Rehearsals have begun at Milton High School for their production of THE DROWSY CHAPERONE. This show will perform March 14-17, directed by Renee Denney and music directed by Leigh Ann Shaw. The cast is full of experienced high schoolers, some of whom also appeared in Milton's successful production of HAIRSPRAY in spring 2011. It will feature choreography by the Off-Broadway choreographer and acclaimed tap dancer Jen MacQueen, who choreographed the recent Atlanta production of A Chorus Line at Aurora Theatre, for which she received a BroadwayWorld (Atlanta) Award Nomination for Best Choreography in a Musical.
Jen MacQueen has workshopped new tap pieces for, shared the bill with, and performed alongside many well-known tappers, such as Savion Glover, Brenda Bufalino, Barbara Duffy, Gregory Hines, Harold Nicholas (of the Nicholas Brothers), Buster Brown, Baakari Wilder, Josh Hilberman, Ayodele Casel, Tony Waag and Lady Di Walker, plus many others. Jen honed her skills as a rhythm tap teacher and choreographer while she danced professionally with The Tap Collective, a rhythm tap company in New York.
Past performance credits include: Pre-Broadway: Laura (title role) and Frankenstein – The Musical . Off-Broadway: Be, New Faces, Fear Of, Vaudeville 2000, That Other Woman’s Child and The Elegance and Comedy of Tap at New York’s Town Hall Theatre . Off-Off Broadway: A Birthday Surprise, Sky Over Ninevah, Paradise Lost, Take A Chance and Steps Beyond. National Tours: Promises Promises. Recent Regional Theatre: Chicago, Phantom, Anything Goes, Guys and Dolls, Godspell, Sophisticated Ladies, Smoke On the Mountain, The Sanders’ Family Christmas and The 1940’s Radio Hour.
Past choreography credits include: Off-Broadway: Be, New Faces of 2001, Fear Of, Vaudeville 2000 and The Elegance and Comedy of Tap. Off-Off Broadway: Cannibal: The Musical, A Birthday Surprise, Mag Mor and The Broadway Dance Performance Outlet. National Tours: Red Hot and Cole and Promises Promises (tap sections). Recent Regional Theatre: Singin’ in the Rain, Shrew: The Musical, Disney’s Beauty & the Beast, Smokey Joe’s Café, Cabaret, Annie Get Your Gun, Fiddler On the Roof, Chicago, A Year With Frog & Toad, The It Girl, Guys & Dolls, Pete ‘n’ Keely, 4 Guys Named Jose, Das Barbecu, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Evening of Fosse, The World Goes ‘Round, Pippin, Christmas Canteen, Company, The 1940’s Radio Hour, and A Chorus Line.
For the past 15+ years, Jen has taught workshops and set works all over the United States. She substitute taught for her teachers and mentors while in New York, and now teaches master classes sporadically around choreography and performance gigs. Jen has won a total of 11 Spotlight Awards for her work as both a choreographer and performer in New York, has been nominated four consecutive years for Suzi Bass Awards here in Atlanta, and has recently won two Woodie Awards for her work on The World Goes Round and Pippin. She also owns the Tap That rhythm tap dance studio and is a dance professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. Visit www.tapthat.biz for more information.
