(BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ) -- Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts (WIPA) has announced that world-renowned Broadway stars and music industry veterans Capathia Jenkins, Marissa McGowan, Michael Mendez, Pam Sousa, Michael Keller, and Doug LaBrecque will join the line-up of Performing Arts School faculty to participate in “Wednesday Webinars at Wharton,” a series of weekly one-hour virtual workshops exploring what it means to have a career in the professional musical theatre world, including the sharing of personal experiences, behind-the-scene stories, tips, training, and more. Proceeds from the nine-week webinar series will benefit the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts Scholarship Fund.

“Especially in these challenging times, Wharton Arts sees it as its duty to expand its footprint by bringing our offerings online,” said Peter H. Gistelinck, Executive Director of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts. “Our ‘Wednesday Webinars at Wharton’ provide unique opportunities for students of all ages across the country to learn directly from some of the best artists in the musical theater industry,” said Helen H. Cha-Pyo, Artistic Director of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts.

The first event will take place on Wednesday, July 1 and will feature an intimate conversation with American actress and singer Capathia Jenkins, best known for her work as a Broadway performer with roles in shows such as Caroline, or Change, Newsies, and Martin Short's Fame Becomes Me. Stage favorites Marissa McGowan (Kiss Me Kate) and Michael Mendez (Chaplin, Grease) will appear together on July 15. Broadway dancer and choreographer Pam Sousa (A Chorus Line), a player in the original Bob Fosse production of Pippin, will follow on August 5, Broadway music contractor and drummer Michael Keller (music contractor for the legendary Marvin Hamlisch) on August 12, and Broadway veteran Doug LaBrecque (Phantom of the Opera) will appear on August 19.

Each weekly webinar will be hosted on Zoom on Wednesday afternoons, July 1- August 26, from 4-5PM EST. Tickets are available online for $20 ($10 for Wharton Arts students). For more information, call (908) 790-0700 or email info@whartonarts.org.

The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts’ mission is to provide the highest quality performing arts education to a wide range of students in a supportive and inclusive environment, where striving for personal excellence inspires and connects those we teach to the communities we serve.

Wharton is New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community performing arts education center serving over 1,500 students through a range of classes and ensembles including the 15 ensembles of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, which serve 500 students in grades 3 – 12 by audition. Beginning with Out of the Box Music and Pathways classes for young children, Wharton offers private lessons, group classes, and ensembles for all ages and all abilities at the Performing Arts School. With the belief in the positive and unifying influence of music and the performing arts and that arts education should be accessible to all people regardless of their ability to pay, Wharton teaches all instruments and voice and has a robust musical theater program. Based in Paterson, New Jersey, the Paterson Music Project is an El Sistema-inspired program of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts that uses music as a vehicle for social change by empowering and inspiring children through the community experience of ensemble learning and playing.

Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts is located in Berkeley Heights, New Providence and Paterson, NJ and reaches students from 10 counties. All of Wharton’s extraordinary faculty members and conductors hold degrees in their teaching specialty and have been vetted and trained to enable our students to achieve their personal best.