Timeline

Below is a chronological history of FSPA’S impressive history starting in...

1985

Raye Lynn Mercer, founder and entrepreneur, departs from her private studio of 35 piano students with a vision, and opens the doors of the Franklin School for the Performing Arts (FSPA) at 38 Main Street, Franklin, Massachusetts, offering the region a one-of-a-kind performing arts education program to include music, dance, and drama under one roof.

Also in its first year, FSPA successfully launched the FSPA Dance Company, the first special performing ensemble comprised of ten extraordinarily talented dancers, who were offered the opportunity to perform at various local venues. 1985-1986 also marked the first annual holiday showcase and spring concert for students and their families.

1986

FSPA collaborates with Dean College in Franklin, MA to present the first annual Scholarship Showcase with proceeds funding a scholarship for a dancer matriculating at Dean. FSPA’s SummerStage program begins highlighted by dinner theater shows.

1987

FSPA holds its first full production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker with a live orchestra of twenty four prominent musicians to a sell-out crowd at three separate performances at the Horace Mann Middle School. The Nutcracker is successfully produced again in 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, and since then, each year consecutively, becomes an annual holiday event for students, performers, families and community members.

1989

FSPA announces “Broadway Light,” its first musical theater performing troupe. Plans get under way to give students innumerable performing opportunities as part of their education by “booking” the troupe to perform at various local venues. Broadway Light becomes a permanent musical theater ensemble at FSPA. FSPA is now host to seven different performing troupes, (Electric Youth, Broadway Light, Broadway Bound, Dance Company, Junior Dance Ensemble, Broadway Ladies, BLT2 and Lite Brites) made up of students selected by audition; three of which travel to DisneyWorld each spring for workshops and classes taught by Disney professionals, and an opportunity to perform with live music in front of a vast audience of spectators on a Disney stage.

1991

The Franklin Performing Arts Company (FPAC) is a successful FSPA spin-off, founded as a non-profit organization; FPAC quickly becomes one of the most active regional theater companies in the Metro West area of Massachusetts. FPAC serves more than 50 communities, and offers outstanding performing opportunities for students, amateurs and professionals. From an annual spring musical, to an ongoing family concert series free to the public, straight plays, classical music, to annual holiday shows such as The Nutcracker and 'Tis the Season!, FPAC is dedicated to pursuing family and community involvement with a commitment to live music and excellence in the Arts.

1993

FPAC presents the company’s first book musical The Music Man featuring the full Broadway orchestration and a large professional and community cast. Franklin Performing Arts Company’s Golden Circle is initiated as the company’s organization of annual volunteers and contributors.

1996

FSPA Youth Choir wins the Boston Globe Choral Challenge and stars in the National Tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, starring Donny Osmond at the Colonial Theater in Boston, MA. FSPA subsequently earns the opportunity to perform with the National Tours again in 2000 and 2005.

1997

Two FSPA children are selected at an open call to star in the three-month Boston run of the National Tour of Showboat at the Wang Center in Boston.

1998

FSPA tours Europe for the first time with a Youth Choir of twenty eight students and performs six concerts over a ten day period in and around Vienna, Austria, including one at the famed Konzerthaus in Vienna and the United Nations. FSPA outgrows its existing space at 38 Main Street and leases space in a neighboring building for a music annex.

1999

FPAC introduces 'Tis the Season!, an FPAC original holiday extravaganza featuring a big band sound and arrangements of holiday classics in many musical styles. Professional entertainers, local talent and a large cast of young performers share the stage for this energized and uplifting weekend of music and dancing. ‘Tis the Season! also becomes a holiday favorite and has been presented annually since 2005. The 2007 cast consisted of 167 local performers which included thirteen families sharing the stage at the same time.

FSPA expands once again by leasing 1200 square feet facilitating a much needed Dance apparel and accessory store, The Spotlight Shop, as well as the addition of a large dance studio.

2000

FSPA takes students on a second European tour for seventeen days and thirteen performances throughout Austria and Italy. The group performs an impressive repertoire of more than fifty Broadway, Rock, Hip Hop, Country, and Pop style songs, with exciting choreography and jaw dropping vocals.

2002

FSPA’s Kids ‘N America ensemble of 31 students tours the East Coast with a patriotic show in the aftermath of the events of 9/11 with performances in Hartford, at the United Nations in New York City, a USO Military tribute at the MCI Center, as well as the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and Disney World. Kids ‘N America also records a professional CD of patriotic American music.

FPSA again needs to expand at 38 Main Street and leases all available space in the building adding 1500 sq. ft. for a dance/rehearsal studio, two music studios, a business office and storage.

2003

Electric Youth is introduced at FSPA, an ensemble of superior student singer/dancers accompanied by a show band of world class musicians. EY records High Voltage, its first professional CD, departs for a two week European performing tour and is invited to perform a Fourth of July benefit concert for American troops and their families stationed at the Aviano Air Force base in Italy.

2004

FSPA children are selected by audition to star in the National Tour of Evita directed by Hal Prince for its two week run at the Colonial Theater in Boston. Electric Youth records Live Wire, a second professional CD, sold both in the US and abroad. EY tours abroad performing for three weeks in Austria and Italy.

2005

FSPA introduces Little Music School™, a revolutionary music program that teaches children as young as eighteen months how to play the piano and explore the musical world around them. The Little Music School™ program is taught both here and at its sister school in Vienna, Austria, with future plans to franchise and market the program in Asia and throughout the world. Electric Youth tours Europe for the fifth time in eight years.

2006

Ayla Brown, a vocal student at FSPA becomes a top 12 finalist on the FOX 25’s hit TV sensation “American Idol.”

2007

Electric Youth produces Direct Current, its third professional CD and prepares for its most ambitious European tour to date, now backed by an eight piece show band of Boston’s finest Jazz musicians.

Electric Youth appears on Fox 25 TV as featured guests of their ZIP TRIP to Franklin show, and is invited to perform another live TV segment before their four week European Summer Tour. Electric Youth travels to Austria and Italy to perform fourteen shows including a benefit concert for the Lions Club International at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. Upon their return, Electric Youth performs three more outdoor shows, a large corporate event in Boston, and sings the National Anthem at Fenway Park for the world champion team, the Boston Red Sox.

2008

Electric Youth produces its fourth CD, The Best of Electric Youth.

To learn more about our special ensembles, click here.