Arts school grows, magic takes CenterStage

Those in attendance will experience the wonder of magic and music together in an interactive program with music from the CenterStage All-Star Faculty Band providing the magical backdrop for the demonstration.

That the performing arts school known as CenterStage exists at all is a rather magical story unto itself. “We opened with nothing. We’re like the Phoenix. We rose out of the ashes,” said Barbara Speedling, the executive director.

A jazz vocalist, Speeding had worked with another music school in Queens which, after many years, permanently closed its doors a couple of years ago, leaving its students with no place to continue their musical studies.

A few of the teachers from the shuttered school, with support from the students and their families, pulled together and opened the new organization, working out of St. George’s Episcopal Church at 135-32 38 Ave. in Flushing.

“CenterStage is a mission for me. If we allow the arts to disappear, we’re handicapping the next generation,” Speedling said.

In addition to offering private and group classes, CenterStage, a non-profit organization, presents free concerts and musical workshops.

Throughout the school year, CenterStage offers after-school and Saturday classes for both children and adults. They will be adding a summer program.

Instruction is available on every musical instrument, covering all musical styles and students have ranged in age from three to 75.

A dance program has been added to the curriculum, with plans to open a theater program and workshops in careers in the arts.

For Speedling, one of the school’s missions is to teach the ways in which the study of music can help support the other arts. “Artists are multi-faceted, not one-dimensional,” she said, explaining that multiple genres of study enrich each other.

As for magic, she said, “It is an extension of theater. It allows you to build confidence. It helps to build character.”

During the upcoming show, several magicians affiliated with Rogue Magic and Funshop in Elmhurst will participate.

Informal interaction with shoppers will begin at noon. The actual performance will be presented twice, each show lasting an hour, beginning at 2 p.m. Between sets, the illusionists will interact with the audience and teach children how to do simple tricks “so they can take away something to show their parents,” Speedling said. Magic-related music will be provided during and between acts.

Performances continue throughout the summer. On July 31, CenterStage’s concert will feature a 17-piece traveling big band, and an Aug. 28 show will feature the school’s All-Star Faculty Band, with “different configurations of musicians as we go through the day,” Speedling said. Both concerts will take place at the mall.

For further information about the school or the performances, call (718) 321-8496.