The Plaza Arts Center comes full circle with its Broadway Intensive Program as Tom and Sandra Rosseter, visionaries who helped to create the Plaza building, discuss how the program fits into their original vision for the Plaza.
The Plaza building was originally the rebuilt Eatonton school that many citizens graduated from. The building during that time was already a staple for the community having been built in only 11 months under the famous architect Charles Choke. The building would eventually grow to hold other jobs as well, but lack of funding would eventually lead to its ultimate disrepair.
“We moved to Eatonton to restore an old house and in the process of trying to meet people, I became a member of the Chamber of Commerce leadership class,” said Tom Rosseter. “In that class, I came up with the idea that we needed to have a class project, which was a little bit bigger than what most people wanted.”
The project Tom Rossetter proposed was to restore the old school building to become a place for history and the arts. When trying to decide what this place would become, Tom Rosseter spent a lot of time asking citizens what museums, auditoriums, parks and more were in Eatonton at the time. To his dismay, he learned that the very historical city had little to nothing of the variety.
“It’s an emotional sell in this town because so many went to school in the building, and it was falling down. We wanted to help preserve those memories too,” said Sandra Rosseter. “And the team worked so hard to restore the building to what it has become today.”
The vision for The Plaza was to be an open auditorium and open space that could hold large productions, house historical items, and give a place for the community to meet and foster memories together.
“My vision of this building was to have a first-class Auditorium where we would attract things like the Washington Ballet symphony or the Broadway productions and we would have outdoor events,” said Tom Rosseter. “We wanted to do something that would bring things to this community that they would never be exposed to otherwise.”
The Broadway Intensive was introduced to The Plaza building last year when it partnered with The Arts Barn to bring a Broadway star in to perform with local youth and create a production under professional guidance.
“The Broadway intensive is wonderful because young people are being highlighted and are performing with a professional. Some of those performers will be Broadway stars one day and that talent is just amazing,” said Sandra Rosseter. “We liked the idea that The Plaza is partnering with others like The Arts Barn and with OPAS and bringing in talent that inspires our young youth. We think this is what the founding team had in mind when creating The Plaza.”
Tom and Sandra Rossetter both attended the Broadway Intensive Program production of “Once Upon A Mattress” last year and were left in awe.
“We told the team this last year, but when Tom was leaving the show, he remarked that ‘Tonight was exactly what the founding members dreamed about as we worked to restore the school and build The Plaza,’” said Sandra Rosseter.
The pair explained that the Broadway Intensive Program is so unique and special for The Plaza because it allows a wide range of ages to perform from young teens to college-aged students, everything is prepared professionally and put on in only two weeks and the joy when everyone performs was more than evident.
“It gives these kids a chance to present their talent, be exposed to Broadway, and use this facility in full from the lighting to the sound and more,” said Tom Rosseter. “Another part of what we wanted to do with the building was to make sure that there were places that people could come in and present their talent and grow. And now we've done and to watch these young people perform is unbelievable.”
Sandra and Tom Rosseter have bought tickets for this year’s Broadway Intensive Program production of “Godspell” and are excited to see how much the program has grown over the last year.
“We have our tickets and are bringing friends too,” said Sandra Rosseter. “I hope everyone comes out to see what the program has created and watch our youth as they showcase their talent.”