NASHUA – Growing up, Mark Hodgkins wanted to perform and turn his passion for singing and acting into a career.
That plan didn’t work out quite the way he’d hoped, however, and so, when he saw the play “Billy Elliot” in London years ago, it struck a chord.
“Here’s a story about a kid who wanted to dance, and I was seeing it while fulfilling one of my lifelong dreams,” he said. “I just fell in love with the story; it fit very closely with my own dreams.”
And so, when picking a name for his new private school in downtown Nashua, which will focus on arts education, he knew he wanted to honor that story, and its meaning in his life.
Hodgkins and his business partner, Jacqui Orphanos, hope to open the Williams School for the Creative and Performing Arts in the Gate City in the fall of 2013.
The school will feature a 200-day school year, extended school day, and community-based learning experiences. Students must audition to attend the school.
The school also will offer a full middle and high school education to area students, with an intense focus on the arts. While students will be given the chance to explore different art classes in their middle school years, high school students will choose areas of concentrations.
It’s a school built out of their passions, the founders said.
“I gave up that artistic dream, but I nurtured it my kids,” Orphanos said.![]()
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