FHS ‘FAME’ dance, music performances May 9-12
Farragut High School theater students, from left, Ainsley Carrier, Abby Palmer & Emily Bannow practice a dance class sequence from their upcoming performance of “FAME.”
The performances will take place beginning at 7 p.m., Thursday, May 9, through Saturday, May 11, and at 3 p.m., Sunday, May 12, in FHS’ Ferguson Theatre, 11237 Kingston Pike.
Tickets can be bought at the door and are $5 for students and $8 for adults. There will be no pre-sold tickets according to FHS drama teacher Lea McMahan.
Twenty-three students are involved in the production.
“FAME is a stage play based on the 1980s TV show of the same name,” McMahan said. “The story revolves around a school for the performing arts in New York City and the students who attend it.
“All of the students study music, acting or dance, as well as their academic classes,” she added. “It takes place during the late 1970s and goes into the early 1980s.”
McMahan explained FHS’ production is “not strictly speaking a musical,” but it does have a couple of musical numbers included.
As for choosing FAME, “I thought it would be a fun one for my students because it incorporates dance, music and acting — and there are many characters who are teenagers; so my students get to play characters who are their own age,” McMahan said. “In addition, I’ve always wanted to direct FAME.
“I remember watching the TV show as a child,” she added. “FAME will be either the 91st or the 92nd play that I have directed — not all of them at Farragut though — although I have been at FHS for 18 years.
“So I wanted to get FAME in while I had the students to do it.”
The Theater department has been working on the production since February, when auditions were held, McMahan said.
Students leading the cast are: Cecilia Lovelace, Mason Thurnauer, Gavin Mottern, Emily Bannow, Abigail McCarter, Allison Bunch, Jack Barnett, Ethan Gossage, Hannah Varner, Collin Hubbard, Michael Martinez, Dalton Halliburton, Lexie Blanchard, Caroline Butler, Sloan Palmer, Ainsley Carrier, Abby Palmer, Sarah Laenger, Kyra Harmon and Varsha Babu.
