Alicia Keys joins effort to save beloved theater program at her NYC high school

It may not be the final curtain call for the theater program at a prestigious public performing-arts school in Manhattan — thanks to alumni Alicia Keys and others stepping up to to try to help save it.

The 43-year-old “Girl on Fire” singer and rep Roc Nation have made a $60,000 donation to the Professional Performing Arts School, which also counts actors Claire Danes and Jesse Eisenberg and pop star Britney Spears among its star-powered grads.

The cash influx, confirmed by sources and first reported by Hell’s Kitchen blog W42ST.nyc, is on top of $54,000 that has been raised online by school seventh-grader Tennyson Artigliere after the student’s fundraiser had been shared by fellow alumni Jeremy Allen White, famous for his cable TV acting roles in “Shameless” and “The Bear.”

“It’s an incredible program with some incredible teachers,” White, 33, wrote on Instagram last week, according to Chalkbeat. “Please help IF YOU ARE ABLE. I have donated.”

Alicia Keys is a graduate of the Professional Performing Arts School. Bruce Glikas/Getty Images
Alicia Keys is a graduate of the Professional Performing Arts School. Bruce Glikas/Getty Images

Ariana DiLorenzo, 24, who performs music under the name Ariana and the Rose, reportedly posted that the city school is “the reason that I am a performer today,” adding PPSA “was a unique experience that shaped me as a performer and a person.”

The public high school and middle school had notified parents that its coveted theater program, run by the performing art group Waterwell, would be cut next month because of a lack of funding.

Waterwell’s director of education, Heather Lanza, blamed an “unprecedented 20% budget cut” on the dissolution of the program in a letter to parents last week, while district Superintendent Gary Beidleman claimed the group had raised their “price of the services” to an unattainable level.

Lanza reportedly said on a Zoom call with the school community last week that the program had a $102,000 shortfall.

Funding issues would cause the cancelation of the Drama One Showcase, High School Juries and Middle School Spring Concert this year, Lanza said.

Students enter the Professional Performing Arts School at 328 W. 48th St. in Manhattan last week after learning their beloved theater program would be axed. Robert Miller
Students enter the Professional Performing Arts School at 328 W. 48th St. in Manhattan last week after learning their beloved theater program would be axed. Robert Miller

Beidleman said city Department of Education teachers would still be able to provide elite dramatic-arts instruction to the budding thespians, many of whom travel for more than an hour from all over the boroughs to attend the school.

“There is a plan in place, and students will continue to receive those services, and we’ll see some Oscar winners in the next 10 years,” he said.

Neither Waterwell nor the DOE responded to Post requests for comment Monday.

Roc Nation nor reps for Keys also did not provide comment.