Wednesday, February 03, 2010
For Kevin Jones' Performing Arts Studio of Roanoke, all the mall's a stage
The Kevin Jones Performing Arts Studio of Roanoke has been rehearsing in an unused storefront for a performance this weekend.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Jones
Mary Jane Houdina, far right, helps choreograph with a few members of the Kevin Jones Performing Arts Studio ensemble. Houdina was a choreographer for the original Broadway production, "Annie."
It's not every day you walk through Tanglewood Mall and hear people singing about hitting people with fish.
If the singers notice the people looking through the window, the attention doesn't faze them. They continue to rehearse the number from "Spamalot," singing merrily and slapping their partner with a stuffed fish.
Obviously, this is not an everyday activity.
But that is precisely Kevin Jones' intention.
Jones is the director and owner of the Kevin Jones Performing Arts Studio of Roanoke, also known as KJPAS.
Jones said he wants to create a unique experience for his students, who are all teens or younger.
"I don't want this [program] to be something you can get elsewhere," he says. "I want this to be a totally unique and distinctive theater program."
And indeed it is. Jones holds workshops that include improvisation and acting for film and television. They provide opportunities to work with Broadway choreographers and actors as part of the basic curriculum.
His students said the training they've received stretches them to new heights.
"The training I have received through the studio has allowed me to grow as a performer beyond what I thought I was capable of," said Laura McConchie, one of the ensemble members in KJPAS. "The feeling of success when you hit that note that was out of your range a few short weeks ago is unreal."
Another ensemble member, Philip Rodgers, agrees.
"I have learned so many skills in KJPAS: tap, holding a harmony part, basic dancing and owning the stage," he said.
The Kevin Jones troupe puts on a show at the Jefferson Center every February that regularly gathers a full house.
It's the rehearsals for this year's show, "Broadway on Thin Ice," that are catching the attention of visitors to Tanglewood Mall.
The ensemble is rehearsing in an unused storefront in the mall. Almost everyone who walks by glances at the show posters, or even stops to watch, catching a glimpse of a song and dance routine as they shop.
"Broadway on Thin Ice," a collection of comedy songs and skits, will be performed at the Jefferson Center on Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, visit www.kjpas.com.
