Director Emily Drew along with actors Morgan, Colin, Kayden and Ethan join WRFA’s Anthony Merchant to discuss their upcoming production of Romeo and Juliet at Jamestown Community College as well as to perform selections from the production

www.sunyjcc.edu/event/romeo-juliet-2
ci.ovationtix.com/36201/production/1151016

Jamestown Community College President Dr. Daniel DeMarte presents to Chautauqua County Legislature’s Audit & Control Committee (April 21, 2022)

Jamestown Community College President Dr. Daniel DeMarte made an initial ask for nearly $1.3 million for projects at the college before the County Legislature’s Audit & Control Committee.

DeMarte said a formal request will be coming before the County Planning Board later this year for two on-going projects and one new one.

The first project request for $53,000 is to finish the last phase of construction at the Scharmann Theatre to bring it into compliance with an Office of Civil Rights issue. Once that work is completed, the college will be able to re-open the theatre. The total cost of that project is $212,000. The second request would be $250,000 to install LED lighting on the Jamestown campus. The third and largest request is for almost $1 million, DeMarte said, to put turf down on the soccer field, “I can’t compete with Corning and other schools down the road if we don’t have the facilities to attract those students to JCC. They want to come. They want to be here. They like it here. They want to stay here. But we’re at a point where I simply cannot compete with our neighboring institutions if we don’t start making some improvements with the facilities and it starts with turfing the soccer field.”

The total cost for that project would be nearly $4 million.

DeMarte also discussed with legislators that in regards to the college’s two north county facilities, he’s not sure if that’s the best location for JCC to be. He said they are working on adding programming this Fall in Dunkirk similar to what’s offered at the Manufacturing Technical Institute in Jamestown, “What we offer there now is essentially the first year of the two-year transfer degree. We don’t offer any CTE programming in Dunkirk. I think that perhaps there’s a void. You know I often hear, as I’m sure you do too, that there are people who will not travel over the great divide, over the hill in Cassadaga into Jamestown, for an education at JCC.”

DeMarte said CTE training also will be offered this Fall in Dunkirk. He said the college is working on a new memorandum of understanding with the Job Corp in Cassadaga for them to have students go to both Jamestown and Dunkirk for CTE training.

DeMarte said the number of out of area students coming to JCC has helped offset the decrease in students from local high schools. He said they’re setting enrollment and recruitment goals at the pre-pandemic 2019 levels, “In that year we stopped a nine-year decline. So we’ve been sliding in enrollment for nine years. Not unusual. Most colleges in the country have been sliding. We stopped that in ’19. So our immediate goal is to get back to where we were in ’19 and then determine where we can go from there. We don’t anticipate that there will be much growth, but some stability.”

DeMarte said the college is working on workforce development, including creating a water treatment training program two years ago. He said the next closest location for this training is in Morrisville, New York, “We’ve trained over 300 individuals locally in water treatment. We’re now looking at wastewater treatment training because that need is there also. This one program has been so successful that we’re not being asked to come into other counties to help deliver the training which poses other challenges for us but that’s a good problem to have. So we’ve been asked recently if we’d take the training to Niagara County and help begin to train their municipalities in water treatment.”

DeMarte said in an effort to get students back to campus, they offered one free on-campus class to high school juniors and seniors. The goal was to get 60 students to take part and 100 students signed up before the program was even marketed. He said the same program will be run this summer and 90 students have already signed up for the 150 spots available.

DeMarte added that there was no good news in the state budget for community colleges. He said that community colleges fared worse in the 2022-23 budget than they had in the previous three state budgets.

• AUDIO ALSO AVAILABLE AT SOUNDCLOUD

Director Todd Wagner and Scharmann Theatre Manager/Actor Adam Owens discuss the upcoming performance of La Cage Au Folles – showing Jan. 30 through Feb. 9, 2020.

Ticket information at
campusstore.sunyjcc.edu/boxoffice

• MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN VIA SOUNDCLOUD

Originally airing Friday, June 7, 2019.

Todd Wagner

The JCC Uncommoners will present The Last Five Years at the Robert Scharmann Theatre on the JCC Jamestown Campus, starting Friday, June 14. To preview this new musical we talked with director Todd Wagner.

More details
The Scharmann Theatre stage will be converted into a black box space to host the show. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday June 14 and 15 and also Friday and Saturday June 21 and 22. In addition, two Sunday matinee performances will begin at 2 p.m. on June 16 and 23.

The Last Five Years, written by Jason Robert Brown, depicts a five-year relationship between Jamie Wellerstein, a novelist, and Cathy Hiatt, a struggling actress. Cathy’s story is told in reverse chronological order (the show begins with her at the end of the relationship), and Jamie’s is told chronological order (starting after the couple has first met).

Performing as Jamie and Cathy will be Derek DeVlieger and Teal Weatherley, Skyler Schapp and Lauren Scharf, and Dylan Carlson and Vanessa Kavanaugh. Supporting cast members are Sierra Cuellar, Deatryk Silsby, and Joshua Carlson.

Directing JCC’s first ever summer theatre production is Wagner, an award winning singer, actor, and director. Wagner owns Enchante Cabaret, a professional musical theatre company that produces Broadway style original musicals.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to do something different for Jamestown and JCC,” said Wagner, who has been part of more than 80 professional shows since the age of 10. “I look forward to creating more top quality theatre productions in the area.”

Tickets are $20, general admission; $15, JCC Faculty Student Association members and senior citizens; and $10, students. Since the audience and orchestra will be on stage with the performers, seating is limited. Tickets can be obtained by calling JCC’s box office, 338.1187.

A cash bar will be available prior to performances.

• MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE

Originally airing Friday, May 4, 2018.

Dr. Neil Flory from the Jamestown Community College Music Department stops by the studio to share details about the Jamestown Community College choir and concert band performances at 7 p.m. on May 8 in Scharmann Theatre.

Julie Costantini will direct the choir. The concert band performs under the direction of Ralph Rasmusson and associate director Richard Lundquist.

Dr. Flory also discusses Spring Jam!, featuring JCC’s rock ensembles under the direction of Bill Eckstrom, at 7 p.m. on May 10.

Admission is $4, general public; $3, area students and senior citizens; and $2, JCC Faculty Student Association members. Tickets can be purchased by calling the JCC box office, 338.1187, or at the theatre door prior to the concert.

Neil Flory

• 

  Caladh Nua

  Highlighting the weekend is an appearance by Irish music group, Caladh Nua, who will perform at Reg Lenna Center for The Arts on Sunday at 7 p.m. Coming from southern Ireland, the quintet performs traditional Irish music with a contemporary flair.

• Meanwhile, Jamestown Community College’s production of All My Sons opens Friday night at 8 p.m. in the Scharmann Theatre on JCC’s Jamestown Campus. Performances will also be held March 7, 13, and 14 at 8 p.m. and March 8 at 2 p.m.

• The two-man play Mass Appeal, by Bill C. Davis, will be presented by the Winged Ox Players starting Friday Night at 7:30 p.m. and continuing Saturday night and also next weekend at St Luke’s Episcopal Church in downtown Jamestown. Directed by Steven Michael Cobb and featuring Daniel Pierce and Lars Benson in the lead roles, the comedy-drama focuses on the conflict between a complacent Roman Catholic pastor and the idealistic young deacon who is assigned to his affluent, suburban parish. The play invites us to question the status quo and addresses issues around women’s rights, homosexuality, and alcoholism.

• The Southern Tier Xpress hockey team will host a playoff hockey game on Saturday. The team clinched a spot in the playoffs after wrapping up their season 26-20-1 in the NA3HL’s East Division. The Southern Tier Xpress is playing the top-seeded Metro Jets in a best two-out-of-three series. Game 1 took place Thursday in Waterford Michigan with the Xpress losing 4 to 3. Game 2 brings the teams to Jamestown and will take place at the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena on Saturday, Starting at 5 p.m.

For a complete rundown of live entertainment in Jamestown, including the local music scene, check out this week’s WRFA Rock and Roll rundown.

David Gallo

JAMESTOWN – Area residents interested in learning more about the world’s oceans will want to be at Jamestown Community College tonight. David Gallo, special projects director at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will present “Deep Sea, Deep Secrets: Exploring the Fascinating World Beneath the Sea” tonight in the Scharmann Theatre, as part of JCC’s Celebration of Science speakers series.

• View Dr. Gallo’s TED TV Profile

For the past 25 years Dr. Gallo has been at the forefront of ocean exploration. He has participated in expeditions to each of the world’s oceans and was one of the first scientists to use a combination of robots and submarines to create detailed maps of deep sea mountain ranges. 

Recently, Dr. Gallo was co-expedition leader on a mapping mission to RMS Titanic and co-leader of the successful search for the missing aircraft, Air France 447.

Gallo has lectured extensively nationally and internationally and has done 10 TED and TEDx presentations. In addition, he has participated in numerous documentaries and news programs including CNN’s “Larry King Live,” “Bloomberg TV,” and the PBS program “Need to Know.” He was recently featured in the History Channel television series, “Underwater Universe.”

Tonight’s presentation begins at 7 p.m. in the Scharmann Theatre and is free and open to the public.