Posts Tagged ‘Choate Rosemary Hall’

The Paul Mellon Arts Center in the suburban Connecticut town of Wallingford is part of the Choate Rosemary Hall high school campus. As one of the most prestigious private high schools in the country, the arts center serves as a cultural centerpiece for the school as the host of countless plays, art shows, musical performances, lectures, and other gatherings. A number of famous actors and other celebrities at one time graced Choate’s hallowed halls, including; Glenn Close, Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rebecca Miller, and Ivanka Trump, participating in many of these events during their enrollment, and all of them landing in the school’s hall of fame.

The building, named for a former student, was designed by the great architect I. M. Pei, who among his other notable achievements, also designed the John F. Kennedy Museum in Quincy. Kennedy was also, at one time, a student at Choate.

The school itself has garnered its own part of the Hollywood spotlight, earning shout outs and references on shows like “MASH”, “The West Wing”, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”,and even “Family Guy”, whose creator, Connecticut native Seth MacFarlane is a graduate of rival prep school Kent. In 2008, the Choate campus was featured in the Martin Lawrence flick College Road Trip, which costarred Raven Symone as his frustrated daughter in search of the perfect post high school educational destination.

The Arts Center draws both alumni and internationally renowned musicians and other performers on a regular basis for concerts, and their dramatic presentations feature a variety of genres of theater. For more information on performances at the Paul Mellon Arts Center in Wallingford, Connecticut, check out their website here.