During the summer of 2021, our intern Alexa Halim (Dance ’21) interviewed four former and current faculty members of Kinder HSPVA who had either taught with or attended each of the school’s three campuses to learn as much as she could about the last fifty years of HSPVA.
The 2021-2022 school year marks the 50th anniversary of Kinder HSPVA. In 1971, the school opened its doors at Temple Beth Israel, where the HSPVA culture was cultivated until we moved to Montrose in 1982. There, the iconic black and white checkerboard floors throughout the school provided the (quite literal) foundation of the journey of countless young artists until January 2019, when we moved into a state-of-the-art building downtown. Despite all of these changes, the essence of HSPVA has remained constant, and who better to speak on the evolution than those who have learned and taught at all three campuses? I spoke with Pat Bonner (Vocal Music Faculty, 1973-2019), and current faculty-alumni Julia Hall (Vocal ‘77), Janie Carothers, née Jordan (Dance ‘84), and Warren Sneed (Jazz ‘78).
Original Campus
3517 Austin Street
The steps of the synagogue. The stained glass Star of David on the ceiling. The outdoor courtyard and its triangle stage. The beautiful architecture in Levy Hall, specifically the staircase. The giant dance studio with huge windows.
Back in the 70s, the school was very experimental. “You could kinda do anything because we didn’t really have a basis. Creativity had no bounds,” Mrs. Carothers explained. With that environment, traditions like “Happenings” were created. As opposed to the structured and scheduled Happenings that occur today, “Happenings literally just happened,” said Ms. Hall. Mr. Sneed added, “One difference between the original campus and the other campuses was that the Happenings took place outside. Also, while the Happenings seemed to be student-run primarily, occasionally some of our “official” school groups would perform as well. I remember playing a number of times with our big bands (under the direction of the one and only Doc Morgan). Seems like I remember seeing the Young Performers (under the direction of Ms. Bonner) perform on that outdoor stage as well.” About the courtyard, Ms. Hall remembers, “We ate lunch out there. We did everything out there. […] It was all about performance.”
And there were many performances. Pat Bonner recalls a concert done in memory of a student. The choir and orchestra performed classical choral works and a big dedication, with spiritual essays and dancers. In Ms. Hall’s senior year, she performed in the all-school musical Wonderful Town. “We had a lot of fun. Mrs. Lappe put me in a dance number. And for Mrs. Lappe to notice how fast I could learn a routine and how well I danced, it was a big deal for me.” Performances in the Denney back when Mrs. Hall was a student were quite a different experience. Before the theatre was renovated to have a proscenium stage during her senior year, “it was still a synagogue bema. The dressing rooms had Christmas lights.”
The beloved Spaghetti Supper benefit for the music departments was birthed at this campus. Mrs. Carothers loved how the audience was able to go around to different spaces to see each ensemble perform, and just like at Montrose, the Vocal Music department took over the dance studios. Ms. Bonner remembers having to go around the city to collect old refrigerator boxes to cover the dance floor. For her, Spaghetti Suppers were nothing short of eventful. At the inaugural fundraiser in October of ‘73, “I sat down to talk with a friend. When I was in college, I fell and dislocated my shoulder, and from time to time, it would come out of place. We were sitting down there, and I turned and the shoulder jumped out of socket. I ended up in the emergency room!”
The 70s were a different time. “We didn’t wear shoes. We were kind of the outsiders in a way. … We went to PVA because we wanted to do our art and couldn’t see ourselves at a normal high school,” says Mrs. Hall.
HSPVA began with Ruth Denney’s persistent asks of HISD to start a school with arts training, but not much funding was available. The performing and visual arts school managed to form among different buildings: The synagogue became the space for drama classes and performances. Levy Memorial Hall was home to dance and instrumental music. The courtyard was converted into outdoor classrooms and a performance space. The Mendelssohn education building housed visual arts and even more academic classrooms. HSPVA even shared classrooms with the Houston Technical Institute! After persevering the first few years with “students running between buildings throughout the day,” as Mr. Sneed recalls, the school was granted the land where the former Montrose Elementary School stood, and 4001 Stanford Street became home.
Montrose
4001 Stanford Street
The gray cement exterior. Windowless classrooms. The spacious Commons. The ceiling covered in flags from around the globe. The double staircase. The outdoor classroom. The ever-changing marquee. The black-and-white checkerboard floors.
The move to Montrose symbolized the unification of the student body. Ms. Bonner remembers it being nice to have everyone under one roof, instead of running between buildings. The beloved Denney theatre and Commons were the hub of campus. Impromptu Happenings continued to be and DJ Fridays became beloved traditions. There was constant sound everywhere.
The move required a lot of adapting, as the students performed musicals and concerts in the iconic Commons. The first musical at Montrose Dames at Sea converted the stairs into the ship, and the audience sat at tables. The next year Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat was in the Black Box with Ms. Bonner conducting the orchestra in the hallway. The move didn’t come without its mishaps. Ms. Bonner recalls: “We were [at school] on weekends to get in some extra rehearsals for Dames at Sea the first couple of weeks. The very first weekend we were not on the campus, a pipe on the second floor above music broke. […] That flooded all those rooms down there. We just moved in! It ran down so long, it had run into the pit. We had to come in with boots and vacuums and everything to dry out that carpet.” (A not-so-distant memory for those who experienced the often-leaking Montrose campus at the end of its life!)
A now long-lost tradition at PVA was “interim.” Back when the school day was longer and academics were less structured, students took classes like visual arts, speedwriting, and bridge (a class Mrs. Carothers never forgot) for two weeks after winter break. Academic teachers decided what they wanted to teach, and students were in their art area for two hours. Musicals had a shotgun rehearsal process, with rehearsals after lunch until six during interim.
Though interim granted additional freedom, the years spent on the Montrose campus witnessed an evolution of HSPVA towards a modern structure — both in terms of space and curriculum — needed to provide rigorous training in the arts. To keep up with the ever-changing world, a new campus was needed.
Downtown
790 Austin Street
The impossible-to-miss giant HSPVA letters. The huge Denney Theatre. The fancy Recital Hall. Classrooms with windows! The endless sound-proof practice rooms. The double-height Studios A/B. The outdoor terrace with stone tiles that pay homage to the checkerboard floors of Montrose.
After almost twenty-five years of false starts, HSPVA finally made the highly-anticipated move to downtown in the spring of 2019. Ms. Bonner recalls being so excited to just have ROOM. The new Denney Theatre was beautiful, something she says would make Ruth Denney proud. Every department was now able to have storage, and students gained access to state-of-the-art equipment. The recital hall (officially the Patricia Bonner Recital Hall!) was a beautiful new venue for the music departments, and Studios A/B gave the Dance Department a wealth of space (and windows ;)).
All the excitement was quickly translated into breathtaking performances. The Vocal Winter Concert was the first concert in the Denney, which was able to utilize the beautiful new orchestral shell. FELA! was the first musical on that stage, which had Mrs. Hall feeling very proud of her student Preston Parker (Vocal ‘19) who played the lead. The 2020 Spring Dance Concert became a special performance for Mrs. Carothers, as it was the last show on the Denney stage before the pandemic. When news of school’s cancellation was announced, the dancers were warming up for the show. All of us dancers were incredibly saddened to know their second concert could not take place, but instead of dwelling on the devastating circumstances, Mrs. Carothers said, “It really brought everyone together. We were already ready to have a concert, but [the situation] made it really special.”
After teaching students at all three campuses, Ms. Bonner says, “[HSPVA] has evolved into what Mrs. Denney really wanted. […] What I think is the best thing is that HSPVA is a state-of-the-art performing arts school now and prepares students not only for those who want to go into the performing arts but for those who need the discipline and can now go into anything they want to do. […] They got exposure to all kinds of the arts. The thing that I really really like here is that there’s the opportunity to do more. To do more outreach. We have the various Diversity Series that started in the previous campus. … There’s the opportunity to reach out to more kids, which we’re doing by accepting more students and reaching out to more students. I think students, if they are given the opportunity […], they will get the discipline that will take them all through life. How to work with people, how to express yourself, how to prepare yourself for college or for a career. […] The arts make people more empathetic.”
Even as HSPVA moved to different campuses and experienced a lot of changes, Ms. Bonner notes that the closeness of the students has continued. Students always come back, and many remain close supporters of HSPVA, “like Robert Glasper, who frequently returns to give jazz masterclasses, and Jason Moran, who has worked with a few art areas and gives annual summer and college scholarships for jazz students,” Mr. Sneed remarks. For Ms. Hall, the philosophy of the school and the sense of personal and artistic growth that is coming for students has always carried forward. Mrs. Carothers holds close the feeling of “how lucky we are to have a space to do what we love. To feel nurtured. Not shamed.” And as HSPVA celebrates its 50th anniversary, I asked the four educators what their predictions and hopes are for the next fifty years:
What are your hopes for the next 50 years?
Mrs. Carothers: “I hope that it continues to be a place for kids to feel safe and to express themselves and learn who they are. They may not learn it here. It may take them going to college, but I at least had the foundation. […] I hope we always have HSPVA Friends, and I hope that it always has an administration and faculty that love the arts and kids.”
Ms. Bonner: “Will we still be in this building? … Technology will change. Lots of things will change with students. We have to change with the building, so we don’t have to tear it down. We would hope that the closeness and the arts are still supported by the district, the parents, and the alumni, but not only here. I’m just hoping that more and more arts will become available to students in elementary and middle school.”
Mr. Sneed: “I hope we’ll always hear jazz playing in the hallways. That constant music can always be heard from classrooms, stairwells, and even the street!
Mrs. Hall: “That we evolve but that we also keep who we are.”
