Miss Allen could quite appropriately be crowned the queen of Fame—both the
concept and the storylines. But what does fame mean to her?
“Well, the fame that I know, that I live every day, is a journey. It’s not a one-time
event, it’s not a show, it’s not the success of a theatre or a movie or a television
series. It’s a path. And on that path you have lots of ups, you have downs, but you
never give up your craft and the will to continue to try to get better or to explore
yourself as an artist. I mean, since I did the movie Fame, I produced a big movie
with Steven Spielberg, I’ve directed a Broadway show Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, I’m
getting ready to do a big project for the Kennedy Center right now.”
With big names comes big recognition and big respect. In the opinion of Allen,
a true performer has a list of requisites to follow in order to gain her respect.
“I think that passion and being an artist are the same,” elaborated Allen. “One
defines the other. It’s so tough to do whatever it is that you’re doing as an artist
unless you really love it. You have to be so committed. You have to be willing to be
a slave. I always say I’m a slave to my art, because it informs me. It wakes me up. It
puts me to sleep. It’s what goes through my mind every moment, other than my
family. It’s what I do.”
With the phrase “budget cut” being uttered far more often than “program
expansion” or even “student success,” Allen believes that the spirit and example of
Fame are needed now more than ever.
“I hope that these young people who are now exploring their lives in this day,
in this time, going through four years of High School of the Performing Arts in
creativity that we need in America and around the world. And also I think what I
New York, will be a real inspiration to millions of other young people around the
saw in Fame—once we did the movie and the series and we toured the world—
world—that they’ll be a guide to the educational systems around the world that
that we will see how uniting the arts can be. How it can bring so many cultures and
maybe the arts need to be a bigger part of the program. Maybe it might stimulate
different people together. That’s what I hope.”
OctOber 2009 | RAGE monthly 17
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