The students of 20 Performing Arts Academy, a new Brantford-Brant based musical theatre school for youth in Grades 6 to 12, officially wrapped up their production of FAME Jr. on December 7, 2024.
Brantford residents Theresa Noon-Hunter, owner and artistic director of There’s A Production, and her long-time best friend, Kristen Henderson, started the school program earlier this summer as a way to give children a safe place to learn about the performing arts, and the fundamentals that go into building a theatre production from the ground up.
The program officially kicked off on September 14, and for the next 13 weeks, the students met every Saturday to gradually bring the story of FAME JR. to life. During that time, they focused on various theatrical aspects including learning their characters’ lines, their lyrics, choreography, stage blocking, and developing their roles.
“It wasn’t like a typical show where you’re rehearsing for months and months on end, it was a quick process for us and those 13 weeks just flew by,” said Noon-Hunter. “It’s definitely a more intensive program, but we really found that it was the perfect amount of time for these kids and there was never a time where they were just sitting around, we really tried to utilize every moment we had with them.”
The director said that the students of 20 Performing Arts Academy, much like the characters in FAME Jr., embarked on a challenging, but rewarding journey to put on their show and she said that in the end, all their hard work certainly paid off.
“The kids were amazing and I really couldn’t have asked for anything more, I’m just so proud of what came together,” said Noon-Hunter. “You have to remember, while some of these kids have performed on stage before, for others, it was their very first performance ever and they all took on challenges that they’ve never previously had. The parents were so supportive and the kids just really grew right before our eyes, they did a really great job and they owned every moment on stage.”
FAME Jr. is a stage adaptation of the popular 1980 movie and 1982 television series Fame. The plot centres around a group of talented students attending the fictional High School of Performing Arts in New York City. The plot explores their journeys as they face the challenges of balancing rigorous academic work, intense rehearsals, and their personal lives, all while striving to achieve their dreams of fame in the world of music, dance, and theatre.
FAME Jr. tackles themes of ambition, the pursuit of dreams, friendship, personal growth, and the pressures of performing arts education. The musical highlights the emotional rollercoaster of teenage life while offering a hopeful message about resilience and the importance of staying true to one’s self.
While many stage performances are often made up with a clear divide of lead characters and the ensemble, Noon-Hunter and Henderson’s performance of FAME Jr. gave all of their students an opportunity to shine in their own way.
Throughout the just over one-hour show, each of the 17 students stepped into their role with dedication and determination, working to bring the plot to life and moving it along.
Noon-Hunter said that after 13 weeks of rehearsals, seeing her students grow with each of their three performances was worth all of the hard work.
“Every performance they did, it got better and better and they each had their own individual reasons why they were my favourite. Opening Night was just awesome because the kids saw that they could do it and they needed that; they needed that audience,” she said. “The next day’s matinee, you could see their confidence had grown because they already had it in their head that ‘okay, we did it last night, we can do it again’ and they upped the ante. Then for their performance later that same night, it was the final show and so you could see that something flipped in their minds and they were thinking ‘okay, this is the last time we’re going to do this,’ and so each one sparkled in their own way. Honest to goodness, I loved the show and it was such a joy to see it all play out.”
Joni and Hugh Bowman, parents of Tate Bowman (FAME Jr.’s Serena Katz), said they were pleased with the show.
“We enjoyed it, it was really great to see how it all came together,” said Joni.
“From the kid’s development standpoint, I think it was awesome,” added Hugh. “To see when they started and where they ended, and even from yesterday’s show to today, it was really great to see the improvement.”
Noon-Hunter said that while there are always hiccups in live performances, be it on stage or behind the scenes, every one of those challenges are necessary to help iron things out for the next show.
“We had to put out some fires along the way, issues with mics or missed ques here and there, as well as our laptop losing sound and having to switch computers out on the fly… but that’s live theatre, right?” Noon-Hunter said. “We knew going into this that because it was our first show ever, we were going to be doing everything ourselves but throughout this process, we learned that next time, we’re going to need some more help in getting this off the ground.”
With both herself and Henderson taking on production roles they’d never done before, Noon-Hunter said that it wasn’t just the kids who learned about themselves, but herself and her best friend also learned something too.
“The one thing that I think we really learned was just how rewarding it was to guide people into new areas of interest, while surprisingly, also discovering things that we didn’t necessarily know we were also interested in as well,” she said. “Kristin loved working with costumes on this show and that was kind of her big epiphany and so she’ll be doing costumes for our next session, Beetlejuice. For me, I actually really enjoyed calling the show and working with the sound engineer and with our lighting operator, and that’s something I never thought I would enjoy so I’m looking forward to doing that in the future as well.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
