The year is 1980. Fame Jr. opens as students are praying that they will be admitted to New York’s High School of the Performing Arts. The accepted students are divided into three disciplines – acting, dance, and music. The production follows the journey of these students as they pursue academic achievement while enduring the hard work that is required to practice an artistic discipline.
Carmen Diaz (Natalie Frank) struggles to listen to her teachers (Hannah Landis, Justin Nice, Luke Kwon, & Sara Kennel) while dealing with her desire to be famous, and Mabel Washington(Makenna Rodriguez) takes a humorous approach to discovering her true talents. Acting student, Nick Piazza (Miguel Santiago) seeks to become a true performer, while Serena Katz (Alexa Kennel) longs to be noticed by him. Music student, Schlomo Metzenbaum (Jeremy Moyer) hopes to write a winning song with Grace Lambchops (Alexis Landis) and Goodman King (Micah Nice). And dance students, Iris Kelly (Greta Schrag) and Tyrone Jackson (Calvin Derstein) are pushed to find a balance between art and education.
With honesty and humor the show explores the issues that still confront many young people today. It exposes the struggle many artistic students face of wanting to be noticed, and it emphasizes the value that can be gained from working with talented teachers -- revealing the idea that there isn’t a singular definition of what “FAME” really means.