Upstairs from Town Hall, in the heart of Broadway's theater district, the Repertory Company High School for Theatre Arts provides a small school setting for artistic kids. Although it used to be an alternative school for kids who floundered at large, impersonal city schools, it is now a regular 9-12 school, for which students must audition for admission. The arts are a hook to keep kids coming to school, according to school staff, but there is a renewed emphasis on academics as well. Indeed, a curriculum specialist, Maureen Kenny, was hired in September 2006 to increase the school's academic rigor.

Teachers and students congregate in the cafeteria that serves as Repertory's center. There is a large dance studio and a very large "shadow box" theater where students perform classroom exercises and also put on plays. Academic class size is kept low  a good thing since classrooms are small and cramped. There is a state-of-the-art science lab with a well supplied prep room. A new computer lab and library have been installed on the top floor.

We saw a lively foreign language class conducted entirely in Spanish by an energetic teacher who is also a dance instructor. An English class was busy writing to business and government leaders whom students had interviewed for career advice. A global studies class was using computers to research famous philosophers. Kids were engaged in their academic work in most classes, but there was a definite lack of enthusiasm in a few classrooms.

Much more enthusiasm was seen in the theater arts classes, which include singing and dancing as well as acting, playwriting and stagecraft. Classes are augmented by trips to the Roundabout Theater, American Place Theater, and other cultural institutions. Every six weeks the whole school attends performances. One recent excursion was to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The students prepared by studying the life and work of the company's founder. After the performance, they wrote reviews, created their own dance and made a DVD of it for the New York State Council on the Arts.

According to the very knowledgeable guidance counselor, Joyce Tonge, there are special arrangements for academically outstanding students, including a partnership with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School where kids may take Advanced Placement classes. One student who did "brilliantly in math" and had a high PSAT score was placed in a course at Columbia University School of Engineering. Another student learned conservation techniques in a program at the Museum of Modern Art.

A grant from the New York State Council on the Arts supports a book club for parents who read and discuss the same books their children read in class. Books included The Color Purple by Alice Walker and Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Parents also attend their children's performances regularly. With its extensive stage related offerings, one would expect seniors to have their eye on a theatrical career. Instead, in a senior English class, only two students planned to continue in theater, others were choosing business, psychology and nursing as careers. At the dance studio, we encountered a student who decided to pursue electrical engineering, so he can extend his introduction to stage lighting into broader areas. Some kids also arrived with no special interest in the arts: they were sent by the Department of Education to fill empty seats without regard to talent or interest. According to the guidance counselor, the administration now plans to make sure all seats are filled with kids who choose to be here.

Despite the creative bent of the school, kids are supposed to wear gray and burgundy uniforms. There were not too many wearing them the day we visited, and this attracted the disapproval of the principal, Michael Mehmet.

Special education: The school offers Special Education Teacher Support Services.

Admissions: The school requires an audition. However, in recent years not enough students auditioned to fill the seats. The school plans more outreach to encourage students to apply.

College Admissions: The guidance counselor said the graduation rate has increased in recent years and predicted that the 2007 graduation rate would be 70%. She said that most graduates go on to college, either two year or four year schools. (Judy Baum, May 2007)