FPAC Offers Holiday Productions

Above, Melissa Chapski

Franklin Performing Arts Company (FPAC) Holiday Productions will present two shows as part of its annual holiday season.

December kicks off with the holiday classic: The Nutcracker, presented December 3 and 4 at the Franklin High School Auditorium. Experience all the festive magic and colorful splendor of The Nutcracker as FPAC stages its cherished annual production of the holiday classic with live orchestra, special guest artists and more than 100 area dancers. The Nutcracker remains a highly anticipated and treasured part of the FPAC season - a popular holiday tradition for more than 20 years. 

The world- famous ballet, set to Tchaikovsky’s beloved score, delights the imaginations of audiences young and old with a professional production at a reasonable price. The production is staged by Cheryl Madeux of American Ballet Theatre, Hartford Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet. Madeux is currently director of BalletFranklin- the ballet conservatory at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts.

Melissa Chapski of the Bavarian State Ballet will return to Franklin as the Sugar Plum Fairy. Chapski was born in Medfield, Massachusetts. She trained at BalletFranklin- the ballet conservatory at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts under the instruction of Cheryl Madeux from the age of 11. She danced in FPAC Holiday Productions’ Nutcracker for 6 years and then graduated in 2015 from the Ellison Ballet Professional Training Program in New York City. That same year, she was awarded a gold medal at Indianapolis International Ballet Competition and YAGP’s Boston regional, as well as a company contract to the Dutch National Ballet’s junior company at YAGP Finals where she placed top 12.Chapski danced with the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam for five years and now dances in Munich, Germany with the Bayerisches Staatsballett (Bavarian State Ballet). She was also featured as ‘Emma’ in the movie High Strung: Free Dance and has done ad campaigns for Huawei Mobile, Nikon Europe, TCL Electronics, Discount Dance Supply, Capezio, Body Wrappers, and Russian Pointe. She has also been a guest teacher in various ballet schools across the US, Germany, and China. Chapski is currently working towards an undergraduate degree in social sciences at Harvard University's Extension school.

Joining Chapski from the Bavarian State Ballet is Sava Milojević as the Cavalier. Milojević was born in Kragujevac, Serbia where he began his ballet training at age 11. He trained from age 14 in Belgrade at Ballet School Lujo Davičo for two years. He soon moved to John Cranko Ballet Academy in Stuttgart, Germany where he was taken into the main company as an apprentice after only two years. After one season with the Stuttgart Ballet, he joined the Bavarian State Ballet’s junior company where he spent two seasons. In 2018, he was promoted to the main company under direction of Igor Zelensky where he is employed presently. In 2018, Milojević debuted multiple roles in John Neumeier’s Der Nussknacker with the Bavarian State Ballet. Some of his most notable performances include tours to Japan and South Korea with the Stuttgart Ballet in productions of both Onegin and Romeo and Juliet. He also danced in Romeo and Juliet at the famous Salzburg Festspiel.

FPAC Holiday Productions are presented at the Franklin High School Auditorium. For tickets and more

information, visit www.FPAConline.com or call the box office at 508-528-3370.