Professional Children's School

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Professional Children's School is a unique college preparatory school founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an education to young people working on the New York stage, in Vaudeville, or "on the road." While today's students also include classical and popular musicians, television and movie actors, ballet dancers and athletes, the school's mission remains the same: to provide a college preparatory education especially designed for young people pursuing challenging goals that may require time away from school to attend a competition, shoot a movie, or prepare for a recital.

PCS is an independent day school currently enrolling 185 students in grades 6-12 from 17 states and 11 foreign countries. PCS values the importance of classroom learning, and regularly scheduled classes meet weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Students are required to attend class and, in fact, the vast majority of PCS students are present on most school days. However, should the need arise, students may be excused from class for valid professional reasons.

In the Beginning

Professional Children's School was founded by two reform-minded New Yorkers, Jane Harris Hall and Jean Greer Robinson. Ardent theatre-goers, the women learned of the plight of the city's professional children - young people working on the New York stage. Public and private schools of the day would not or could not accommodate the schedules of stage children and, more often than not, children were simply skipping school to work on the stage. Some reformers talked of banning children from the stage entirely. Determined to help these "unknown friends on the other side of the footlights," as Mrs. Robinson would later write, the women decided to found a school especially for New York's professional children. On January 6, 1914 PCS admitted its first two students in a rented room in the theatre district. An immediate success, the school enrolled over 100 students within its first year.

Broadway's Little Red School House

By the 1930's, PCS was renting 3 floors in a commercial building at 1860 Broadway at 61st Street. "You would never dream the stern-faced skyscraper was Broadway's little red schoolhouse, wrote the Associated Press. Children were now respected members of "the profession" and roles for children were commonplace on Broadway. "One suspects that the chief reason for this general excellence is the existence of an organization known as the Professional Children's School," wrote Playbill Magazine in 1949. Some of the many shows featuring PCS students included Annie Get Your Gun, Carousel, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Children's Hour, I Remember Mama, The King and I, Life With Father, Member of the Wedding, South Pacific, Peter Pan and The Sound of Music.

A Room of One's Own

After 40 years of renting space, PCS acquired its own 7-story building on West 60th Street in 1956, across the street from the proposed Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The school's new neighbor had a profound effect on PCS and launched a nationwide interest in the performing arts. By the late 1960's PCS students studying ballet and classical music outnumbered actors and entertainers. PCS students continued to make theatre history in Annie, Beauty and the Beast, Camelot, Fiddler on the Roof, Into the Woods, Les Miserables, The Lion King, Ragtime and The Secret Garden.

Contents 1 Notable alumni 1.1 Actors/actresses 1.2 Dance 1.3 Music 1.4 Sports 2 References 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Actors/actresses

Brooke Adams Adam Arkin Mischa Barton Bonnie Bedelia Milton Berle Peter Billingsley Tempestt Bledsoe Joan Blondell Jordana Brewster Eric Brown Irene Cara Phoebe Cates Holly Marie Combs Ashton Chen Kieran Culkin Macaulay Culkin Rory Culkin

Sandra Dee Donald Faison Carrie Fisher Helen Gallagher Sarah Michelle Gellar Elliot Gould Todd Graff Anthony Michael Hall Amy Irving Scarlett Johansson Carol Kane Ruby Keeler Jane Krakowski[1]

Ricki Lake Peggy Lipton[2] Lorna Luft Sidney Lumet Jena Malone Rose Marie Mazetta Taylor Momsen Jerry O'Connell Donald O'Connor Jennifer O'Neill Sarah Jessica Parker Dick Van Patten Martha Plimpton[3] Tara Reid Christina Ricci Eden Riegel

Christian Slater John Spencer Julia Stiles Susan Strasberg Uma Thurman Ashley Tisdale Janine Turner Leslie Uggams Christopher Walken Nancy Walker Malcolm-Jamal Warner Tuesday Weld

[edit] Dance

• Fernando Bujones
• Charlotte d'Amboise
• Suzanne Farrell
• Eliot Feld
• Gelsey Kirkland
• Darci Kistler

[edit] Music

• Anastacia
• Emanuel Ax
• Vanessa Carlton
• Stephanie Chase
• Marvin Hamlisch
• Cho-Liang Lin
• Yo-Yo Ma
• Midori Goto
• Buddy Rich
• Beverly Sills^[4]
• Pinchas Zuckerman
• Hahn-Bin
• Jessie Baylin

[edit] Sports

• Carol Heiss
• Josh Waitzkin

[edit] References

1. ^ "Taking a Bough". People. 1998-07-20. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20125812,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-09. 
2. ^ Berkvist, Robert. "'Bored? Creatively I'm Bored, But...'", The New York Times, March 19, 1972. Accessed September 15, 2008.
3. ^ Ryzik, Melena. "So Odd, but Lately in Classic Fashion", The New York Times, November 25, 2007. Accessed November 25, 2007. "ON a break from rehearsals for “Cymbeline” at Lincoln Center Martha Plimpton dashed outside for a cigarette and immediately ran into a classmate from her alma mater, the nearby Professional Children’s School."
4. ^ Tommasini, Anthony. "Beverly Sills, All-American Diva With Brooklyn Roots, Is Dead at 78", The New York Times, July 4, 2007. Accessed November 6, 2007. "But her father put an end to her child-star career when she was 12 so that she could concentrate on her education at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and the Professional Children's School in Manhattan."

[edit] See also

• Professional Performing Arts School
• Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts

[edit] External links

• Official site