TSA Beat Toledo School for the Arts

From the very beginning, TSA has made it their mission to create their own path and make connections within the community. This DIY spirit has allowed us to thrive and grow exponentially not only as a school, but within our specific departments. 

In this episode, we take a backstage look at our theater department, and explore some of the first TSA productions and how we have developed our production schedule over the years. With a new school year comes new challenges, but also new opportunities.

Justin Longacre's Creative Writing program at TSA is one of the true treasures of the school. Though often walking quieter than other more outwardly visible departments, the immense talent and quality that is manifested inside his four walls is not to be overlooked or taken for granted, and often acts as a true experiential coming of age milestone for many of the students who pass through our doors.

In this year's final episode, we showcase three young writers' essays from the Creative Writing Showcase this past year. The stories are funny, heartfelt and will likely keep you on your toes.



Contributors: Aubrey Brant, Mira Bridgeman & Finn Olsen

Original Artwork: Summer Land

Original Music & Score: Dream Louder, Aubrey Brant, Sophia Krauss Galán, Nardeen Lakatos, Lucas Madrazo, Toast Sebring & Inland Traveler

Created & Produced by Maya Fillion-Ritchie & Lucas Madrazo

Alison Reny has been a dance instructor at TSA for 15 years now, and she has built quite a

reputation for herself and her yearly show, Limitless. Each year parents, faculty, students, and

the public race to buy tickets to the two showings at the Valentine Theatre, and every year

tickets sell out.



In the sixth episode of The TSA Beat, Maya & Lucas explore the creative processes and

backstage community of the Limitless dance company from both an instructors point of view,

as well as her students.



Special Guests: Alison Reny & Ava Hall



Original Artwork: Wyatt Broshious



Original Music & Score: Lucas Madrazo & Dream Louder



Created & Produced by Maya Fillion-Ritchie & Lucas Madrazo

The teachers at TSA are professional, well versed in their crafts, and extremely intelligent. However, they all started out just like us, pimple faced, lost, and scared of what was to come. How have the teachers evolved since high school? How similar are we really?

In the fifth episode of the TSA Beat, Maya & Lucas seek to break down these barriers, reminding the TSA community that we are all just humans in different phases of life existing together in a vibrant and diverse community. Tune in to this episode of the TSA Beat for exclusive stories and advice from your favorite TSA teachers!

Special Guests:

Toledo School for the Arts Faculty

Justin Longacre, Taylor Moyer, Lucas Madrazo, Jamie Dauel & Mark Allred.

Original Artwork:

Summer Land

Original Music & Score:

Lauren Balthrop, Dream Louder, Blake Elfring & Lucas Madrazo

Created & Produced by:

Maya Fillion-Ritchie & Lucas Madrazo

We missed spooky season by a month, but who doesn’t still love ghost stories??! Tune into The TSA Beat’s first episode of the year where we hear real life accounts of the supernatural from TSA’s own community. Be prepared to go on a journey of fear, love, heartache, skepticism and everything in between. What, if anything, lies beyond the veil?

The 2020 through 2021 academic year is essentially wrapping up, and the bittersweet emotions that come from liminal periods like this are ubiquitous in our TSA community–We'd argue that's especially the case considering the events of the past year. For nearly 22 years, our school has stood as a proud beacon of the arts in our city–and continued to stand through a pandemic. Reflecting on our experiences here has illuminated a deep curiosity as to what, or who, came before; how this place actually came to be.

With every graduating class comes and influx of new arrivals; people with their own significant experiences and new things to bring to the table. As such, the culture of TSA is ever-changing, and yet as always remained distinctly the same since the very beginning. What exactly is the culture here at TSA? How is it sustained in a way that still allows for innovation and diversity?

This episode, as we all ready ourselves for new change and a new chapter of life, we had the chance to reminisce with a few TSA OGs. This is TSA's oral history–months of work–and the first official documentation of our humble beginnings.

Special Guests:

Diana Anderson, Deb Calabrese, Mike Calabrese, Elizabeth Emmert, Dave Gierke, Stephen Johnston, Rob Koenig, Marty Porter, and David Saygers

Original Music & Score by:

Lucas Madrazo, Dream Louder, Lauren Balthrop, and Wildlife Moon

Created & Produced by:

Aubre Siler & Lucas Madrazo