All that encompasses the performing arts, which are the lights,

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the set design, all of that.

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Yeah.

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And we provide a platform for kids who have interest in all aspects of

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the performing arts at Pebble Brook.

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You know, it occurs to me that that is probably the ultimate team project, right?

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Collaboration.

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It's something that, um, some that young people learn very quickly.

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At at our program?

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Yeah, at the CCCEPA because we all depend on each other to be great.

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Okay.

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So you've got got students who have gone through each of these

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various, uh, you call 'em Pathways.

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Yes.

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Okay.

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And, and they end up with various skill sets developed and so forth.

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Where, where do these students end up in life?

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Do they all gravitate toward Broadway or some performance venue or, uh, tell

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us a little more about where you, you see, Your students end up in life.

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So we call our kids star clappers, and the reason we call them star

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clappers is because if you look at our logo, you'll see two hands clapping

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together with inside of a star.

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And I will say that you will find star clappers in every segment of our society.

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It.

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Sure.

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Broadway is something, we're very proud that we have a substantial

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amount of students that graduate from our program that aspire to do work on

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Broadway and they, they show up there and they're, we have students that

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have, that are working in Beetlejuice that grab, graduated from Pebble Brook.

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We have students in Moulin Rouge.

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We have people who worked on waitress and musical in Hamilton, and the list goes on.

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That is great.

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But what I think is really, uh, great is that the skills that young people

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learn in our performing arts program translate into a variety of other careers.

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We have attorneys, we have business managers, we have writers.

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Wow.

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We have directors, we have production managers, carpenters, and so, um, A

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lot of people who, and I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this.

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Mm-hmm.

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A lot of people who have known about the C C C E P A or whatever, Their

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reputation was, they wouldn't imagine that if they didn't sing, act and dance,

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they had a not, they didn't have a place.

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Well, what I say to you is the C C C E P A is a place for all kids

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that have an appreciation and an interest in the performing arts.

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But ultimately, once they commit themselves to the training, that

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training and that discipline will translate to most careers that, um,

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they would want to aspire to do.

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So it's kinda like showing them what they're capable of accomplishing and

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then they just take it from there.

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Absolutely.

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And, um, you know, we need entertainment attorneys.

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Yeah.

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And we need entertainment attorneys that understand the entertainment business.

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And so, you know, with the, uh, their academic classes and their

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performing arts classes, we create a very well-rounded student that could

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pursue whatever their heart's desires.

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So, okay.

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Now you, you've got me thinking about the difference between.

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Your school, uh, your, your magnet, is it considered a school or program?

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It's a program.

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It's, um, it's a very interesting dynamic.

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Yeah.

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Where it's housed on the cancer campus of Pebble Brook.

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They are Pebble Brook students.

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Mm-hmm.

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Uh, But they're C C C E P A students, or we call them PA Kids Performing Arts Kids.

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Okay.

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But it's a, it's a program and, um, they are Pebble Brook students.

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Okay.

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And they, they celebrate that.

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They get, they take their academics at Pebble Brook, and they have their

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performing arts at the C C C E P A.

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Okay.

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So those students can.

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Take as many AP and honors classes that they want.

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They can also take online classes.

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But it's really that oasis for those kids that really want to immerse

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themselves in a rigorous training in the performing arts or technical theater.

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So they are held to the same standards, um, that say students said.

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Pope or Kennesaw Mountain or any other Cobb High School in terms

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of the, the academic aspects?

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Oh, absolutely.

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They're, they're held to those same Cobb standards and then they add on to that.

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You're.

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Magnet standards as well.

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I, I would say that they're held to a higher standard because, uh,

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we have academic, uh, minimum GPA requirements to be in the program.

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We have discipline and attendance requirements to be in the program.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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As well as to add on to that, our students often perform, and so once

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they get done with their academic, In their performance training, then

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after school they have rehearsals.

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And so, uh, the greatest thing that I would say C C C E P A students learn

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very quickly is time management.

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Yeah.

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That seems to have been a common thread in all the magnets and,

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and you're no exception to that.

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And it, yeah.

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That, that's a life lesson right there, that, like you said earlier, it

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pays off not just in in what you guys are doing, but in life in general.

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Uh, absolutely come to fruition.

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Alright, so who would be that ideal?

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Uh, you know, give us some insight as to who would be a

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good candidate for your program.

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Uh, typically a student who's gonna be successful at the C C C E P A

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is disciplined, focused, driven.

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Right.

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Um, a lot of people feel like that.

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They look at some of our marketing and they go, oh my

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God, my kid's not that talented.

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Well, maybe not right now, but they haven't trained with us.

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Yeah.

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So kids that have potential, you know, that are curious enough to want to learn

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and discipline is disciplined enough to apply that training to move forward

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in the things that they aspire to do.

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Um, Um, kids who want to be a part of a family, a group of up and coming

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artists that support each other.

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And so, um, the kid, the ideal kid, I don't know if there's, um, archetype.

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I think we have such a broad cross section of kids that come from all walks of life.

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But what the thing, the thread that ties them to together is their love and

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appreciation for the performing arts.

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And, um, you know, I'm grateful that Cobb County has created a

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space for those kids, not for just the benefit of being entertained.

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Mm-hmm.

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But the impact that that experience has on the lives of young people.

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Yeah.

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It, it, it, it's life changing, you know?

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And we should continue to value the performing arts as we do with any of the

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other careers that we are pushing kids, because think about it, entertainment.

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Is a billion dollar business.

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At least.

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At least.

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Yeah.

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So the facets of entertainment that our young people can go in,

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especially now in this digital age and film and television, are endless.

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And so my goal is to broaden the scope of programming so that we

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stay current and relevant and we provide even more opportunities

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for our kids to seize the day.

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How do they get the ball rolling?

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Where, where does that all begin?

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And at what age level should they begin thinking?

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It's not when they're.

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Literally on the doorstep of, of high school in a freshman year, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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So when, when should parents and, and students start thinking about coming

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to your, your program or applying?

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Well, you know, we've had, um, parents that say their kid has wanted to be

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in the C C C E P A since they've been in elementary school because of Wow.

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The reputation, the program and, and the opportunities thereof.

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Mm-hmm.

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Um, I think that parents should support their artistic kids and

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their creative kids when they demonstrate that creativity.

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And for some parents, that's daunting because there's this

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idea that performing arts is not a lucrative pathway to a career.

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Well, yeah, we, we have heard the starving artist, uh,

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Yes.

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Term, and if whoever's listening had a camera on them, they would

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realize that as an artist myself, clearly I haven't starved.

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However.

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However, what I will say is that for students who are drawn to the program

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when they get in middle school, They need to start refining kind of where

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they wanna be and what they wanna do and, um, you know, uh, visit some of

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our performances, uh, see what the end game is and what the expectation

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is so they can begin to prepare.

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Check out our website, which is a one-stop shop of information.

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Mm-hmm.

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CCCEPA.com.

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Really easy.

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It's a lot of Cs.

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Yeah.

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It's three css.

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We'll, we'll put the, the link in the show notes so they don't have it.

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It's, it is as it like, easy hold the C button down for about a second and a half.

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Right.

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Um, but uh, yeah, they go there and there's a, there's a, there's just a

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wealth of information of how to connect yourself to your next, uh, step.

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It's such a worthwhile.

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Uh, commitment.

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So, uh, people in the community hear about, uh, the excellence

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of, of Pebblebrook years past and, and, you know, currently mm-hmm.

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How can they be made currently aware of productions that

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you guys are putting on you?

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You got a new facility out there too, right?

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We do.

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And see, that's, that's the other gem, you know.

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Um, Thanks Cobb County.

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Thanks.

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Takes taxpayers.

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Yeah, that's Ed-SPLOST, right?

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Yeah.

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That Ed-SPLOST Penny really paid off.

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Yeah.

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And Cobb County was intuitive enough to know that for this program we are going

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to build a brand new performing arts center state of the art so that kids can

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continue to learn and grow and be current.

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So now we can celebrate that we not have only have one.

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Not two, but three performing art spaces.

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Wow.

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Right.

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And so we do a lot of work.

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So oftentimes we are in working in tandem because our programs are very, very busy.

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The kids are performing all the time.

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Yeah.

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They train during the day.

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They rehearse.

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They perform.

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Yeah.

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How many kids were in the program?

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Roughly?

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About 350 kids.

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Wow.

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And um, They're always working.

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So yeah, we have a brand new, they should come see our, our season of shows.

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We have, you know, lots of shows this spring.

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Um, and we are excited to say we're going to be producing, bring it on

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to musical, which is very popular and the kids are really excited about it.

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But if you wanna find out more about our season of shows and

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how you can find out what.

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We do performance wise.

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You can go to our website again, ccc epa.com just rolls off the tongue.

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It does.

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And, uh, click on the link that says performances and it'll take

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you directly to a link of how you can get tickets to our shows.

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But, uh, can they subscribe

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to an email?

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Uh, notification for

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stuff like that?

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Yes.

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Uh, yes.

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Once they purchase a ticket that auto, auto subscribes them to our email list,

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uhhuh, and we will keep the patron or the future student, uh, future

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star clapper, updated on what's next.

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So, uh, times are tough.

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How much are tickets to, to see?

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Oh, they're reasonable.

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Seven and $10 for our smaller shows.

Speaker: 00:16:54

Yeah.

Speaker: 00:16:54

And then.

Speaker: 00:16:56

Um, 10 and $20 for our major shows.

Speaker: 00:16:59

And if you've ever seen a show at Pebblebrook Yeah.

Speaker: 00:17:03

They're, that's, you're like at a professional show.

Speaker: 00:17:06

I was gonna say, people don't, don't imagine, uh, like

Speaker: 00:17:10

refrigerator boxes painted and.

Speaker: 00:17:12

Taped up to make like, no, look like something.

Speaker: 00:17:14

No.

Speaker: 00:17:15

These, these are legit, uh, shows that you'll be glad you

Speaker: 00:17:19

paid the ticket price for.

Speaker: 00:17:20

Oh,

Speaker: 00:17:20

very person.

Speaker: 00:17:21

A patron.

Speaker: 00:17:21

A patron came to me one time, she says, I feel like I owe you money.

Speaker: 00:17:25

And I said, what do you mean?

Speaker: 00:17:26

She said, this is like a professional show.

Speaker: 00:17:28

Yeah.

Speaker: 00:17:28

She said, are, are you sure those are kids on stage?

Speaker: 00:17:30

I said, they're kids, man.

Speaker: 00:17:32

They are kids.

Speaker: 00:17:33

And that's what I say kids can do.

Speaker: 00:17:35

Anything they put their mind to, provided they have the right support and the

Speaker: 00:17:39

right environment, just need guidance.

Speaker: 00:17:41

And that's what I am committed to do, to continue to give the kids support and

Speaker: 00:17:46

create an environment where all kids who have a love and passion for the arts I.

Speaker: 00:17:50

Can thrive and grow.

Speaker: 00:17:51

And how many productions do you guys do a year?

Speaker: 00:17:53

Too many?

Speaker: 00:17:55

Yeah.

Speaker: 00:17:57

Um, this year we have, um, amassed about 15 productions a year.

Speaker: 00:18:02

15.

Speaker: 00:18:02

I know, please.

Speaker: 00:18:04

We, okay, so this going back to the theater spaces you were talking about,

Speaker: 00:18:08

that kind of explains why you need.

Speaker: 00:18:10

That many theater spaces with that many, what'd you say, 350 kids in the program?

Speaker: 00:18:15

Yes.

Speaker: 00:18:15

And we also support the other performing arts programs at the school.

Speaker: 00:18:18

We have an orchestra program, we have a band program.

Speaker: 00:18:20

And so we are constantly rotating performances and events, uh, school,

Speaker: 00:18:25

school-based events through our theaters and, and our technical theater program

Speaker: 00:18:29

is the glue that holds it all together.

Speaker: 00:18:33

And they do such an exceptional job at, um, Yeah, really just, uh, making

Speaker: 00:18:38

sure that all the planes land and it, it's kind of almost like a mini.

Speaker: 00:18:44

Business, mini production company.

Speaker: 00:18:46

Um, um, and, and here, here's the thing.

Speaker: 00:18:49

Our kids could literally leave Pebblebrook and walk into the industry with, you

Speaker: 00:18:55

know, we had a kid who was a tech kid.

Speaker: 00:18:57

He was entered into the.

Speaker: 00:19:00

Union immediately.

Speaker: 00:19:01

Wow.

Speaker: 00:19:01

Soon as he graduated because he had enough skills.

Speaker: 00:19:05

And, and that's the other thing is that yes, we promote kids going to college.

Speaker: 00:19:10

I think it's vital, but they, there's also careers outside of college that

Speaker: 00:19:15

kids can earn a living and have a career.

Speaker: 00:19:18

Uh huh.

Speaker: 00:19:19

That may not be the direct pathway to the college, and we can provide that

Speaker: 00:19:23

training right there at Pebblebrook.

Speaker: 00:19:25

Well, we have been listening to the director of Cobb County

Speaker: 00:19:28

Center for Excellence in the Performing Arts, Robert Connor.

Speaker: 00:19:31

Robert, thank you so much.

Speaker: 00:19:32

Oh man, I, I really, I want a time machine so bad.

Speaker: 00:19:36

Be able to go back and, and get into your program.

Speaker: 00:19:39

So don't forget that subscribe button and make sure you tell a friend.

Speaker: 00:19:42

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Speaker: 00:19:45

and hopefully we're providing that sort of resource for you and others.

Speaker: 00:19:50

Thanks again for listening to this edition of The Inside Scoop, a podcast produced