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RED BANK: BASIE TO ABSORB CONSERVATORY

Vladislav Kovalsky, below, plans to fold the Monmouth Conservatory of Music, which he’s headed since 1998, into the Count Basie Theatre.

In a move that further cements its place at the heart of the Greater Red Bank Green’s cultural life, the Count Basie Theatre plans to merge the borough-based Monmouth Conservatory of Music into its existing suite of musical training and performance programs.

In a statement released Wednesday, the theater’s board of directors detailed a plan to assume operations of the 53-year-old MCM as a component of the Basie’s slate of specialized instruction programs in jazz, classic rock and Broadway-style performing arts.

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RBR SOPHOMORE AN OUT-LOUD FINALIST

Red Bank Regional sophomore Shea Grant (second from left) is pictured with Yvonne Scudiery of the Count Basie Theatre, co-finalist Danyal Malik, and Poetry Out Loud program coordinator Kay Potucek during the recent Poetry Out Loud competition at the Basie.

Press release from Red Bank Regional High School

Shea Grant of Little Silver , a sophomore at Red Bank Regional High School, was one of two finalists in the regional Poetry Out Loud competition, held on February 7 at the Count Basie Theatre.

A drama major in RBR’s Visual and Performing Arts Academy, Shea performed three poems for the competition: “Personal” by Tony Hoagland, “Larkinesque” by Michael Ryan, and “Friendship after Love” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

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