High School of Performing Arts
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| Established | 1947 |
|---|---|
| Type | Public Alternative High school |
| Founder | Franklin J. Keller |
| Location | 120 West 46th Street, New York, New York, USA |
| Campus | urban |
| Closed | 1984 |
| Merged with | The High School of Music & Art |
| To form | Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts |
| Website | http://www.highschoolofperformingarts.com/ |
 The 46th St facade in 1975 |
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The High School of Performing Arts, more formally known as The School of Performing Arts: A Division of the Fiorello H La Guardia High School of Music and the Arts, informally known as "PA", was a public alternative high school in New York, New York, USA that existed from 1948 through 1984.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early years
The school was created in 1947 by educator Franklin J. Keller, using staff and administrators from Metropolitan High School, a vocational school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Under Keller's stewardship, it offered music and speech programs in addition to the traditional "trade" skills.
Occupying a disused 1894 public school building on West 46th Street in Times Square, the new school offered programs in Music, Dance, Drama, and, for a time, Photography.
[edit] Threatened existence
Beginning in the mid 1950s, the New York City administration regularly announced plans to move PA out of its ancient building and into new quarters. These plans included joining the current PA student population (around 450-500) with another student body from another school in a newly constructed building. A site in the then-Lincoln Square area was chosen, then later moved to the newly-developed Lincoln Center complex. These announcements rarely reached the planning stages. It wasn't until the early 1970s that construction actually began on a new school on a site behind Lincoln Center. The new school would include students from PA's "sister", The High School of Music & Art, located in Upper Manhattan.
PA continued to audition, educate and graduate hundreds of students during its decades of threatened existence. After ground was broken on a new building in 1973, all work stopped due to New York City's budget crisis, and did not begin again until the early 1980s.
[edit] The end of PA
In June of 1984 the last graduating class from the "old building" departed. In September of that year, students moved to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, joining students from The High School of Music & Art, which also vacated its old building.
In winter 1988, the vacant PA building at 120 West 46th Street caught fire during renovation. Its facade and several exterior walls survived; the interior needed complete reconstruction. It now exists as the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of International Careers.
[edit] Life After PA
In 1992, Barry Plaxen, a 1955 alumni from the Music department, began holding private reunions with former classmates from the years 1954 through 1956. Three years later he formed PA The First Ten (PATFT), serving the needs of PA alumni from the years 1949 through 1959. Working with the LaGuardia School's AFLAG alumni association, PATFT co-sponsored the 1998 ceremony unveiling the Landmark of New York site plaque installed in the facade of the original building on 46th Street.
In 2000, Plaxen and PATFT joined Ellen Lerner and Roanne Genge Patterson, 1966 alumni from the Drama department, to form the School of Performing Arts Association, which described itself as such: "We have established this association to continue to fulfill Dr. Keller's vision by providing for ourselves as adults the same kind of encouragement, nurturing and opportunities to fulfill our own artistic and creative potential, as was given us by our beloved teachers and mentors."
Since 2000, the 46th Street building has served as the site of a yearly celebration welcoming alumni, faculty and friends of PA, for weekends of socializing, reminiscing, and performances.
[edit] Upcoming Events
On June 13-15, 2008, a 60th anniversary of the formation of PA celebration is planned at both the 46th Street site and the current LaGuardia HS building in Lincoln Center.
[edit] The school in film
In 1980 the motion picture Fame, based loosely on student and faculty life at PA, was released.
[edit] Notable alumni
Brooke Adams | Cynthia Adler | Ellen Barkin | Richard Benjamin | Danny Burstein | Reggie Rock Bythewood | Nydia Caro | Christopher Chadman | Bill Charlap | Pat Crowley | Keith David | Wanda De Jesus | George de la Pena | Dom Deluise | Ron Eldard | Omar Epps | Eliot Feld | Herb Gardner | Rita Gardner | Erica Gimpel | Justin Green | Robert Greenwald | Glenne Headley | Hal Linden | Melissa Manchester | Anna Maria Horsford | Erich Jarvis | Ken Kamlet | Priscilla Lopez | Liza Minnelli | Arthur Mitchell | Isaac Mizrahi | Jim Moody | Esai Morales | Tony Mordente | Trina Parks | Al Pacino | Corey Parker | Murray Perahia | Suzanne Pleshette | Faith Popcorn | Lonny Price | Freddie Prinze | Ving Rhames | Esmeralda Santiago | Don Scardino | Gerard Schwarz | Helen Slater | Suzanne Vega | Ben Vereen | Edward Verso | Jessica Walter | Steven Weber | Dudley Williams | Debra Wilson | Pinchas Zukerman |
[edit] External links
- Website of the Alumni & Friends of LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
- Website of the School of Performing Arts Alumni Association
