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In 2004, Marilyn and Wendell Hogan bought a building on the historic town square in Pocahontas, Arkansas in order to form Marilyn’s Clogging Company. Before long, more instructors came along and began offering ballet and jazz dance classes as well. As we pass the 20-year milestone, our dance programs are thriving as ever.
But it’s no fun to dance without good music. It’s all the more fun if you make your own good music.
Being a lifelong musician as well as a clogger, Marilyn Hogan began giving violin and guitar lessons in 2005. Other instruments came along in short order. Today, our music program has expanded to include violin, guitar, piano, banjo, percussion, ukulele, and voice—all busting at the seams every year.
As our school advanced to include these different disciplines, Marilyn’s Clogging Company became Marr Street Productions. We have been a non-profit organization since 2014.
But the growth didn’t stop there—we were having far too much fun.
When you have dancers and musicians under the same roof, what do you do? Musical theater, obviously. As such, we added classes in drama training in 2016. Our growing acting troupe regularly stages drama productions in our own theater.
At some point, we decided that martial arts looked interesting, too. Since 2007, our NPS Taekwondo program has trained over 300 students in self-defense, with 22 of them achieving the black belt level and beyond. Our dojang is currently led by Master Instructors Marilyn Hogan and Jon Walter, and several other instructors of various black belt degrees (and counting).
In 2023, our horizons widened drastically (again) when we acquired the historic Downtown Playhouse. With the old theater itself, we took on its heritage of quality, family-friendly productions—something dear to our hearts already.
This move was a thrilling opportunity—and a massive responsibility. Our name changed again to Marr Street School of Performing Arts to recognize what our organization has truly become. We perform multiple large-scale musical and theatrical productions each year in our beloved Marr Street Playhouse in Pocahontas, Arkansas.
We currently have over 20 instructors on staff at Marr Street SPA. Our entire staff, including our director Marilyn Hogan, work on a volunteer basis. Half of our instructors are former students, now voluntarily passing their knowledge to the next generation. Why? Because that is what passion does.
Our mission goes beyond teaching performing arts. We believe that the self-discipline a person develops in studying these arts will benefit them in all areas of their life. Over 20 years, we have seen this environment foster confidence, integrity, and camaraderie. We are here to encourage the youth (and adults) of our community to broaden their skills and pursue excellence. We call it:
Building character, one note at a time.
Marilyn holds a bachelor’s degree in education and a Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology, she held a license to practice speech therapy from the state of Arkansas and a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech,Language,Hearing Association in Speech/Language Pathology. She has now retired from practicing speech therapy, but has 32 years experience as a Speech-Language Pathologist in the schools and private practice.
Marilyn is a certified clogging instructor and has taught clogging for over 24 years. She started studying piano at the age of 10, played clarinet in the PHS band, and continued to pursue music training in guitar and violin through private lessons, workshops, the Ozark Folk Center Folk School, and SCOR Violin Camp in Nashville and Knoxville, TN.
She is a master instructor in Taekwondo and holds the rank of fourth Dan, is the master instructor of the Pocahontas NPS chapter. She serves on the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Taekwondo board of directors and is currently training and studying to test for the rank of 5th Dan. Marilyn has performed and directed many music, dance, and theater productions through the years.
Leyman is the Technology and Creative Media Director at Marr Street Productions. He develops technology including video programs, web design, sound and light engineering, set design and construction and maintains software programs and equipment.
He plays the guitar and drums and was the music director at his church for several years. Leyman holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Business Technology from Arkansas State University. He is currently employed at Black River Technical College as computer/network technician.
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Collin joined Marr Street Productions in 2021 as drum and percussion instructor. Born and raised in Memphis, he began playing drums at an early age and was active in high school marching and concert band, the Memphis Youth Symphony, Bellevue Baptist Church orchestra, as well as various other groups over the years.
He also has extensive experience in live sound engineering and large-scale theatrical productions. As the owner and principal of Houseal Creative, he does design, advertising, and communications work for a variety of clients all over the country. He and his wife, Vikki and six children live in Smithville and are all happily involved at Marr Street.
Stacy holds a Bachelor’s of Applied Science in Dance Performance (Ballet concentration) from East Carolina University. She has held teaching positions at Stafford Dance Center and Heart and Soul Dance Studio.
Stacy has attended intensive training at the Tulsa Ballet, St. Louis Ballet, Ballet Magnificant, and Ballet Arkansas. She has studied under Joseph Carow, former executive director of New Jersey Ballet, Galina Panova, who trained at the Kirov Ballet in Russia, and Ellie Lazar, former director of Joffrey Ensemble. Stacy held lead roles in the “Nutcracker” including the roles of Clara, Sugar Plum Fairy, and as a guest artist as the Snow Queen, Arabian, and Dew Drop. She performed as a soloist in Dance 2005 at East Carolina University.
Stacy teachers ballet and jazz at Marr Street as well as directs the Playhouse Dance Troupe, she serves as head stage and dance choreographer of the dance segments of the productions at the Playhouse. She has taught at Marr Street Productions for 10 years and has several years of dance experience prior to joining Marr Street.
Haley has studied and taught guitar at Marr Street Productions for the past 10 years. She graduated from Maynard High School where she was Valedictorian and played guitar in the band. She has an Ed.S degree from Arkansas State University in Psychology & Counseling with an emphasis on School Psychology.
She has taught guitar for the last eleven years at Marr Street Productions. She is currently employed by the Crowley’s Ridge Educational Service Cooperative as a school psychology specialist.
Stephanie teaches the introduction to ballet and jazz classes and coordinates the food services. Stephanie has had training as a CNA and studied Biology at ASU. She has been a 4H leader for over 25 years.
She has studied ballet, jazz, clogging as well as guitar for several years. She has volunteered as a theater tech and participated in numerous productions. Stephanie has eight children and ten grandchildren. She holds 2nd dan, black belt in Taekwondo. She is employed at the Pocahontas Head Start preschool program.
Carilyn teaches Taekwondo and she currently holds the rank of second dan (black belt). She holds a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education specializing in physical education and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. She has 26 years of teaching experience. She is a retired special education teacher preschool through 12th grade.
Carilyn has served as a Special Olympics coach for 20 years and was awarded Coach of the year at the 2019 Area Special Olympics. She is the author of three children’s books with the subject of grandparents becoming parents to their grandchildren. She has been teaching and volunteering at Marr Street for more than 15 years. She was also served as a light and sound technician for many years for many local theater productions.
Chad is the drama and theater arts instructor. He holds a Bachelor of Biblical Studies from Williams Baptist College. He was a member of the Cast, a Christian traveling acting group for 4 years. He has directed and performed in a dozen shows including productions in local theater as well as theater productions at Marr Street Productions.
Chad is the script writer for the plays, productions, and programs at Marr Street. He teachers our drama class and serves as director of our drama program. Chad is also an assistant instructor in Taekwondo and currently holds the rank of 2nd Dan, Black belt.
Hank started taekwondo classes at Marr Street 10 years ago. He now holds the rank of third Dan, black belt and takes an active leadership role in instruction in the Naval Post Graduate Taekwondo, Pocahontas Chapter organization. He attended Black River Technical College after high school and now works in the