Middle Performing Arts Center Celebrates 20th Anniversary

COURT HOUSE – Just in time for the holidays, Middle Township’s Performing Arts Center (PAC) celebrated its 20th anniversary with the gift of a behind the scenes tour of the inner workings of what makes magical moments for performers and audiences alike.
Prior to a free concert given by the facility to thank audiences for their support over the past two decades, tour guides led guest into dressing rooms, onto the stage, across catwalks and behind glass lighting windows towering over the 1,000 seat theater. Tour takers also had a chance to sit behind soundboards to see what it takes to make performances sound flawless.
Volunteer tour guide Madison Benzell, a 2011 alumnus of Middle Township High School, literally showed visitors the ropes as she talked about the backstage rigging. Benzell, now a freshman at Philadelphia University majoring in Finance, started volunteering at the PAC after her graduation, prior to that her expertise was onstage as a performer.
“This is underneath the pit,” she said standing in front of three massive screw-like columns that move the orchestra pit up to stage level or down to allow more room on stage. She showed how safety sensors prevent accidents from happening while the pit is being raised or lowered. Benzell shared her PAC acumen as she took tourists throughout the facility.
The PAC was built to function as both the high school’s auditorium as well as a performance center for Cape May County, said Kay Aspell, PAC director. Performances ranging for school plays to Broadway-like shows have all seen the lights of the center’s stage.
Financing for the center comes predominantly from booking fees, said Aspell, with supplemental funding coming from the Middle Township Board of Education.
Aspell, the PAC’s third director in its 20 years, said maintenance on the center helps keep it in tiptop condition.
“We keep after it. We have to keep after it,” she said. “Things wear out.”
This year found the main stage curtain replaced as well as the stage reprocessed. Minor work to the pit lift was also performed.
“It all takes money,” said the director.
Aspell said the mission of the PAC remains the same as it was 20 years ago; to serve as an auditorium for the high school plus bring the arts and cultural events to the community of Middle Township.
“I’ve been curious about what happens backstage,” said Joan Purchase of Court House at the end of the tour. Purchase and her husband are regular patrons of the PAC for most of its two decades.
“It’s such an asset to the community,” she said. “I’m so glad it’s here.”