During her many years of teaching music in West Virginia, Barbara Bean saw a large number of talented students leave the state to study musical theater.
That’s why when the WVU College of Creative Arts established a new BFA in musical theater, Barbara and her husband Ralph decided to endow a scholarship at their alma mater for outstanding students studying in the program.
The first Ralph and Barbara Bean Musical Theatre Scholarship was presented this spring to Michaela Edens of Charleston, West Virginia. Edens is a freshman in the WVU School of Theatre and Dance.
“When we learned that the College of Creative Arts was establishing this new major, we felt it was an opportunity to invest in its future,” Barbara Bean said. “Any new program’s success is enhanced by attracting the highest caliber of students, and we are proud to be a part of that effort.”
The Beans, who live in Bridgeport, met as undergraduates at WVU in 1962 when Ralph Bean, Jr., a political science major from Moorefield, was president of the student body, and Barbara Cook, a music education major from Mullens, was the vice president.
Barbara attended classes at Eiesland Hall on the downtown campus, where the School of Music was located in those days. She said professors who influenced her life included Clifford Brown, Bernard McGregor and Ruth and Arno Drucker and Jon Engberg who performed in the American Arts Trio, the most visible ensemble of the school.
“Clifford Brown, who was the head of music education, was a wonderful mentor,” she said. “Also, Phil Faini (later to become dean of the College of Creative Arts in the 1990s) was my percussion teacher.”
Although there were few musicals being produced at WVU in those days, Barbara remembers being one of the “three little maids from school” in a production of “The Mikado” directed by Joe Golz, the outstanding head of the opera program at that time, who was hired due to an increased demand for voice instruction. The music students sang in all kinds of vignettes and the choral groups were very active.
The Beans married after their senior year and both obtained advanced degrees. They left Morgantown in 1966 and moved to Massachusetts, where Ralph studied for his master’s degree in law at Harvard and Barbara taught music before they started a family.
In the late 1970s, after they returned to West Virginia and their children were older, Barbara attended the WVU School of Music again to renew her teaching certificate. This time she studied with music education professor Dawn Baker, who she says changed her life by introducing her to Kodaly and Orff training methods.
Now retired from Harrison County schools, Barbara had a long and distinguished teaching career, first as a traveling music teacher and the last ten years at Johnson Elementary School in Bridgeport, where she had a number of WVU music education students as student teachers.
Although the WVU College of Creative Arts has been producing more musical theatre in recent years, it officially began its new BFA degree program in Musical Theatre in the fall of 2014.
Michaela Edens, the first student awarded the Bean scholarship, says she has been an avid lover of music, theatre and dance her entire life.
She began performing early in shows of the Children’s Theatre of Charleston, Dunbar Middle School, and Capital High School. She sang in her church choir and was in Show Choir for seven years, All-County Chorus for seven years, and All-State Chorus for two years. She also played violin in the Capital High School orchestra for three years. In 2012 she won two superior ratings for her musical theatre solo at the West Virginia State Thespian Conference.
Her experience as a singer has included performing as a soloist on a Carnival Cruise main stage, singing the National Anthem for a West Virginia Power baseball game, and singing as a paid soloist for private events, including weddings. She has won “Best Performer” numerous times at show choir competitions all over the United States.
“I’m very grateful to receive the first Ralph and Barbara Bean Musical Theatre Scholarship and I’m very excited to see where this new road in my life leads,” she said.
Dean Paul Kreider of the College of Creative Arts said the scholarship will help students like Michaela receive comprehensive training in music, theatre and dance.
“We are very grateful to Ralph and Barbara for their support that helps talented students like Michaela prepare for successful careers in musical and stage performance in the competitive entertainment industry,” he said.
Barbara Bean received her bachelor’s degree in music education in 1963 and her master’s in 1966. She is currently chair of the WVU College of Creative Arts Visiting Committee and has served on the committee since the 1980s. She has also served on the Pittsburgh Symphony Partnership Committee and as vice president of the WVU Alumni Association. In 2014, WVU named Barbara as a recipient of the Order of Vandalia Award, the University’s highest honor for distinguished service.
In the community, she has served as music director of the Bridgeport Presbyterian Church, chair of the board of directors for Pricketts Fort Memorial Foundation, and as a member of the board of directors for the Clarksburg-Harrison Cultural Foundation, the Harrison County YMCA and the Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council. She also found time to volunteer at the WVU Children’s Hospital and sits on the board of directors for the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation and serves as a trustee of the Bridgeport Public Library.
Ralph J Bean, Jr. received a bachelor’s degree in political science from WVU in 1963 and a degree from the College of Law in 1966. He is now retired from the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson, where he practiced in the firm’s Clarksburg, West Virginia office. In 1974, he joined the Consolidated Natural Gas System (CNG) as corporate counsel and later was appointed general counsel of Hope Gas Inc., CNG’s local distribution company in West Virginia. Bean was named president of Hope Gas in 1986 and held this position until December 1995 when he joined Steptoe & Johnson PLLC as a partner of the firm.
He twice chaired the West Virginia Council for Community & Economic Development and was the founder and past president of the I-79 Development Council of north central West Virginia. He currently serves as Trustee Emeritus of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
He served on the board of the WVU Foundation for 17 years, was chair of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies & Development at WVU, and was chairman of the board of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute. In 1993, he received the Order of Vandalia award for distinguished service to WVU and he received the University’s Most Loyal West Virginian award in 1992.
The Ralph and Barbara Bean contribution to the WVU College of Creative Arts was made in conjunction with A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University. The $1 billion comprehensive campaign being conducted by the WVU Foundation on behalf of the University runs through December 2017.
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CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu
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