It’s not too early to begin thinking about the college application process! Let FSPA help you apply to college performing arts programs as well as other options to keep the arts in your college experience.
Services include help with Applications, Essay Development, College List Selection, Schedule and Audition Strategy, Coaching, Audition Preparation and Video Submissions. Sessions can be customized and scheduled on an as-needed basis.
Director Raye Lynn Mercer and her staff annually prepare high school seniors for college and conservatory auditions, with placement at such prestigious programs as Baldwin Wallace University, Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon University, Connecticut College, Eastman School of Music, Elon University, Emerson College, Hartt School of Music, Ithaca College, James Madison University, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, NYU-Tisch School of the Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, Oklahoma City University, Pace University, Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (London), Syracuse University, UCLA, University of Miami, University of Southern California (USC), and Wagner College.
Founder of the Franklin School for the Performing Arts, Raye Lynn Mercer received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music from Middlebury College and attended the Vienna International Music Center in Vienna, Austria, where she studied with Maria-Regina Seidlhofer of the Academy of Music. Her teachers included Guiseppe deLellis, Diana Fanning, Gabriel Chodos and Yoriko Takahashi. Pianist, director and choreographer, Raye Lynn has presented 31 seasons of musicals, plays, concerts and dance productions with FSPA and the community-based Franklin Performing Arts Company, established in 1991. Raye Lynn serves as Administrator of the school, oversees the FSPA musical theater program and directs the international touring ensemble Electric Youth. Her FSPA student's résumés include Broadway, national tours, off-Broadway, regional and touring companies, European concert tours, Fox-TV’s American Idol finals and performances at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris, as well as placement in top college and conservatory arts programs. Combining profession and hobby, Raye Lynn has directed Symphony of Horses productions across the country. Internationally, she has developed Electric Youth’s professional concert tours in Europe and taught musical theater workshops in Austria and Hong Kong. President and Executive Director of the Franklin Performing Arts Company, Raye Lynn is the visionary of THE BLACK BOX, a new performance and event venue located behind FSPA in the heart of downtown Franklin.
Jackie Evans received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory of Music (five-year, double degree program). She earned a Master of Education degree in Administration, Planning and Social Policy, with a focus on higher education, from Harvard University. Prior education also includes the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (Young Artists Vocal Program) and the University of Pennsylvania Italian Studies Institute. Jackie was an Admission Counselor at New England Conservatory, with primary responsibility for nation-wide student recruitment. As Assistant Director of the Simmons College Dorothea Lynde Dix Scholars Program, she was the Undergraduate Admission representative responsible for the recruitment of non-traditional age college students and transfers. Jackie currently works in marketing as promotional writer for the Franklin School for the Performing Arts and the Franklin Performing Arts Company. With extensive writing experience, her publications portfolio in higher education and the performing arts includes numerous catalogues, brochures, feature articles, website content, social media, and funded grant applications.
Cheryl Madeux received her training at the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts under the direction of Sharon Dante and Donna Bonasera. Ms. Madeux has enjoyed a long professional career, dancing with such venerable companies as the Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet & Theatre, and as principal dancer with the Hartford Ballet. Ms. Madeux has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe, worked with leading choreographers including Gerald Arpino, Kirk Peterson and Twyla Tharp, and been coached by such ballet luminaries as Igor Youskevitch and Eleanor D’Antuono. Her extensive classical repertoire includes all the full-length classical productions as well as principal roles in The Nutcracker, Giselle, Coppelia, The Firebird, Balanchine’s Serenade, Spectra de La Rose and much more. Among her accomplishments, Ms. Madeux was awarded first place in the National Society of Arts and Letters Ballet Competition at age 15, was a finalist in the Third Paris International Ballet Competition and the Prix de Lausanne, and was awarded a Level 1 Presidential Scholar in Dance. Many of Ms. Madeux’s FSPA Ballet Conservatory students have been accepted to some of the most prestigious summer programs available and a select few recently participated and advanced to the finals of the Youth America Grand Prix in NY. Ms. Madeux is also a summer faculty member for the ABT® Young Dancers Program in NY and an examiner for the ABT® Teacher Training Curriculum. She was recently a guest judge and teacher for the IV Connecticut Classic Ballet Competition. Ms. Madeux joined the FSPA Dance Faculty in 2002.
Nick Paone holds a BA in Theater from Occidental College. A former Equity performer, Nick traveled all over the US performing with TheaterWorks, USA. His regional performing credits include Cabaret, Macbeth, The Wedding Singer, Little Shop of Horrors, Pirates of Penzance and The Tempest. Nick has written, conceived and directed for the Franklin Performing Arts Company since 2001. In 2007 he created FPAC’s Whatever Theater Festival, a week-long festival of one-act plays, Shakespeare on the Common and musical entertainment. Nick joined the FSPA Drama Faculty in 2001.
Hallie Wetzell holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Occidental College and Master of Music degrees in Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy from New England Conservatory of Music. As FSPA Vocal Director, Hallie oversees the Pro Voice program and serves as music director for all ensembles, as well as productions of the Franklin Performing Arts Company (FPAC) and Electric Youth. Hallie was the Vocal Director for the FSPA Children’s Choirs for the professional touring companies of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2000 and 2005 and Evita in 2004. She has been on FSPA’s Faculty since 1998 and became Vocal Director for FPAC in 1999.