A local group of actors performed “Songs from the Stage” in late January and raised $12,994.60 for high school students to participate in summer theater opportunities.
The six actors partnered with the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge to establish a new Performing Arts Enrichment Fund (PAE) fueled by ticket sales.
The community response in late January also inspired the actors to formally band together under the name Shenandoah Cabaret, and to schedule other opportunities for the community to donate to local high school students.
“We want to see it grow and the community thrive,” Diana Black said. “All of us care deeply about clearing a path for young artists.”
Black and Jennifer Kirkland organized “Songs from the Stage” because of their memories of intensive summer training as young actors. Local actors Sandi Belcher, Daniel Burrows, Jeremy Douylliez-Willis and Kemper McCauley are also part of the cabaret group, which performed at Barren Ridge Vineyards in late January.
“For students in the performing arts, some opportunities are exclusively available in the summer, and we wanted to promote greater access to the kinds of experiences we ourselves had found so transformative,” Black said.
The PAE fund will provide financial support for students at Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County public high schools seeking participation in summer performing arts education programs. Eligible students will be selected based on nominations by their high school performing arts teachers.
“What this means is there are $2000 available for each high school to use,” Kirkland said.
In high school, Jennifer Kirkland attended a four-week summer immersion program at the Indiana University School of Music. After private lessons with faculty and participating in a large chorus, Kirkland was part of a group of actors who performed in a concert at the end of the program.
“There was this one section where the sopranos were singing way up in the stratosphere,” Kirkland recalls. “I will never forget how the sound we made together made me feel — it was as if the sky was literally opening up … I knew, then and there, that I would do whatever it took to study there.”
Kirkland attended IU School of Music a few years later and earned her degree. 
Black spent her high school summers acting, singing and dancing at Encore Stage and Studio in Arlington, Virginia.
“My very first show, I was in My Fair Lady as part of the ensemble. Our lead went on to win a Helen Hayes award; that’s how high-caliber the talent was. And before rehearsal, newcomers like me were given all the fundamental skills of theatre, the very same ones I teach to my students today at Silver Line [Theatre Exchange, a non-profit in Staunton],” Black said.
Black also participated in theatre classes at school.
“It was such a committed, accelerated process,” Black said. “I was in the theatre for hours each day. It takes three months — roughly the length of a summer — to prepare for and stage a full-scale, traditional musical like that. It was a truly concentrated type of theatrical education.”
Nominated students who enroll in programs offered by educational institutions and nonprofit arts organizations will receive funding. Guidelines for the nomination process are in development for schools and teachers.
The PAE fund welcomes donations.
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Rebecca Barnabi
