History of PAA

In 2000 a local church had a very small summer theatre program for children, mainly made up of children from the church. Their repertoire basically was religious in nature and they performed mainly in the summer and at Christmas.   The program began to grow to include children from the community and was renamed the Children’s Community Theatre. This outreach of the church was under the helm of the music director, Nina Markle, and the children’s director, Dawn Cooke.

Markle, who was a retired music specialist, possessed a master’s degree in vocal performance, had a rich background in theatre, both as a director and performer and worked side by side with Cooke who had a degree in education with a specialty in pre-school and an accomplished pianist. The two determined there was a need for an expansion of the theatre program and a need for private and group instruction for children in the Middletown area. In 2008 the vision for the Performing Arts Academy was born.

The faith-based, non profit organization began in a downtown church with a healthy Children’s Community Theatre and a handful of voice and piano students. Quickly the Academy began to grow, forcing them to find another building to accommodate the numbers of new students.

In 2009, PAA moved to the New Covenant Church and has increased to 200 plus students, 14 instructors in voice, piano, guitar, clarinet, saxophone, percussion, flute, lower brass, strings and also provides group lessons in voice, piano, theatre and guitar.

In 2010, PAA, with increased growth, again has outgrown the facility and is now looking for a permanent place to continue teaching and accommodate their students. Children and adults come from 13 different communities to perform and study at the academy. Four age appropriate theatres are in session and occasionally an adult production of the opera, “Amahl and the Night Visitors” is performed at Christmas.

The academy has an active board of directors, is a 50lc3 organization and welcomes students to embrace the arts with excellence.