ARTSNCT award goes to BJ McFadden

Times-Reporter
Ray Booth, Correspondent

NEWCOMERSTOWN ARTSNCT is honoring BJ McFadden with the 2020 Manuel Yingling Music Award, recognizing her work presenting musical theatre to thousands of area residents and providing an opportunity for hundreds to perform in those shows on stage.

McFadden, who retired after teaching for the Newcomerstown Exempted Village School District, was a longtime director for musical plays at Newcomerstown High School and also was a primary force in creating the Victory Canteen Singers in Newcomerstown.

Michael Wise, director of ARTSNCT, said, “Please join us as we honor BJ McFadden as our 2020 Manuel Yingling Music Award recipient. BJ has gone the extra mile many times to deliver quality music programs to our youth and our community. These programs have remained in the minds of students and adults alike as some of the happiest and most memorable times of their lives.”

The award will be presented at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, at ARTSNCT, 304 S. College St. Reservations may be made by calling 740-575-5710.

McFadden said her dedication to music has spanned her life, including teaching kindergarten at Port Washington Elementary, being a Girl Scout troop leader, Girl Scout neighborhood chairman, Girl Scout day camp director, Cub Scout Webelos den leader, singing in the choir and directing a choir at Christ United Methodist Church, directing the choir at Kimbolton United Methodist Church, teaching piano lessons to students from ages 2 to 75, teaching music at Kidsworld Preschool, directing musical plays at Newcomerstown High School, at the Olde Main Street Museum and for community theater. McFadden said music in her early life included being the Scout who always led the sing-alongs, and she became the chancel choir director when she was a freshman or sophomore in high school. In high school, she also directed a community choir.

“I have many favorite moments in many different musicals, but my favorite overall is ‘Godspell,’” McFadden said. “Why? Well, I loved the music, and I really enjoyed the reactions of the kids. Many of them weren't familiar with the stories, which were all taken from the Book of Matthew, and I loved seeing them react to them. Another thing that was great about ‘Godspell’ was the reactions of the parent helpers, who were unable to watch without crying. They suggested that we hand tissues out at the door!

“Of course, ‘Smokey Joe's Cafe’ was such a favorite I did it twice! We had so much fun practicing all those dances of the 1950’s and 1960’s that one of the thespians said, ‘Mrs. McFadden, you should do Smokey Joe's every four years, so that every kid will have a chance to do it once during his high school years.’ That was such a good idea, that I scheduled it again, and we did it four years later.”

But it wasn’t just high school students who benefited from her dedication to music. More recently, that resulted in a tribute to veterans and the World War II era with the Victory Canteen Singers.

“My friend Laura Weinzimmer and I had talked for years about our love of the music of the 1940’s, and our desire to write a show like a USO Canteen Show to honor our dads, who both fought in World War II,” she said. “And then one day we did it! We wrote a show, got our friend Kathy ‘Cagey’ Bricker to help write the script, and then talked 65 of our closest friends into getting up on stage and performing it with us. What a special time that was!

“Later we edited the show and took it on the road. What fun it was to dress in 40s attire and sing for folks! Years later I was putting together some entertainment for the new museum in town, and I realized that what the museum needed was the Victory Canteen Singers. So I got some of the original singers in our group to come to the museum and recruited a bunch more, and we had a show that we could put on for visiting bus tours.”

Tiffany Camburn is currently directing the Victory Canteen Singers and said, “I have worked with BJ, not only as a kid in musicals at the high school, but also as an adult at The Olde Main Street Museum as a Victory Canteen Singer. She has given so much to her community and this award is well deserved!”

Jenna (Lenzo) Hickman was one of those students on stage in a musical directed by McFadden.

“Some of my favorite high school memories were from being a part of the musicals,” Hickman said. “When I think back to the musicals we did, I can’t believe the extent of the costumes, set designs and musical numbers. BJ believed that even though we were a small town school we were capable of putting on a big production. BJ was able to give students confidence and courage to sing, dance and perform.”

And that ability to instill confidence was also important to Rachel (Riggle) Lucas, who also performed in the musicals.

“Because of her (McFadden), I was able to get over my fear and anxiety when it came to performing in public,” Lucas said. “I always looked forward to when she would announce the musicals we would perform.”

In announcing the honor, Wise said, “Thank you, BJ, for bringing the joy of music (and theatre) to us and for our special memories that will last a lifetime. Congratulations on behalf of ARTSNCT and a very grateful community.”

Wise established the annual event in October of 2016 when he requested that the Newcomerstown mayor proclaim October 24 as Manuel Yingling Day in honor of local-born Manuel Yingling, who was a world-renowned trombonist, featured in the famous John Philip Sousa Band. Wise was editor of The Newcomerstown News at the time and added Manuel Yingling's name to the newspaper's masthead alongside Cy Young and Woody Hayes.

ARTSNCT has previously organized special program celebrations with the public library and the local historical society and will continue to expand the celebration each year.

Presented annually for “Superior Musicianship and Outstanding Dedication,” the Manuel Yingling Music Award has been an award of prestige and honor. The first Manuel Yingling Music Award was personally presented to Dixie Hayes Heck in 2018 by Manuel Yingling’s granddaughter, Karin Rathbun. The award was presented to Mike Hoskins in 2019.