Four Teen Performers Unite for the Future of The Gateway Playhouse

This December, you could have seen Avery Allen, Keira Ballan, Madison Beehner, and Thea Belle Flanzer tapping their hearts out at the Patchogue Theater in Elf the Musical. Now the girls are banding together to raise money for their home away from home, The Gateway Playhouse. They are selling 200 face scarves with the iconic Gateway logo on them and 100% of the proceeds will go to the Gateway to the Future Fund.

The Gateway Playhouse has been staging Broadway-caliber productions for over seventy years, making it Long Island's oldest professional theater. Gateway is also home to the nationally-acclaimed haunted house, Gateway's Haunted Playhouse. The Gateway School for the Performing Arts, run by Michael Baker, is home to over 300 students. Many members of the acting school have gone on to star in National Tours, Broadway shows, TV series, and feature films.

This face covering sale will be the third event for Thea's organization: The Artist Alignment. Last May, Thea was able to raise over $8,000 for the Pediatric Orthopedic Research Fund at Columbia University through The Artist Alignment: Shine for the Spines, a cabaret fundraiser at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall in Riverhead. Thea and Avery Allen collaborated this fall to raise $4,680 for World Central Kitchen's Hurricane Dorian Relief project through The Artist Alignment: Raffles for Relief.

Avery Allen is a sophomore at Westhampton Beach High School and a member of the dance company at Stage Door School of Dance in East Patchogue. She has performed at many dance competitions throughout the East Coast and enjoys trips to NYC to take classes with her favorite teachers at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway. Avery is also a student of the Gateway School for the Performing Arts.

Madison Beehner is a junior and honors student at Our Lady of Mercy Academy and a proud student of the Gateway School of the Performing Arts. She has been performing since she was 3, and has been studying at the Gateway for almost 6 years, as well as taking classes at Stage Door School of Dance. She is so happy to give back to Gateway after everything that the acting school has done for her!

Keira Ballan is a freshman at Bellport High School and has been a proud Gateway Acting School student since she was 7. She is so grateful to be able to help Gateway through this hard time after everything it means to her. She sends her love to all her friends and teachers at Gateway, and can't wait until this is all over and they can be back together again!

Thea Belle Flanzer has been training at the Gateway School of Performing Arts since she was five-years-old, and has performed in professional shows at The Gateway Playhouse and off-Broadway. Thea will be attending Georgetown University in the fall.

Gateway is currently looking to raise $100,000 to help them through the struggle of canceling their summer season.

There are only 200 masks being sold, so place your orders soon! You can get 1 mask for $30 and 2 masks for $50. Long Island Screen Printing helped the girls produce the masks.

For more information about The Artist Alignment, please email theartistalignment@gmail.com.

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