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Health & Fitness

The Performer's School Prepares Kids for Every Stage

If you’re fortunate to have a beloved child in your life, you know the delicious pressure of searching out just the right gift.  Yes, it may look like a Rainbow Loom or a Furby Boom or the game of Doom.  But what are these gifts saying really?  “I thought forever about what you would love.” “You mean the world to me.”  “I would brave the black hole that is the Old Orchard parking lot a million times over for you.”  What we really want is to give our kids gifts of lasting value, something to reflect our sentiments long past those first shiny gift-wrapped moments. 

We want to gift them with confidence, self-expression, a strong sense of self.  Fun.  An ability to prepare and to work hard and to see the positive and the courage to follow passions.  But where will you find a gift that can do all that?  There is a place: The Performer’s School in Highwood.   The school was founded in 2013 by seasoned Chicago theater vets Stacey Flaster and Liz Fauntleroy and already has nearly one hundred students.   Flaster, Fauntleroy and their impressive faculty teach all ages from kindergarten through high school. Their extensive curriculum includes acting, improv, voice, singing, dancing, tumbling, auditioning and more.  They also counsel kids who are applying to college theater programs and offer private lessons.

Their classes cover much more than “how to.”   Flaster and Fauntleroy are also passionate about helping young people to identify and celebrate their strengths and to become confident, fulfilled individuals.   Their approach is paying off.  The school’s students, who come from as far away as Iowa, can already be seen on stage at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Drury Lane, the Marriott Theatre and the Northlight Theatre. 

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Although their school is relatively new, Flaster and Fauntleroy’s chemistry goes way back.   They first met when they appeared in the same productions in the 1990s.  As Fauntleroy says, “Stacey and I were in a lot of dressing rooms together.”   They both went on to develop successful stage and teaching careers.

Fauntleroy’s credits include over thirty operas with The Lyric Opera of Chicago and many roles with the Marriott, Drury Lane, and Chicago Opera Theater, to name a few.  She helped cast “The Glee Project” in Chicago and has taught voice for fifteen years.  She has seen her students go on to success at the Lyric Opera and Light Opera Works, among others.

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Flaster has worked extensively as an actor, director and choreographer with Light Opera Works, Steppenwolf Theatre, Marriott Theatre, the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and many more.   Her productions have been nominated for and won Jeff Awards and the Broadway World Award.  She is also the co-owner of Style Theatrical Casting and cast the Chicago company of I Love Lucy Live Onstage and Shout Chicago.   

Over the years, Flaster and Fauntleroy stayed in frequent touch.   They referred students to each other and created a series of kids’ audition workshops.  When the workshops consistently sold out, they realized they had enough demand to create a school.   Which is exactly what they did.      

The two friends and founders kindly spoke with me about their careers, their students’ success and their future plans.  Read on and you may be convinced that a class, workshop or summer camp enrollment at The Performer’s School is just the gift you’ve been seeking.

Q:  What makes your partnership so successful?

Liz Fauntleroy: Stacey and I approach teaching in a very similar way.  We teach in a positive, nurturing way and encourage the children to do their best.  There are too many schools teaching in a negative, fear-based “you have to do this right or you won’t get the job” way.  That is not how we teach.  When I discovered that Stacey and I felt the same about that, it felt very right to establish something together. 

Stacey Flaster:  It’s like a relationship where two people are really in agreement.  I trust Liz with the students the way I trust myself.  We’re trying to make kids better at what they do and we want them to feel good about themselves.  That’s the goal.   Not everybody becomes a professional actor.  Not everybody ends up doing it forever, but there are many reasons it’s important to learn the skills that we’re teaching.

Q: Please tell us about those reasons.

Liz:  It takes a lot of confidence and guts to get up on stage, stand solo and sing in front of people.   Many adults wouldn’t dare do it.  It’s like giving a speech.   You are up there alone.  It is a beautiful life lesson to feel confident that you can do that. You can always use that skill.  Or think how great an improv class would be for anyone.  It teaches you so many skills for life, period. 

Q:  What inspired you to go into theater?

Stacey:  I started as a dancer, but I was always crazy about musicals.  In sixth grade, I went to see 42nd Street and my mind was blown.  The curtain went up and I saw those feet tapping and I thought, “That’s what I want to do.”   

My parents took me to shows at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Summit and years later, I ended up working there. I just loved musicals.  When I went to college, I was a dance major, but I also wanted to study voice.  I walked into the opera department and the teacher laughed in my face and said, “I don’t teach dancers, I only teach opera singers.”  I sang for her and at the end of the lesson she said, “I guess I’ll teach you” and she ended up being my teacher for years.

When I graduated I auditioned for my first professional show at Pheasant Run.   I was cast and it snowballed.  I became equity and went from show to show to show from 1993 to 2005. On the side, I did choreography jobs. I was a strong dancer so I was able to be in all the choruses and I was able to understudy big parts because I was a singer as well.   So I ended up usually going on for all the parts that I understudied.  I was Eva Peron and Maria in West Side Story.  I was a singer, actor, dancer who could kind of do everything.    

In 2005, I started doing more directing and choreographing and found I loved being behind the table.  There was a certain amount of energy and excitement that I wasn’t getting from performing anymore, so I fell into directing and then teaching.

Liz:   I’m listening to Stacey and thinking no wonder we’re involved together because we have similar stories.  My father loved musical theater and used to bring me to shows.  I was six when I saw A Chorus Line for the first time and I thought, “Oh, my god!”  I didn’t sing until I was sixteen, but I studied piano for twelve years.  I studied cello.  I was always very musical. 

Then, the reason I auditioned for my high school musical my sophomore year was that I had a crush on the guy who had the lead and thought the way to get a date with him was to be in the show.  But then I got onto the stage and I felt, “This is what it’s about.  This is life.” 

I started taking voice lessons and my voice teacher said, “Liz, you have something.  You really do.”  And I’d had no idea. So I kept studying.  By senior year, I was doing the leads in the musicals and then I was accepted at Northwestern in voice performance so I went to school there.  Afterwards, I auditioned for professional shows and that’s when I met Stacey.  We both worked professionally nonstop which is pretty rare.  

I sang with the Lyric Opera for fifteen years. And then I decided to start teaching.  I’ve been teaching for fifteen years, all levels, from children who want to audition for their school performance to a group of twenty to twenty-five professional children who work consistently at the Marriott, Drury Lane and Steppenwolf. 

One of the things that make Stacey and me good together is that we’ve had the professional careers.  We know what it’s like to audition.  We know what it’s like to work and how hard it is. Because we have both worked professionally so much, we are very good teachers.  We’ve lived it.

Q:  What is most rewarding about teaching?

Liz:  As a teacher, it’s rewarding to see students succeed at any level.   You feel so happy that you have helped someone in any way.  I had a student who started young with me, eight or nine years old.  She was a hard worker and now her resume has more shows on it than most adults.  She has worked at Drury Lane, at Northlight.  But “success” doesn’t mean they have to get a job.   It also means that students feel good about themselves.  As a teacher, it is rewarding to have someone grow in that capacity.

Stacey:  It’s the same for me.  That was a good answer.  It’s just really rewarding when the kids succeed after they’ve worked with you.  Liz and I both have kids who are auditioning for shows and getting called back and getting cast. 

We had a student last year who had never done a show and she got cast as one of the only freshmen in her high school musical which is so rare.  We have been having these nice successes.  It boosts our confidence, it boosts our students’ confidence and everybody is happy.   It’s a win-win.  But it’s not just about getting the job.  My philosophy and I know Liz feels the same, is to always be prepared for an audition, walk in the door and do your best. If you do that, you win.

Liz:  I agree with that.  My husband used to have a saying, because he was a professional actor and dancer, that you can’t control the outcome.   You may have the wrong color hair or be too short for the role.  So whether you’re auditioning for your junior high musical or for the Marriott, you can only control your own preparation and feel good about that.  So that’s a wonderful thing to learn, once again, in any aspect of life.

Stacey:  It really is.  I had a student come in and work with me three times.  She kept getting called back to Drury Lane for a big part and she got it.  She learned a lot, she kept going back, she kept working hard, she kept preparing and she went in and she got the part.   But for me, every callback was a success.  Ultimately, getting the job is a matter of someone else’s opinion.  But the preparation is really what matters.   I believe that when you are prepared, you can succeed.  

Q:  What are your favorite memories of your performing careers?

Stacey:   One of my favorite memories was playing Adelaide in Guys and Dolls when I was in high school.  There have been shows that I’ve done over the years: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.  I loved doing Cats at the Marriott when they did it for the first time in 2003, Crazy For You at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse years ago and playing Bonnie in Anything Goes at Drury Lane Oakbrook.  I loved that I got to do Evita.   And Hello Dolly when Liz’s husband was my dance partner and the kids’ shows …

Liz:  Stacey and I were in a kids’ show together.  We were in My Emperor’s New Clothes

Stacey:  I played the princess and Liz was my mother.    

Liz: (Laughing) Figure that one out …

Stacey:  We spent so much time just laughing.   When we’re on stage we take it very seriously, but when we’re off stage in the dressing room, it’s real life.

Liz:  Oh yes, you’re family. You go through having babies, children.  It’s an amazing environment.

The shows that stand out for me are Evita and a comedy, Phantom of the Country Palace.  I have many operas that I’ve loved.  Turandot and Samson and Delilah.  If you’ve done eighty or ninety professional shows, there are certain ones, don’t you think, Stacey, that stand out, that were such a wonderful experience?

Stacey:  Yes!   The reason we’re still in the business is because of these things.  This is why we want to be part of this family.  I forgot how much fun Liz and I used to have until we started hanging out again with the school. I look forward to seeing her.   

Liz:  We laugh a lot.  We tell the kids funny stories about things that happened on stage, how you have to keep going when you have a live audience even though your ball gown has a hanger with another ball gown attached to it.  

Stacey:  If you’re doing eight shows a week for three months, a lot happens.  We like to share these stories.  We like to show the kids that the real world can be fun.  A lot of people have this idea that “Oooh, you’ve got to get ready for the real world.”  But I believe the real world is not scary.  It’s actually less scary than what they’re preparing you for. 

Liz:  Right.  We don’t want our teaching to be fear-based.  This is not what it’s about.

Stacey:  It’s not conducive to acting.  You have to listen and be in the moment.  If you’re worrying about so many things and being yelled at, or worried that “in the real world, I’m never going to make it” …  You can’t learn when you have that kind of fear.

Liz:  It’s not conducive to learning.  Kids need positive, constructive advice to help them improve but still stay in a positive light.

Stacey:  Things happen that can be scary, but we’re preparing …

Liz:  We’re preparing students to handle those things; how to talk to directors, how to ask questions so that you don’t sound insecure.  How do you talk through your music with the accompanist?  How do you properly introduce yourself?  How do you walk into a room and own the room?  How do you make a resume?  Where do you get your headshots?  There are so many things that we cover.  

Q:  What would you say to the kid who secretly would like to try a theater class, but doesn’t have the confidence?  

Liz:  I would say that this is going to help you and you’re going to feel really good about yourself and you’re going to learn a lot.

Stacey:   And we would say that this is the place to do it.  We’ll help you feel confident and we’ll make sure you find a way to do this.

Liz:  Our workshops are active, meaning the kids perform in front of the other kids.  If you have a group of fifteen kids and they’re all different levels, some will be more secure with themselves and some will be more insecure.  We encourage the kids to give comments. But we always say to them, “If you’re going to give a comment, say what you liked.  Give a positive comment.” 

And I’m telling you, these kids become like a family in three hours.  When another child says, “You know, I really love how you acted, how you sang” these kids light up.  It creates an environment of support.  Then Stacey and I are there to be the teachers, to say, “Ok, let’s try this in a different way.” 

Stacey:  It’s all about learning how to give positive feedback, looking for the positive. It makes you look at everything differently. 

Q:  Do you have memories of ever feeling less than confident on stage and if so, how did you overcome it? 

Liz:   At an audition at the Marriott, I blanked out on my song, but I kept singing.  I thought, “Well, I’m going to be confident.  I’m making up the lyrics. I’m going to go for it and finish my audition.”  I was not going to feel insecure.   When I stopped they said, “Well, that was interesting.  We love that you just kept going.  It was very entertaining.”  And I thought, “Oh, thank God.”  I ended up getting the part.

Things do happen where you feel insecure or you’re comparing yourself to others.  We teach children to overcome the insecurity and to know that everyone has a gift.

Stacey:  Comparison is the evil of life.  The minute you start comparing yourself to someone else, you’re outside of yourself and wasting time and energy.  And then what happens is the parents start comparing their kids to other kids and it gets to be so unbelievably unproductive.

Liz:  It’s unhealthy.   Let’s see the good in everyone.  We all are individuals and all have special things about us.

Stacey:  Could you strive to have a better voice or to work harder or to get better parts?  Sure.   But if you try to compare yourself to somebody else, you’re just going to be disappointed.   Especially with these big shows that kids are going for, everybody is always second-guessing.  Are they going to go with blondes or brunettes? Are they going to go with this type or that type?  I’m a director and I can tell you that we sometimes don’t know what we want until we see it. 

Liz:  Right.  So don’t second-guess.  Just go in and do your best.

Stacey:  Sometimes someone walks in and everything I thought I was going to do is out the window. And I say, “Oh, my gosh, that’s the direction I’m going in.”  I rarely pre-cast or even have a preconceived idea.     So don’t try to figure out what “they” want to see.  Do what you do.  

Q:  All such great points and better to learn as a kid than as an adult!  Please also tell us about your upcoming programs.

Liz:  Our winter classes start in January and go through part of March.  We’re offering a well-rounded dance program:  musical theater dance, a tap class, a ballet class.  We have an instructor who worked with the Billy Elliot cast teaching circus arts and tumbling.  We have an improv class with Joe Dempsey from Second City. 

On the acting side, we have classes for all ages.  We’ll also have a guest artist series each Saturday.  We bring in professionals from the industry who Stacey and I have known for a long time, people from major theaters, to talk to the kids.  For example, we have someone who does film work to teach film acting and we’ll have agents talking about the business.   This program is one of the special things about our school.  

Q:  It sounds great. Please tell us more about “circus arts.”

Stacey:  The circus arts are geared towards performing.   They’re not gymnastics classes that you take at the Park District.  This is a different approach.   More and more in this business, directors are looking for special skills; kids who can juggle, or who can do contortionist-type things or circus-like things or tumble.  If you see Matilda on Broadway, the kids are flipping.  They’re jumping off of things.  Skills like tumbling are very important skills to have.    I never did it and now it’s probably too late.  I’m kidding.  I actually took the tumbling class and it’s fabulous. 

Also, for the first time, Liz and I decided we wanted to have a kindergarten program because we want to start kids off really young.  So we have a kindergarten class twice a day for morning and afternoon kindergartners to introduce them to the world of musical theater and to learn songs and dances. 

This summer we will be offering three camp programs.  We’ll have guest artists, field trips and a performance at the end.   We’ll talk to the kids about the show, do scene work from the show on our own, arrange backstage tours and discuss the show afterwards.  

Liz:  There’s such a need for an arts camp like this.  When we opened our school last year and decided to do a week-long camp it completely sold out. 

Q:  Is it too early for parents to contact you about summer camp? 

Stacey:  It’s not too early.  We’re going to announce the camp after the holidays.

Q:  I want to go to these classes!  Do you think you’ll expand to include adults?  

Stacey:  Yes, definitely.

Q:  With so much happening in the coming year, what are you most excited about?

Liz:  We’re very excited about the new classes and the instructors we’ve hired.  Our winter guest artist series and the summer camp are going to be fantastic.  So to me, the whole year looks great.  We’re ready!

 

For more information about The Performer’s School and to enroll, visit www.theperformersschool.com, call (847) 528-9318, or email stacey@theperformersschool.com or  liz@theperformersschool.com.   The Performer’s School is located at Highwood Recreation Center, 432 Green Bay Road, Highwood, IL 60040.

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