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In Memorium

There’s a chair in the auditorium that bears a small plaque. It’s the only one of its kind here, just as the woman who inspired it was one of a kind. Long-time high school choreographer Fran Cocozza passed away February 23rd. She had a guiding hand in many of the stories acted or sung in this auditorium during the past 20 years. I had the pleasure of working with Fran for nearly 20 years. From The Sound of Music to Into the Woods, from Grease to The Secret Garden, from Oklahoma! to The Pirates of Penzance, Fran showed herself to be an artist. She’d adapt her style and training to the show at hand, doing tap, soft shoe, ballet, waltz, tango, jitterbug, jazz; whatever was needed, Fran tried it. Fran loved large cast musicals - one of my favorite productions with Fran was 1995’s The Wizard of Oz with a cast of 150, made up of students from every school in the district (Fran was a superb “munchkin wrangler”) - and she loved to teach. One of the many stories I’ll remember about Fran was sneaking into the auditorium during a blizzard for an extra rehearsal with one of the principals who had a solo in Kiss Me Kate, Fran’s last musical. While the school emptied out, Fran and I worked with Bianca, trying to improve Always True to You in My Fashion, a week before opening. No blizzard was going to stop Fran. It’s not something she told anyone or needed a public slap on the back for. Fran just worked and created, and while she is missed, she will not be forgotten.

JCY