Pentacle Theatre’s scholarship program
The Pentacle Theatre’s Education Committee manages the Bill and Phyllis Cross Pentacle Theatre Scholarships program to support students pursuing higher education and the arts. Three scholarships are available:
- The Jo Dodge Performing Arts Theatre Scholarship
- The Tony Zandol Technical Arts Theatre Scholarship
- The Tom Ulmer Theatre Service Scholarship
To qualify, high school seniors must be graduating and plan to attend college, whether a community college or a four-year institution. Applicants will be asked to demonstrate their experience with theater education as well as other theater involvement, including service at Pentacle Theatre. Additionally, applicants will need to report on their academic and professional goals and any special considerations of financial need. Lastly, applicants will be asked to submit a personal statement describing the impact of theater in their lives and their own contributions to the arts. Applications open in the spring of each year.
The Bill and Phyllis Cross Scholarship Fund
The fund, established in memory of Bill and Phyllis Cross, honors these two individuals who were awarded Pentacle Theatre’s highest honor of lifetime membership. While at Pentacle Theatre and during Phyllis’s career as a high school drama teacher, the Crosses served as mentors and role models, inspiring those around them in performing and technical theater arts.
Jo Dodge, also a Pentacle Theatre lifetime member, has acted and directed in numerous Pentacle Theatre productions, taught acting workshops at the theater through Chemeketa Community College since 1981, and shared her love of theater with hundreds of Pentacle Theatre volunteers for more than 30 years.
The technical arts scholarship is awarded in honor of Tony Zandol, lifetime member and Pentacle Theatre’s former resident designer and professional production director.
The late Tom Ulmer was a tireless creator and educator of theatrical arts at Pentacle Theatre, Children’s Educational Theatre and in the Salem-Keizer School District. Tom was a lifetime member whose memory Pentacle Theatre honors by awarding scholarship funds to a student who overcomes obstacles to give extraordinary time and effort to be involved in theater.
