Covenant Hall, Irwin Center for the Performing Arts

The following college performing arts majors are our Young Artists! For more information or to apply to be one of our Young Artists Call (724) 864-YTOC ((9862) or email Maria Pealstrom Played will be Musical Scenes from The Marriage of Figaro, Songs for a New World, A Man of No Importance, The Last Five Years, Kiss Me Kate, Into the Woods, Evita, Assassins, Wicked and much more! Plus True Pipe Organ Fans will be fired up to hear Covenant Hall’s historic Möller/Ebert Pipe Organ originally donated by Andrew Carnegie over 100 years ago! Among the organ works played will be the Toccata from Symphony No. 5 by Charles Marie Widor and Fantasia for Organ in f minor K.594 by Mozart! Baritone, Steven Imgrund, a Deans List student is a senior theater major at IUP and is also studying voice at Point Park with Ricardo Tobia. Steven is well known at IUP having been cast in several of their productions including their main stage productions of Minor Demons, Guys and Dolls, Threepenny Opera, and original plays. Steven, also an aspiring stand up comic, improv artist and mime is an actor and writer for IUP's sketch comedy group, The Company. Steven has appeared at The Pittsburgh Improv and is noted for being in Little Lake Theatre's Biloxi Blues which was reviewed by A.J. Caliendo as one of the best productions with best director and best lead actor in Pittsburgh's "Best of 2006 Suburban Theater". Steven loves to sing Christian Music and frequently sings in church and concert. He's a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Peters Township and is an Appalachian Service Project volunteer. He is also a supporter of the American Cancer Society through the Peters Township Relay for Life. Steven is a graduate of Peters Township High School and is the son of Mark and Christine Imgrund. In addition to becoming a professional actor, Steven has continued his cross country training in hopes to also be a marathon runner. Soprano, Erika Pealstrom, a Deans List student at IUP is studying music and drama under vocal scholarship. Erika was honored by being granted a Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Guild 2007 Constance T. Rockwell Scholarship Award for Excellence in Musical Theater. She is one of the 2007 Westmoreland Cultural Trust's Judges McCormick & Pezze Awards of Artistic Merit recipients. She won the 2006 and 2007 Westmoreland Choral Society's Young Vocal Artist Competitions and closed the Sixth Annual Merrill Lynch Young Artist Winner's Recital with "Juliette's Waltz" by Gounod. Erika was one of thirty singers invited to a live audition at the Juilliard School of Music in 2007. The 2006 PA State Thespian Conference All Star Cast Award was given to her for her performance as Kaye in Norwin High School Theatre Club's production of The Taffetas which also played the main stage at the 2007 National Thespian Conference. This past year, IUP cast Erika as Brambilla in La Perichole and then as Lucy Brown in The Three Penny Opera. Erika's favorite role was Kate in Kiss Me Kate and in an article by Kate Luce Angell for the 11th annual Westmoreland Night of the Stars, it was written that "...notable was ... Erika Pealstrom with the title song from Norwin Area's "Kiss Me Kate." Erika, co-founder of the Youngtimers is continuing to help establish the company having just finished playing Gretel in their 2008 production of Humperdinck's Hänsel and Gretel which was presented at Covenant Hall in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Erika's other Youngtimers credits include Yum-Yum in The Mikado, Josephine in HMS Pinafore and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. Erika can be visited at http://erika.pealstrom.com. Her parents, Keith and Maria Pealstrom and many community volunteers are continuing to work at establishing Youngtimers Inc. and Covenant Hall. Josie Merlino, our piano accompanist and organist will be a junior at Duquesne University this fall where she will study piano performance. She has been a music major for two years at Seton Hill University where she accompanied the choir. She graduated from Hempfield Area High School in 2006, participating actively in the choir and theater departments. High school credits include accompanying The Sound of Music, Pippin, Beauty and the Beast, and Carousel. She attended the 2005 Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts for music. She was the recipient of several scholarships and awards, including the Constance T. Rockwell Scholarship given by the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Guild for excellence in musical theater! Josie's favorite activity is ministering as the organist and music director at St. Joseph Parish in Derry, PA, and serving as assistant organist at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg, PA. Last fall, she musically directed Stage Right's production of Beauty and the Beast at the Palace Theater. She is the proud teacher of several young aspiring piano students. After she graduates from Duquesne, she plans to pursue graduate studies in organ. Special thanks go to Professor Ed Kuhn from Seton Hill College for introducing Josie to us at Covenant Hall. Josie is the daughter of Patty Merlino.