The Highlands Performing Arts Center has partnered with Highlands School to provide instructional opportunities and hands-on experience related to all facets of theater to students through a Youth Theater Program.
The collaboration was inspired by Highlands School drama and music teacher, Joi Chapman, and her desire to see students expand their theatrical education into the musical theater realm. Students will now have the opportunity to learn about the inner workings of a musical while continuing to learn other skills such as acting, directing, marketing, costume and set design, lighting and technical and many more through the program’s production of Fame Jr.
“It’s still a similar type of program,” Highlands Performing Arts Center Executive Director Mary Adair Trumbly said. “We taught production and technical theater, and we’ll still teach [that] here, but right now we’re focusing on the Fame Jr. musical and musical theater.”
Set in the 1980’s, Fame Jr. is a bittersweet, but inspiring story of a group of students who devote four years to their artistic and academic work while attending New York City’s High School for the Performing Arts throughout its last few years. The show is based on the original musical, Fame, but has been modified in order to be appropriate for younger audiences.
Fame Jr. will be the Highlands PAC’s first musical performance and will feature a 22-person cast made up entirely of the middle school students. The show will officially open on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the PAC. Tickets are free, but it is asked that people reserve seats ahead of time. More information on seat reservations can be found on the PAC’s website.
The PAC’s Youth Theater Program is a grant-fueled program that is free to all students, regardless of theater experience. Through their collaboration with the Highlands School, students now have the ability to access the educational experiences offered by the program directly after school, rather than at night or on the weekend as in previous years.
“Our goal remains to offer students the opportunity to explore, experience and learn the world of the performing arts,” Trumbly said. “To gain powerful tools for: understanding human experiences, both past and present, teamwork and collaboration, adapting to and respecting others’ diverse ways of thinking, expressing themselves, analyzing nonverbal communication, improving verbal communication, and gaining self-esteem and poise which crosses over into the classroom to support academic success.”
In addition to providing students with a set of tools that will help them throughout their academic career and adult life, the combined program also allows students to engage with text that encourages them to think deeper about the meaning and history behind it and how that contributes to the larger picture overall.
“This combined program will continue to provide an avenue for students to become more self aware and confident, more successful in their studies, and more inquisitive,” Trumbly said. “[They will be] exposed to more literature and history, and [will learn] to analyze text, plays and literature while connecting history to the backstory of a play. All of this translates to ‘thinking’ students who become ‘thinking’ adults, which is good for our community whether they continue in the theater or not.”
Trumbly said she thinks that this will be a great opportunity for the community and the student’s parents to share the pride that the students will gain from being able to do something new and do it well while also having a good time.
For more information on the Youth Theater Program or upcoming events, visit the Highlands Performing Arts Center’s website at www.highlandsperformingarts.com.