Live Forever! Woodlawn Campus Students Prepare Themselves for First Musical
“Dum, dum, dada dada, dum dum dada!” sings Cindy Ripley to a group of about twenty University of Chicago Charter School Woodlawn Campus students helping her form a large circle. They listen intently to Ripley’s melody and watch her slap her legs with her hands and then the legs of the students on either side of her, trying to catch the pattern before they emulate it. The students begin to sing, their voices coalescing into a melodic chorus, their hands clapping out the rhythm. If anyone makes a mistake, the group laughs and tries to re-establish the cadence.
“Lady Gaga didn’t get there by doing it right all the time,” Ripley tells them. This is Ripley’s second visit to the Woodlawn Campus. She is here to offer support, check progress, and encourage students as they rehearse for the June 1 performance of their very first musical, an adaptation of Fame, a beloved and popular play that chronicles the lives of students attending a performing arts high school in New York City. Ripley is a representative from iTheatrics, a New York-based organization that has been helping schools stage age-appropriate adaptations of Broadway musicals since 1997.
This year, NBC, inspired by the success of their hit television drama Smash, which explores the off-stage lives of actors trying to “make it” on Broadway, has teamed up with iTheatrics to help bring theater to schools with little or no arts programming. The Woodlawn Campus’ performing arts team, led by Ahava Silkey, director of the Woodlawn Fine Arts Department, in partnership with Michael Jones, executive director of the Professional Theater and Dance Youth Academy, submitted a 12-page application to participate. The team’s efforts proved successful. Now, the campus is one of twenty schools, and the only in the Midwest, piloting the program. As a chosen school, the Woodlawn Campus has not only received iTheatrics staff support and its step-by-step tools for staging a musical, but NBC has also provided additional funding and television coverage.
The students’ enthusiasm is beyond palpable. Not only do they participate in Ripley’s rejuvenating warm-up exercise without hesitation, but they have rehearsed three times a week for several weeks in preparation for their June 1 opening night. In fact, the entire cast volunteered to participate in extra, unscheduled rehearsals each day of their spring break. The commitment, though remarkable, is not necessarily surprising. According to Jones, the Woodlawn Campus’ after-school performing arts program began with twelve students; it has since grown to a curriculum program that includes over 150 participants. Such immense growth surely foreshadowed a swell of student interest once it was announced that the campus would be staging Fame.
Although theater and dance program participation is robust, the Fame cast of twenty-four comprises students already involved in performing arts activities at the campus and others who are not. The cohort was chosen from over fifty students who were required to sing, read a monologue, and dance during their audition. The cast is composed of a hodge-podge of students, with varying experience in performing arts, who have come to one consensus since they’ve started rehearsing for Fame: singing and dancing simultaneously is incredibly hard.
It’s not impossible, though, and students have worked hard to overcome their early struggles. 10th grader William Brown finds a special place during those moments. “I just go into a little world where I can channel both dancing and singing,” William says. A comparative veteran to theater, William strongly identifies with the seriousness of his character, Nick Piazza, and hopes to become a professional actor. “I’m very serious about honing my craft, and so is Nick,” he says very seriously. William’s earnestness is evident during rehearsal. He is focused and confidently moves across the stage, his moves deliberate and perfectly timed. His character stands in stark contrast to Joe Vegas, played by junior, Davon Roberts. Like William, Davon also identifies with his character, who he describes as a kind of overconfident ladies’ man and, cheekily, “pretty much like me in real life.” Although as a cast member Davon has been an integral part of these exciting changes at Woodlawn Campus, his involvement is impacting him, too. Davon, who admitted to his own academic struggles, has found structure in participating in the play. He’s learned to manage his time more wisely, and his grades have gotten significantly better. The same scholarly curiosity that compelled Davon to purchase and watch the original version of Fame to better understand his character is now being applied to his schoolwork. “At first, I was nervous about grades,” Davon admits. “Since I’ve started Fame, there’s something about the play, my grades have just shot up. I’m shooting for the honor roll this trimester.”
Indeed, though the original version of Fame is dated, students still flock to and identify with its themes, just as Silkey and Jones predicted when they decided to stage it. “We chose Fame because we thought it would be the most enticing show for the high school students,” Silkey says. She was right. And although Fame was first staged in the 1980s, the iTheatrics updated version of the play is fresh and enticing to students. Justin Thomas, who ebulliently portrays Tyrone Jackson, a very talented dancer who struggles academically, loves the challenge. “Being able to work with all these different students and play a different role, someone that’s not you, is the most exciting part of the process.”
Students can see themselves in the entire experience. They also see themselves in NBC’s Smash. Jasmin Edwards, who has taken on the challenge of portraying dance teacher Ms. Bell and understudying for the role of Carmen, the musical’s lead female character, admits to being addicted to the show. “I watch Smash every week. Everything that I’m learning here, they’re doing on Smash. They’re showing how hard it is to get into show business and to be involved in performing arts. Everything they’re experiencing on Smash, I’m experiencing right now.” Even though Smash shows the difficulties of achieving success in show business, Jasmine is undeterred. The Fame experience has both given her a taste of Broadway and created a desire for her to begin pursing a professional stage career, no matter the odds. Suwanda Hayes also speaks positively about being a cast member. “Everything has been a learning experience. Everything has been great. I’ve never had this type of experience before. Even though it’s really hard, I just push through it, and the harder I push through it, it becomes easier to me,” Hayes said during a rehearsal break.
Silkey has also noticed the students’ overall passion. “I love the change in dynamic from the students I’ve seen involved in the show,” she says proudly. The student commitment is clear. Not only have they volunteered their time, but they’re selling tickets and publicizing the play, which has already generated school-wide buzz amongst classmates. Silkey and Jones plan to capitalize on the students’ enthusiasm. Both hope to facilitate a program that would allow cast members to re-teach Fame to Woodlawn Campus middle-schoolers and students at the other three UChicago Charter School campuses this summer, with the overall goal of producing a community-based, all-charter school production at the end of the camp.
But first, the Woodlawn cast must get through its June 1 opening night, which, thanks to Jones and his vision, will have a very special guest. Jones’ friend, actress and singer Nia Peeples, who starred on the television show Fame, will be on hand to introduce the show and, as Jones puts it, “pass on the legacy of Fame.” She will surely enjoy the fruits of the students’ labor. Cindy Ripley’s assessment portends success, “It was very obvious to me the first time I came here, when I met the kids, that they were engaged. That they wanted to eat up as much as they could, and that they have a great team around them.” Clearly, the theater program is off to an auspicious start. And if the run-through of cast favorite, “Pray I Make P.A.” is any indication, the theater program at Woodlawn Campus may not live forever, but it will definitely be around for a long while.
Fame Jr. opens on June 1! Join us.
UChicago Charter School Woodlawn Campus
6420 S. University Avenue
The performance will begin at 7 p.m. Doors will open at 6 p.m.