J.R. Sullivan, formerly of NAT, takes job in NY theater

Add comment June 4th, 2009

J.R. Sullivan starts a new  job Aug. 1 as artistic director of The Pearl Theatre Company in New York, an organization Variety magazine calls the “premier Off-Broadway classical rep(ertoire) group.”

(Register Star photo of Sullivan introducing actress Marin Mazzie during the evening performance of the Lights On Concert at the Coronado Theatre in Rockford in 2001.)

Sullivan founded New American Theater in Rockford in 1972 and served as producing artistic director until 1994. The theater closed in 2006. He also produces and stars in the annual December “Hometown Holiday with J.R. Sullivan and Friends” variety show, most recently at the former NAT building in downtown Rockford.

Sullivan has directed five productions for The Pearl. The Pearl produces five shows a year. Sullivan also is an associate artistic director of the Utah Shakespearean Festival and has directed for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Another coup for Sullivan: A script he and Joseph Hanreddy wrote, an adaptation of “Pride & Prejudice,” will be featured on stage at the Oregon and Utah Shakespeare festivals in the summer of 2010.

How one charter school performs better than practically all other public schools in California

Add comment June 4th, 2009

With all the talk about charter schools in Rockford, here’s a story in today’s Los Angeles Times that lays out how students in the American Indian Public Charter excel. Among the thousands of public schools in California, only four middle schools and three high schools score higher on the state’s main performance measure, and none of them serves mostly underprivileged children. Asians, blacks and Hispanics are among the students.

“So what are they doing?  The short answer is that American Indian attracts academically motivated students, relentlessly (and unapologetically) teaches to the test, wrings more seat time out of every school day, hires smart young teachers, demands near-perfect attendance, piles on the homework, refuses to promote struggling students to the next grade and keeps discipline so tight that there are no distractions or disruptions. Summer school is required.

“There is no secret to any of this. Portions of the American Indian model resemble methods used by … urban parochial schools.”