Jessica Spires doesn't really know much about Broadway, and not too many fourth-graders in Aiken County do.
Yet, the East Aiken School of the Arts student and her friends brought Broadway to Aiken with a performance of "Annie's KIDS." Jessica played the title role.
"I just like acting," she said with a big smile.
The production also included children from East Aiken who take after-school lessons in vocal, instrumental and dance programs. The show even had a Broadway feel to it. At least 500 family members and other guests poured into Cedar Creek Church's sanctuary on Thursday, enthusiastically applauding the efforts of about 150 kids - a quarter of the school's enrollment.
Kristin Stancel, the mother of first-grader Anna, was delighted to watch her daughter perform in ballet and hip-hop dances.
"I didn't expect anything of this caliber," Stancel said. "The whole production was absolutely phenomenal. I was in high school drama, but to have kids like this in elementary school was fantastic."
The concept of an arts-integrated school at East Aiken emerged in 2002. That approach grew incrementally over the next seven years, when the Aiken County Board of Education formally agreed to designate East Aiken into a school of the arts.
Earlier this month, Board members added that East Aiken is now a magnet school.
Art teacher Carrie Power thanked Cedar Creek for its support of the school in offering its facility and making available its lights and sound equipment. Other key changes this year were the additions of drama teacher Christian Sturgis and dance teacher Adrienne Robinson. Sturgis directed "Annie," and Robinson served as the choreographer.
"The sky's the limit," said music teacher Megan Jensen. "We're going beyond anything we dreamed of before. I loved 'Schoolhouse Rock' (in December), but the kids loved 'Annie.' Now it's a magnet school. That makes it really special, reaching kids who may not get this opportunity outside of school."
The other cast members in "Annie" were Cassidy Iverson, Keyonna Priester, Christa Copley, Caylin Kight, Lily Lotz, A'jiauna Gordon, Te'Andra Brunson, Drew Winburn, Ricardo Gil, Logan Perkins, John Fogle, Cole Fulmer, Valerie Ziel, Isabella Reesor, Rylee McIntosh, Javaris Lightsey, Kameron Gardner, Jaheam Gomillion, Lushon Hatcher and Tristan Russell.
East Aiken's after-school program instructors are Tom Calhoun, Jahnell Williams, Karman Owens, Bryant Allen, Tonya Johnson and Jeff Pruitt.
Dr. Sandra Field, a retired USC Aiken vocal instructor and a co-founder of the Juilliard in Aiken program, taught music teacher Jensen in college.
"I just couldn't be more proud of the school and what she has done with the program," said Field. "The school is just a testimony of what an arts curriculum can do for the kids."
Like his classmates and everyone else involved with the production, Rylee McIntosh never imagined he would find dance, theater, drama and other opportunities so enjoyable.
"They say you can't find a career when you're a kid," Kylee said. "But once you're in this school, you can find that dream."
Senior writer Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter and has been with the newspaper since September 2001. He is a native of Walterboro and majored in journalism at the University of Georgia.