Broadway star Susan Egan rehearses with AHS drama students; Egan set to perform March 1 at PAC with AHS students

Lending her voice and talent to the ambitious Arcadia High School drama students on Tuesday, Susan Egan helps the students with a variety of numbers they are working on for their next production –
Photos by Terry Miller

Broadway star Susan Egan rehearses with AHS drama students
Eagan to perform March 1 at PAC with AHS students

By SHEL SEGAL
Broadway star Susan Egan will be performing with Arcadia High School’s performing arts students on stage at 8 p.m. on March 1 at the Arcadia Performing Arts Center located on campus.
The 60 students – collectively known as “Arcadia Stage” – will join Egan for four songs before singing two from their upcoming production of “Curtains.”

Steven Volpe, theater director for Arcadia High School, said everyone – students and faculty alike – are excited to be able to work with Egan.
“I am really excited,” Volpe said. “I think it’s a really great opportunity for our students to perform with a professional, not only for the performance, but to have the time to work here on stage.”
Volpe added that the students have really being listening to Egan, especially since she’s not a teacher.
“For some reason when she says it it’s a little more memorable,” he said. “They pay her a little more attention.”
Sue Cook, executive director of the Arcadia Performing Arts Foundation, said Egan is really going out of her way to work with the students.
“She’s working with the kids doing a master class and she’s teaching them some songs,” Cook said. “She’s going to include them in her show on stage. She’ll be doing a duet with one of the students whose dream it is to be on Broadway. So, talk about a dream come true!”
Cook added the students are really enjoying the opportunity to work with a Broadway actress.
“They’re thrilled,” she said. “For some of the kids this is what they want to do with their lives. To have her come, one-on-one, it’s really exciting.”

Cook also said it’s wonderful to be doing all this in the newly completed Arcadia Performing Arts Center.
“I don’t know if they notice how lucky they are until they go and look at colleges and discover they’re high school is nicer than this,” she said.
And working in the Performing Arts Center is not just for actors, Cook said
“They’re not just learning (acting),” she said. “They’re learning how to build sets, how to do the lighting, the sound. They’re trained to industry standards. They could go get a job.”
For ticket information, log onto www.arcadiapaf.org.
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com).

Photos by Terry Miller

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