Performing with Love
Jennifer Fleck
Newport, OR
Butterflies, excitement, and happiness-three of the many things I feel before I go on stage in front of the community. The Newport Performing Arts Center, known by locals as the P.A.C, in historic Nye Beach, overlooks the beautiful ocean. It is my second home; I’ve grown up in that magical theater.
I first appeared on the P.A.C stage as a moth. I was four years old and dancing in The Snow Queen. Through the course of the past ten years I appeared in thirteen plays, and ten dance performances, all at the Performing Arts Center. Taming of the Shrew was the most memorable for me. I was the lead, Katherine the shrew, and it was a middle school play, but the coastal community of Newport is so close knit and supportive we were able to perform and rehearse at the P.A.C.
The P.A.C made strangers friends, friend’s family, and family closer. Not only am I connected to the building but all the people that form a deep indestructible bond. With a mix of late night rehearsals all day camps, and performances, I spend about a quarter of each year there. I know my way around the auditorium, and the lobby. I know almost every nook, cranny, and hidden room associated with the P.A.C. It’s a part of my heart, my life, my Oregon.
