Fall in the Fox River Valley! What a gift the autumn colors are! We can easily forget to see the beauty of this season, how nature gives us a boost from this troubled world and restores and refreshes us. Driving in and around Aurora, I appreciate the lift I get, awed by the grandeur of the trees’ leaves of rusts and reds and golden yellows. A little “Thank You” prayer, a deep breath, and turning off River Street to Galena Boulevard, there she is! The magnificent Paramount Theatre and just before it, the new Aurora Arts Center and the Paramount School of the Arts! The old and the new. Right on the same block. The revitalized 88 year old Venetian Art Deco movie palace full of renewed traditions (our Broadway Series’ Beauty and the Beast is a holiday treat you don’t want to miss!) and the arts center and school, so full of promise! The sun sets, the spanking new white sign is lit up and all the construction on Stolp Avenue still dazzles me as I make my way to a meeting with our Director of Education and Community Engagement, Shannon Cameron. She has invited me to teach a musical theater scene study class in January and I’m excited to meet with the other instructors and hear about Paramount’s new Musical Theater Institute. Check it out!
Always happy to see Paul-Jordan Jansen, he’s at the meeting heading the institute teaching voice and song interpretation. Jordan received a Jeff Award for his Sweeney Todd at Paramount, and sang from last season’s nominated The Wizard of Oz at the Jeffs last Monday night as his Cowardly Lion! There is something very special happening among the teachers gathered here as everyone spoke in service to young people’s personal growth through arts education. Only five months in since opening June 1st, Downtown Aurora is being transformed by students, parents and teaching artists attending the school’s mission to develop what is best in all of us, our creativity!
Get out and breath some of that cool, crisp, autumn air, appreciate the beauty around you. But before you do, perhaps there are classes to register for?
The Musical Theater Institute training program is for serious high school students. I love teaching. After the meeting, Jordan and I raised a glass at Ballydoyle and I learned of his passion for teaching; a decade long dedication to preparing young artists for their collegiate theater auditions as well as for the professional world. He exemplifies the caliber of the classes being offered. Our students are training with the best.
Get out and breath some of that cool, crisp, autumn air, appreciate the beauty around you. But before you do, perhaps there are classes to register for?
Love & thanks,
Jim