JENNIFER K MAHAL -- EDITOR’S NOTE

On the screen, an actress is singing a slow song in an empty school

theater.

“This is a special place. The magic is here to see. When it works, the

universe is dancing in time with me...”

Dust motes fall through the spotlight like glitter.

“This is a special place, and though I may leave someday... in my heart

will remain this very special place....”

In my mind, that image, that song from the television show “Fame,” sums

up how I feel about the performing arts high school I graduated from.

It was a special place, not unlike the Academy of Performing Arts at

Huntington Beach High School, which will hold a gala fund-raiser Friday.

Like the students at the academy, I too took a double load of acting and

stage technology classes alongside advanced-placement English and

history.

I went to school every morning at 6 a.m. so I could sing with New

Renaissance, the jazz chorale. Chemistry was studied during the

intermission of “Wonderful Town.” I wrote my English essays between

memorizing lines for “Inherit the Wind.” And my U.S. government class was

balanced with getting the actors together for my first video production.

But more than stretching my acting muscle or letting me dabble

creatively, the arts saved my life. I suspect it saves the lives of a

number of teenagers, allowing them to express their feelings in ways that

are not self-destructive.

Without the Chula Vista High School of the Creative and Performing Arts,

I honestly don’t know if I would have survived my childhood.

Sounds like overdramatization, I know. But it has a literal truth. Before

I started going to performing arts high school, I had seriously

contemplated taking my own life. I had even tried it once.

Going to the performing arts program in my sophomore year changed it all.

Not overnight, but over time.

It gave me a group of teachers who thought I was better than my grades,

who believed I had something more in me than the F in geometry or the D

in alegbra/trigonometry.

It gave me a career.

The first time I ever wrote for a newspaper, it was the Spartan Spectrum

in high school. I wrote stories with titles such as “Oklahoma: Diary of a

Musical,” and “Oscar Madness.” I joined to start an arts and

entertainment section because I was peeved that the creative and

performing arts magnet was not represented in the school paper.

It gave me a college education.

My drama teacher, Madeline Hunt, and others at the school encouraged me

to try for college. The emphasis of their teaching in acting and arts was

as much about the process of learning as about anything else.

Memorization in acting isn’t as important as understanding what you

memorize, Hunt said. I owe her my college grade-point average.

I suspect the counselor at my high school was the reason I got into my

alma mater, Loyola Marymount. My degree is in television production --

arts related all.

Performing arts gave me the courage to keep trying for my dreams.

Of course it hurt every time I looked on the audition board and didn’t

see my name there -- which was most of the time. But for every time I

failed, there was another audition to go to. And for every major

production I wasn’t in, there was a chance to learn something new,

whether it be helping to house manage “Skin of Our Teeth” or moving the

scenery for “The Golden Apples.”

And for the high school audition that I miserably bombed -- Wendy

Wasserstein’s “Uncommon Women and Others” -- there was the college

audition I aced. I got my chance to play Carter.

I don’t think my experience is unique when it comes to the way I feel

about the performing arts program.

Ask any graduate of the academy in Huntington Beach, and I bet they’ll

tell you that going to a performing arts high school changed their lives

too.

Cut back by the government and by our education system, the arts are a

vital part of what we have to offer each other. It’s more than just

glitter and make believe. It teaches how to think creatively, work as a

team and love learning.

The arts, and the stage, are special and the magic is there to see.

Huntington Beach’s magic will be on display for all at 7:30 p.m. Friday

with “Finale 2000: Under the Stars.” The school presents a retrospective

of its 1999-2000 productions, including scenes from “Grease,” “A Chorus

Line” and “Tartuffe.”

It would be a shame if the actors, actresses, singers, dancers and

instrumentalists there are left performing on stage in an empty school

theater.

o7 For more information on the gala, call 536-2514, Ext. 334f7

* JENNIFER K MAHAL is the city editor of the Independent.