Frank Leupold
Mr. Leupold
FRANK LEUPOLD (Pasturegate Productions, LLC, producer, director, camera, first edit) evolved his company's name when he produced/directed a film using his hometown of Superior, Iowa, to demonstrate the loss of village inter-connectedness as society paradoxically moves toward a monolithic culture. Filmed in and around the town's centennial, it featured his beef producer father's ritual of opening his pasture gate to check on his herd. Frank's upbringing in this supportive community well schooled him in the principals of neighborliness responsibility, and led him to become county 4-H president, president of the district Methodist youth fellowship, as well as superior (no puns intended) scholastic and forensic achievements. One of twenty-five youth awarded a National Science Foundation research grant, for two summers, he worked with Dr. Whalen at the University of Iowa on oxygen consumption before attending Cornell College in a pre-med program. Even after two-years of beginning PHD dissertation research, Frank succumbed to the call of the theatre and was one of four prospective directors accepted into the University of Texas' MFA program. Matriculating in 1970, he went on to teach Theatre Design at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and then to the Resident Designer position at the National Center for African-American Artists. At the latter he had the opportunity to work with Eubie Blake, Katherine Dunham, Billy Wilson, George Faison, and Tallie Beatty, as well as designing over 150 productions and leaving the institution with a new lighting and platform staging system. For five years thereafter Mr. Leupold designed lights for Rael Lamb's Dance for the New World, touring the Eastern United States and Canada, designing for such venues as Plas d'arts in Montreal, Boston's Hatch Shell and Carnegie Hall. In 1978, Frank was hired to form an arts council in Boston's arts neighborhood, which he accomplished and produced a neighborhood arts festival joining the visual artists with the historical society, convincing that society to include modern architecture on their annual tour for the first time. Later in '78, he had began work first for the City of Boston's Department of Cultural Affairs summer-long streets festival, Summerthing, and then for its Elderly Commission, becoming director of Elder Arts and establishing an older client performing arts bank through a series of televised Senior Stars shows, the first finale hosted by Boston native, Ray Bolger. For his efforts in Boston, Mr. Leupold received a Frederick Douglass Award for promoting inter-racial cooperation during the time of the city's first bussing efforts; a City of Boston Award; and a Torré Unidad Award. In 1980, noting his efforts in the arts, Skip Rosenthal approached Frank to create an arts and entertainment section for his new South End News. It soon became a "must read" in the arts neighborhood, and Frank became known as the columnist who truly commented upon artists' creations in their language. WUMB-FM asked Leupold to co-host the nations first daily radio program dedicated to older Americans, "As Young As You Feel," which he did through the remainder of his tenure in Boston. Transferring to the West Coast in 1984, Frank continued to pursue his theatrical ambitions and three years later began a now over twenty-year association with Louis Fantasia (international director, Shakespeare scholar, and recently president of Deep Springs College, and currently heads the Huntington Library's Shakespeare program), designing sets, lights, and eventually directing Mr. Fantasia in two one-man shows (The Double Bass and Enough) both critically acclaimed. He, with Mr. Fantasia, Alan Mandel, and Jenny Webb, represented the United States at a theatre festival in Moscow with Felix Mitterer's Siberia. Encouraged to work in film, Frank schooled himself in the craft at the industry-professional run UCLA Extension program in film and television, finishing his program and beginning production of the aforementioned documentary, Superior People, which was accepted and shown at the Los Angeles International Film Festival. In L.A. Frank was presented an award from Black and White Men Together. Frank discovered the Verde Valley, in 1981, through his paternal aunt Hazel (now deceased) tenure in Prescott, and decided to move here in 2001, maintaining high-speed inter-net connections with the performing arts world and working in Los Angeles, Boston and Spain. He has served as Communications and Rules Committee Chair for his homeowners' association and currently is an appointed member of Cottonwood's Municipal Properties Corporation and helped prepare for the city's purchase of its water companies. Ready to produce something once more, in 2007 he was approached by Mr. Bowers, an associate of over two decades, to sponsor his youth-oriented talent competition. Frank current foray into the hip-hop world was a new venture, but recognized the quarter-century influence of the art forms that have evolved around this phenomenon. "An entire generation has grown-up with hip hop as its touchstone. In longevity it has outlasted the tenures of such culture changing art forms as the happening, disco, or be-ins, and can legitimately be recognized as a major influence in our lives. Look at your commercials on television, the style of editing and cinematography currently in vogue, the fashion statements being made on the streets and runways of the world." The Ghetto Pass process evolved into 2007's Celebrating Our Youth following Clarkdale's 50th anniversary celebration, and featured local hip hop artists, the LEL Brothas, as well as a youth talent show, old fashioned games, and an informational fare with MATTForce, the Boys and Girls Clubs, and most notably Northland Cares performing the first outreach HIV tests in the Verde Valley. The Ghetto Pass formula continued on in Mr. Bowers' native Cleveland and was so successful Radio One contracted with Leupold and Bowers to produce Ghetto Pass Radio, a thrice-weekly program showcasing emerging artists. The producing duo continued their live shows with GhettoFest 2008-ball, with a special presentation to Dave Tolliver of Men at Large with an R&B Legend Award. When the radio contract ended, Bowers and Leupold expanded showcases to the inter-net [www.ghettopassradio.com] where they focused on touring around North America to discover commonalities among urban peoples. BUT, they have chosen to hit "secondary" areas, close to major urban populations, featuring day-drive vacation spots, an economic boon in these tighter times. Local television stations took note, and Ghetto Pass Radio tv is soon to premiere on local Cleveland airwaves. To accomplish the final product for these shows, Frank switched from Adobe Premiere to Final Cut Studio, and is having a blast quickly piecing together his and Mr. Bowers' travels, speaking with people from mayors and councilmen to homeless and haberdashers. Each show attempts to feature the "three F's," food, fashion and fun, from a video gaming tournament in Toronto to a down home blues bash for an Allman Brothers Museum fundraiser in Macon, Georgia.