Schools

16-year-old John Burroughs Actress Reaching for the Stars

Sally Lemkemeier, Ladue resident is director of the Arch City Theater Troupe.

Know any CEOs who are 16 years old? The Ladue-Frontenac Patch found one—sort of.

Meet Sally Lemkemeier, director, producer and talent with the Arch City Theater Troupe of St. Louis.

Arch City is geared entirely to young students (ages 10-18) and based out of John Burroughs School in Ladue.

Lemkemeier is going into her junior year at the school on South Price Road. She is the director and producer of Arch City, lock, stock and barrel. This is everything but a salaried position. No matter, this effervescent student eats, drinks and practices theater around the clock. She sings, she dances and she gained a love for the arts from her parents Mary and John and her maternal grandmother.

She would dearly love to follow in the footsteps of two famed Burroughs performers, Hollywood’s Jon Hamm and television actress Ellie Kemper.

The transition to director was fairly seamless. Helen Rapp, a 2011 Burroughs graduate was the previous director and needed a successor. Three years ago, Rapp, who is headed off to Vanderbilt University, asked Sally to think it over. Sally began shadowing Rapp in order to assume the mantle of duties this spring.

Theater has been in Sally’s blood since she play acted neighborhood productions at age 4, and got serious about performing by age 8.

Arch City started at Rossman School, then moved to MICDS and the Center of Creative Arts before landing at Nerinx Hall. Arch City is a club activity at Burroughs and MICDS.

In August, some 37 bright-eyed eager youngsters will show their wares during three performances at Nerinx Hall. They are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. performance on August 19 and A 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. performances August 20. This event is free and open to the public.

“We don’t charge anything to attend. We rely on contributions. We hope people will enjoy the show so much, they will want to donate." Donations defray the costs of renting the hall, paying for scenery and costumes, etc. Since they don’t sell tickets, head counts are hard to come by. But they estimate 1,000 patrons attended last year, filling the Nerinx Theater in Webster Groves for both evening performances.

Once expenses are paid, the excesses are donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. So far, Arch City has managed to give more than $100,000 to the foundation over the course of the past six years.

Arch City will gladly sell you a wide variety of items. The kids and their parents run a bake sale, a flower show and a blind bid silent auction to feed the fund.

It takes months to put this show together. Sally has been in the after-school planning stages since January.

The seventh-annual review is going Broadway in August. The show features 19 renditions of popular tunes including numbers from Fame, Hairspray, Chorus Line, Annie, Damn Yankees, Guys and Dolls and others.

“These are kids who just love acting, dancing and singing. They actually pay a fee to be part of the group. We have performers, but we have students who help behind the scenes who work with the props, the costumes, lighting, sound, our sales and publicity. Our kids do it all. They want to give something back to their community."

The only adult participant is one family member who sits way back in the corner for parental supervision during rehearsals. “In August, we’ll be hitting the practices very hard,” Sally said.

She has other interests. She loves math and science and plays junior varsity field hockey. But when it comes to real choices, performing on stage trumps all other choices. She’s been away to theater camp. She and her mom share Muny Theatre tickets. She writes scripts and does planning on her home computer constantly. “You really have to be well organized for this. You really have to manage your time well,” she said. This all comes after doing three hours of homework daily.

Not only will she produce and direct the August show, she will perform in it, too. “When I’m on stage, it's just a different world. This is something I really love to do. We all get to play out our dream roles. When you are on stage, you get to become a certain character and create a whole new person. You learn a whole lot about yourself that way," she said.

Lenkemeier was too polite to end the interview, but she needed to go. There was work to be done on the Broadway production and little time to spare.

For more information, go to the Arch City website or contact the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

This year's cast includes students from John Burroughs, MICDS, Saint Louis Priory School, St. Pius X of Festus, Rohan Woods, Visitation Academy, SLUH, Urusuline Academy, Ladue High School, St. Joseph's Academy, Villa Duchesne, Holy Redeemer School, Rossman School, St. Peters School in Kirkwood, Cor Jesu Academy, Nerinx Hall Acdemy, Forsyth School, Wohlwend School in Oakville, Reed School in Ladue and Sperrening Middle School in the Lindbergh School District.

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