Alicia Keys joins effort to save beloved theater program at her NYC high school
NY Post
It may not be the final curtain call for the theater program at a prestigious public performing-arts school in Manhattan — thanks to alumni Alicia Keys and others stepping up to to try to help save it.
The 43-year-old “Girl on Fire” star and rep Roc Nation have made a $60,000 donation to the Professional Performing Arts School, which also counts actors Claire Danes and Jesse Eisenberg and pop star Britney Spears among its star-powered grads.
The cash influx, reported by Hell’s Kitchen blog W42ST.nyc, is on top of $54,000 that has been raised online by school seventh-grader Tennyson Artigliere after the student’s fundraiser had been shared by fellow alumni Jeremy Allen White, famous for his cable TV acting roles in “Shameless” and “The Bear.”
“It’s an incredible program with some incredible teachers,” White wrote on Instagram last week, according to Chalkbeat. “Please help IF YOU ARE ABLE. I have donated.”
Ariana DiLorenzo, 24, who performs music under the name Ariana and the Rose, reportedly posted that the city school is “the reason that I am a performer today,” adding PPSA “was a unique experience that shaped me as a performer and a person.”
The public high school and middle school had notified parents that its coveted theater program, run by the performing art group Waterwell, would be cut next month because of a lack of funding.
