'Zombie' play debuting Friday is first from new Reed Academy of Fine and Performing Arts

The curtain will open Friday evening on the first play at the newly renamed Reed Academy of Fine and Performing Arts.

The middle school has been around for a century — and there have been plays before — but the launch of the arts-focused academy approach prompted co-directors Marshall Hancock and Beau Palen to carefully select which play to debut.

They landed on "10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse" by acclaimed playwright Don Zolidis. The 30-minute comedy unfolds as a "how-to" guide and allows more students in be involved on the stage and in roles behind the scenes.

In mid-April, students will perform Disney's "The Little Mermaid" musical.

"Having this focus on the arts, we want to take things to the next level. We want to give kids on the northside and all over Springfield the opportunity to really focus their studies with an emphasis on the arts, building their skills," Palen said.

"It is a very special school. There is so much rich history that goes with the school. It is just super cool that Reed was chosen and we get to have this emphasis for our kids here."

The $220 million bond issue overwhelmingly approved by voters in April 2023 included nearly $60 million to build a new Reed. The old structure was demolished and a new school will be constructed on the same campus at Atlantic Street and Lyon Avenue.

For this school year and next, Reed students and staff are operating out of the former Jarrett building on Jefferson Avenue, just north of Grand Street. The new Jarrett opened on Portland Street this year.

"It was very important to me to begin building this theater program now, really going at it hard, so by the time the new building, all the shiny facilities are there and we move in, we have a strong program ... that is going to set us up for a super bright future in the arts," Palen said.

The ability to work in the former Jarrett building has special significance for Palen. His grandfather, Dan Palen, was a band teacher there before teaching music at Parkview High School at Missouri State University.

"I am excited to continue my family's legacy by contributing to the arts in SPS," said Palen, in his third year at Reed. His late grandfather later started Palen Music Center.

"It truly feels like it was meant to be," Palen said. "Every day I walk into this auditorium, I think about how he used to have band concerts here. Honoring his legacy is important to me."

Eighth-grader Emma Robbins, 13, signed up for the drama program last year.

"I thought it would be really fun to try acting and some of the other performance arts," she said.

"I have learned that it is really possible to put myself into somebody else's shoes and I can be part of a big cast like this and have fun with it."

As part of the ensemble, Robbins has a speech about the philosophy that she enjoys delivering. She said the more she practices, the more confident she feels.

"I would love to be part of more plays," she said.

Bayti Hemphill, 14, was part of the district's Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, a magnet school for fifth-graders and has "been acting for a while now."

"It's been really fun and I just really like up on stage with all my friends," she said.

The expanded focus on the arts at Reed is new. Hemphill said she is excited for students in grades 6-8 to have that experience and to move into the new building, when it opens.

"The academy part of the school is going to be a great outlet for many people," she said.

More: SPS opens new Jarrett Middle School, celebrates end of 2019 bond projects

Rehearsals for the show started a month ago. Palen, who was involved in theater as a student at Logan-Rogersville High School, said he sees teaching drama as a way to give back.

"That was very formative for me. It is very important to me to give the gift of theater and the arts to generations of kids to come," he said. "It is important. It builds leadership. It builds empathy and understanding and I want to just keep passing the gift along."

Want to go?

Theater students at the Reed Academy of Fine and Performing Arts will perform "10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse" this week. The performance directed by Beau Palen and Marshall Hancock is open to anyone in the Reed school community and the public.

Admission is $3 and all tickets are sold at the door.

The performances are 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15 and 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16 at the temporary location for Reed, 840 S. Jefferson Ave. in Springfield.

Claudette Riley covers education for the News-Leader. Email tips and story ideas to criley@news-leader.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: 'Zombie' is debut play for Reed Academy of Fine and Performing Arts