The Show | Creative Team | Productions | Sights/Sounds | Reviews | Foundation | Extras | FFF.Org
TweetSend email

Home > Foundation > Father Fame Foundation Apprentice Program > 'Father Fame' Passes It On
...........................................................................................................


'Father Fame' Passes It On

By Karin Lipson

2003

It's been more than two decades since David De Silva first conceived of a film about kids attending a performing arts high school in New York.
Now De Silva - or "Father Fame," as he's been dubbed - is putting his name (more precisely, his nickname) behind an apprenticeship program intended to give a new generation of New York kids some nut-and-bolts education about the theater world. And where better to place the Father Fame Apprenticeship Program than behind the scenes at "Fame on 42nd Street," the Off-Broadway production that's the latest incarnation of "Fame"?
"I always thought it would be great to use "Fame" to try to make a difference with New York City high school kids," said De Silva, a native New Yorker who originated 'Fame," the movie, after frequently passing the High School of Performing Arts at it's old 46th Street location. "I was just always aware of the school," he said. "and I knew I wanted to develop a screenplay that would take place at the school and show the diversity of ethnic groups and characters that New York represents."
On the heels of the 1980 film (and the TV series that followed, for which he was consulting producer), De Silva developed the stage version, which has been shown for the past decade in various forms at theaters around the world. (In fact, it was while attending the show in either Sweden or Germany - he isn't sure which - that De Silva got his "Father Fame" sobriquet from the local press.) There's even currently a 100-city tour of North America.
Now comes New York: "Fame" opens tomorrow at the Little Shubert Theatre, and the Father Fame Apprenticeship Program - a paid internship - is due to begin Jan. 3.
While the program, currently limited to juniors from nine specialized arts high schools in the city, has a performance component, students also will get exposure to the wide range of "backstage" jobs, from producing to wig-making. During their four-week stints as apprentices, they will have "meetings with designers, marketing people, seminars with actual professionals in every category," De Silva said. "They will be able to hang around the show and see how it was put together."
The five students chosen each month to participate will be paid a minimum-wage salary by the city Department of Education, which is partnering the effort.
Apprenticeships will be administered by Camp Broadway, a theater-arts education company, with administrative costs borne by the Father Fame Foundation, whose mission is to enhance theater education in New York City through interactive programs. (For information, call 212-575-2929 or log on to www.fameon42.com/apprentice.htm.)
De Silva thinks big, and he's already talking about future possible educational ventures - a summer program of special "Fame" performances by kids, programming for public-access TV, maybe a wider base of theater's for the apprenticeships.
But for now, it's "Fame," the musical that's all about show biz dreams, that will be teaching kids about show biz reality. "To me, it's such a good fit." De Silva said.

 

< Back

Copyright © 2024, Fame Network | Back to Top