Academy Gives Out Over $4,000 in Scholarships

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Thanks to generous supporters- both individual and corporate- Lyric was able to award $4,724.10 in scholarships to 21 students for the Spring 2016 semester at Lyric’s Thelma Gaylord Academy. These students learn confidence, self-reliance, and teamwork through theatre, and these funds open theatrical opportunities to students who may be held back because of financial constraints.

Lyric’s education branch was established in 2001 to teach children the art of musical theatre. Renamed the Thelma Gaylord Academy in 2006, the program has become a significant arts training ground in Oklahoma City.  With classes ranging in cost from $175 to $425 per semester, many students are able to pay $25 or less due to the financial support of scholarships established on behalf of individuals, endowed funds and corporate supporters such as Globe Life and Watermark for Kids. Thanks to them, Lyric is able to fulfill its mission to enrich the lives of all Oklahomans.

Lyric also offers one talent-based scholarship each year, The Nick Demos Merit Scholarship.

This scholarship provides full tuition for the Spring Production Class to one Junior or Senior student. The application process requires a mandatory audition where the student must perform a monologue, song, and participate in a dance call. The audition panel this year consisted of Stephen Hilton (Director of Education), Ashley Wells (Associate Artistic Director) and W. Jerome Stevenson (Artistic Director for Pollard Theatre). The 2016 Nick Demos Merit Scholarship was recently awarded to Olivia Buss, a Junior at Classen SAS who has studied and performed with the Academy since 2013. Olivia will be performing the role of Maureen Johnson in the Thelma Gaylord Academy’s upcoming production of RENT (School Edition) in May.

In addition to traditional financial assistance, Lyric offers other tuition-reducing options for students, such as multi-class/family discounts and work study.

In the work study program, students are paired with a teacher and act as an aid for a particular class or group of classes where they perform a variety of activities, from roll-call and class clean-up to directing small scenes and minor choreography.

Lyric is incredibly proud of its Thelma Gaylord Academy students and we invite you to see them in action this spring during their show-stopping productions of RENT and I WISH! Learn more about our academy on their website. 

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