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About the School
 Celebrating
its 23rd
Anniversary season in Franklin, Massachusetts, FSPA offers specialized programs in
all areas of the performing arts through private lessons and classroom instruction.
Providing after-school education opportunities, FSPA offers more
performing arts programs than any other area school to students from more
than 40 communities. Our departments of Music, Dance and
Drama offer varied programs designed for all levels of ability and interest. With so many
courses to choose from, there’s something for everybody! We provide
the unusual opportunity to study all areas of voice,
music, dance and acting. Prospective students are welcome to
observe a class anytime.
 Our staff is made up of professional
artists, performers and teachers. Their impressive credentials are
indicative of the excellent instruction available in all programs and the
high standards of excellence we hold for our school. The goal of our instructors is to meet the individual needs of each student, whether
that student is here once a week or every day. With guidance from experienced instructors,
we know that an arts education can improve poise, confidence and creativity as well as
instill discipline. All lessons and classes concentrate on the
development of technique, creativity and artistic expression.
 While performing is an integral part of our programs, a single annual
performance is not our year-long goal and performing is optional but encouraged. The FSPA calendar offers
frequent student voice, instrument and special ensemble recitals, and our annual Spring Concert
showcases
students from our Dance and Musical Theater classes. We offer shorter
performance programs to accommodate young children and those
in only one number as well as for the enjoyment of the audience.
For our students looking for
intensive study, special ensembles at FSPA offer outstanding
opportunities. Select FSPA ensembles have performed in Austria, Italy, New
York, Washington D.C., Disney World, and Boston including everything from
local appearances to performances for the United Nations.
Discover Yourself at
FSPA!
To receive our Course Catalogue, click here
 Raye Lynn
Mercer
Director
Raye Lynn Mercer is founder and director of the Franklin School for the
Performing Arts. She is a lifelong resident of Franklin and a graduate of Franklin
High School. Raye Lynn holds a Bachelor Degree from Middlebury College and attended
the Vienna International Music Center in Vienna, Austria. In Vienna, she studied
piano with Maria-Regina Seidhofer of the Academy of Music. Her instructors included
also the late Guiseppi deLellis of Newton, Diana Fanning of Middlebury, Vermont, and in
Boston, Gabriel Chodos and Yoriko Takahashi. Raye Lynn is director, producer and
choreographer of a wide variety of productions. She has directed too many shows to
list and many dinner theater shows, cabarets and revues, and has five times produced The
Nutcracker. She has also directed and produced shows with the Springfield
Symphony and Houston Youth Symphony orchestras, the pro Musica Chamber Orchestra of
Columbus, Ohio and the Kenny Hadley Orchestra. Raye Lynn directs a full schedule of
performances at FSPA and is Founder and Director of the Franklin Performing Arts company.
At FSPA, she serves as Administrator, and
a teacher in the school's Musical Theater Program. She is director of FSPA's
musical theater troupes and touring ensembles including
Electric Youth.
 Tracy
Lane
Assistant Director, Dance and Drama
Tracy holds a Bachelors Degree in
Theatre Education from Emerson College. She has taught both Drama and
English on the junior high school level and is currently an administrator and
instructor of Drama, Musical Theater and Children's Music as well as Assistant
Director of FSPA's Performing Troupes and Dance Companies. Her background
includes training in dance and voice as well as extensive experience performing,
choreographing and directing. She has directed and choreographed numerous FPAC
and FSPA shows and coordinates costumes for the productions.
Tracy has also appeared in the FPAC productions of 'Tis the Season!, Moon
Over Buffalo, The Nutcracker and Twelfth Night.
 Kim
Rezendes
Assistant Director, Music
An FSPA and Broadway Light
alumnus, Kim graduated magna cum laude from Providence College and has a Master
of Art in Teaching Music Degree from Rhode Island College. Kim is Head
Teacher and Curriculum Director for Little Music School and serves as
Coordinator and Instructor of Children's Music, Voice and Musical Theater at FSPA
and is also a certified Kindermusik instructor. She has performed in FPAC's 'Tis the Season!, Scrooge -
The Stingiest Man in Town, Oliver!, The Nutcracker, Guys and Dolls, You Can't
Take It With You, An Evening with Rodgers and Hammerstein, Bye, Bye Birdie
and numerous dinner theater shows. Kim currently serves as Associate Organist/Cantor
at St. Mary's Parish in Franklin.
 Hallie
Wetzell
Assistant Director, Development
and Vocal Director
Hallie holds a Bachelor of Arts
Degree in Theater from Occidental College and Master Degrees in Vocal
Performance and Vocal Pedagogy from New England Conservatory of Music.
Hallie serves as the Vocal Director of FSPA overseeing the
Voice Department as well as teaching voice classes, private students and serving
as vocal director of all ensembles. Hallie was the Vocal Director for the FSPA
Children's Chorus for the professional touring companies of Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2000 and 2005 and for Evita in 2004.
Hallie has performed in numerous productions and ensembles in genres ranging
from musical theater, to cabaret, to opera, to oratorio, to straight plays.
Hallie is also the Vocal Director for the Franklin Performing Arts Company and
has conducted numerous production including Cinderella, West Side Story, An
Evening of Mozart, Faure Requiem and HMS Pinafore. Recently,
Hallie served on the Executive Board of the Boston Chapter of the National
Association of Teachers of Singing.
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