Stage Right founders move on to new Westmoreland Performing Arts group

The founders of Greensburg’s Stage Right performing arts school and theater company have moved on to a new opportunity.

Tony and Renata Marino have launched a new venture — Westmoreland Performing Arts, a company offering acting, dance and voice classes to students ages 4 to 18, along with a class for “special-ability” students of all ages.

“After 23 years with Stage Right, Renata and I are excited to try something new, to explore what we know in a slightly different way,” Tony Marino said. “The needs of young artists are definitely different than they were 20 years ago, and our overarching objective is to help the kids find their way, not just professionally but as people, too.”

The Marinos’ split with Stage Right began to take shape over the summer, when Stage Right officials told the Tribune-Review that its board was investigating public criticism of Marino’s directorial style and behavior levied by former students and others.

Marino’s attorney, Nicole Nino, said her client would “cooperate 100% with their inquiry.”

One area of difference was related to Marino’s directorial style, Nino said.

“Like sports coaches, artistic directors have different styles and are subject to criticism by those who disagree,” she said.

Eventually, the parties agreed to go in different directions.

Stage Right officials repeatedly have declined to discuss the split, providing only statements confirming that Marino no longer is involved with the company.

“We strive to provide a safe and supportive environment for our students to shine,” the statement said, in part. “Coaching and cultivating talent, encouraging teamwork and partnerships, and learning to lift each other up and share in each other’s successes will serve our students well on stage and off.”

Marino described the parting as “amicable.” He said both sides had different opinions on how productions were being handled. He even noted that the new executive director, Christopher McAllister, is someone he brought to Stage Right.

“There was a difference in how we felt the group should move forward,” he said. “I respect where they were coming from.

”I hold nothing but good feelings in my heart for it. Renata and I were blessed to be able to start it and run it with my sister (the late Chris Orosz) and to have the success that we did.”

Welcoming space

A goal of Westmoreland Performing Arts is to create a welcoming space for budding performers from all races and backgrounds, Marino said.

“The idea is not just saying you’re welcoming but creating a faculty and faces that make everybody feel welcome,” he said. “Obviously, we have a very big commitment moving forward.”

WPA began offering classes in January to about 55 students ages 4 to 18, Marino said. More than 80 students are enrolled.

“The classes themselves are pretty much the same as we’ve always offered,” he said, including acting, various forms of dance, musical theater and audition preparation.

The school also offers the Big Dreamers Broadway Squad for people with special needs, Shooting Stars classes for children ages 4 to 7 and a theater club for home- and cyber-schooled students.

WPA has been holding classes at St. Barbara Church in Harrison City but is close to obtaining a permanent space in the Greensburg area, Marino said. Performances will be staged at the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center or the Westmoreland County Community College Science Hall Theater, where the WPA student company last week held performances of “Disney’s Frozen Jr.”

The organization has applied for nonprofit status.

“In the meantime, there’s an organization in Pittsburgh that provides an umbrella organization for nonprofits awaiting their approval,” Marino said. “(We) are allowed to accept donations through them.”

‘We love what we do’

In addition to the Marinos, WPA instructors include area actors Alex Noble and Kevin Daniel O’Leary.

“My experience doing musical theater began during my freshman year of high school with a production of ‘West Side Story’ that was directed by Tony and Renata,” said O’Leary, a Greensburg native and Penn State theater graduate who has acted professionally in New York City and with local groups, including Stage Right and Saint Vincent Summer Theatre.

“There is such a tremendous level of excited acceptance from the students I’ve worked with so far, and it’s amazing and so hopeful to see this group of people strive to love and support everyone, no matter where they’re coming from,” O’Leary said.

It’s a challenge to build a performing arts group from scratch, Marino said, but he feels like it’s a calling.

“We’re doing this because we love what we do. It’s our life’s work,” he said. “We want to be part of the community, as Renata and I have always been. We’re willing collaborators in the community with anybody who would like to work with us.”