The Doo Wop Project at The Plaza — more than just a sold out performance

Published 2:33 pm Wednesday, February 22, 2023

EATONTON, Ga. — The Plaza Arts Center’s mission is to bring the arts to the community. Late January, TPAC achieved just that. The Doo Wop Project, a group of all Broadway stars, showed up and showed out at The Plaza.

“It was such a great show tonight,” everyone in the audience said as they left The Plaza’s front doors.

But, before the group of incredible singers wow’d the audience, they took some time with a group of local students.

The students who came to The Doo Wop Project’s sound check were all local students ranging from high school freshmen to college students. All of them are interested in pursuing a career in the arts.

“It was very fun to get to sit down and talk with Broadway professionals such as the guys from The Doo Wop project,” Anenaca Simpson, one of the students at the sound check said. “They gave us some great insight on what it’s like to be a professional in the industry.”

These talk backs and master classes are what The Plaza is all about. Bringing artists who perform on The Plaza stage to meet with, teach or answer questions from area students is what makes what The Plaza offers unique.

“The Doo Wop Project sound check/talk back was a very cool experience for myself and the PCHS students that were in attendance,” Amanda Stover, chorus teacher at Putnam County High School said. “For most of them, it was their first time seeing anything like it.”

That part, the ‘it was their first time seeing anything like it,’ is why The Plaza does what it does. That sentence is what matters to The Plaza staff, volunteers and board. It’s ultimately why The Plaza was opened to begin with.

The fact that those students got to meet and listen to professional performers, Broadway performers, is the whole point. It’s why The Plaza raises money and puts on performances — to bring the arts to this community. To show students that their dreams can in fact come true.

“…they were still talking about how awesome getting to experience the sound check, meeting the group (their favorite part) and getting to see the actual show,” Stover said. “I am grateful to the Plaza for giving my students opportunities like this one and for investing in the lives of young performers.”

The Doo Wop Project performers hail from the northern states, but all of them have one thing in common: talent. Many performed in the Broadway hit ‘The Jersey Boys,’ others had success in other hit shows and it is obvious that performing is just in their blood.

The students walked away from their talk back with the group feeling inspired.

“My experience when going to see The Doo Wop Project perform was magical,” Nevaeh Marshall, ninth-grader at Putnam County High School. “During the mic-check they were all very kind and generous and it was such a fun experience to see in person, and after their performance they even let us take pictures with them and signed our playbills. They told us to ‘keep going if we had a dream,’ and I will never forget their performance.”

Giving students these experiences is The Plaza’s mission. Reaching those young people interested in the arts is what the donations, sponsors and memberships go towards.

The Plaza is so glad to be able to spread the joy of music, performing and art with everyone for 15 years now.

For more information on The Plaza or to purchase tickets for future performances, visit plazacenter.org.