Florida Sports Virtual Academy offers a supportive environment for student athletes in grades 5-12 to complete coursework and collaborate with top-tier trainers in one location. Recognizing that Southwest Florida is home to many young artists who might similarly benefit from the academy’s unique approach, founder Andrew Locantora is now adding a performing arts program that will provide students with the technical skills it takes to succeed.
FSVA has named local director, choreographer and educator Amy McCleary to oversee the program.
“We’re going to offer in-person performing arts classes during the school day,” said McCleary. “I have a roster of teachers, wonderful professionals that I have worked with, and we are going to train kids in musical theater, ballet technique, tap, scene study, vocal technique and music theory – things that so many local children need.”
The curriculum will be taught through a combination of virtual and in-person classes.
“The core classes - English, science, math - because the kids will be of different grade levels, so that will be done virtually with an in-person teacher to guide each one on their individual study plan,” McCleary noted. “But the performing arts classes are in person. They’re going to be held at the Alliance for the Arts. We’re going to be doing them in a classroom there.”
Class study will be supplemented by field trips to rehearsal spaces at local theaters such as Broadway Palm and Players Circle, as well as master classes taught by local professionals on specialized topics that include fight choreography, stage management and sound and lighting design. Enrollment is open to anyone grades 5 through 12 who is able to attend classes at the Alliance and participate in visits to Lee County theaters, but limited to just 15 students for the 2025-2026 school year.
“We’re also going to have showcases in the winter, in the spring, to showcase what the kids have been learning,” McCleary added. “It won’t be a production. I think there’s plenty of opportunities for kids to do productions around here, but it will be hard work in scene study.”
McCleary expects the Florida Sports Virtual Academy performing arts program to provide the flexibility and instruction needed by middle and high school students to prepare for careers in the performing arts.
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McCleary emphasized that while students will attend virtual classes from their homes, each course will have an actual teacher who can help the students with their classwork.
“I think that’s wonderful because I know, as a parent, if my daughter was home schooled, I cannot help her. I do not have the training … science and math are so long ago in my life. So there’s a teacher in the classroom to help them. So that’s one aspect of this academy that I love.”
In designing scene study and other performing arts classes, McCleary will draw upon her work not only in the professional theater community, but with hundreds of middle and high school students over the course of her career.
“So many of the kids around here, they love to perform, they love to be in productions,” said McCleary. “So let’s give them the skills that they need to succeed as performing artists. We’re really going to focus on the process, and not necessarily the product.”
McCleary and the academy will accommodate students who need to take time off to attend auditions, rehearsals and performances.
“We are going to be very flexible with these kids,” said McCleary. “If they need to go to Miami for an audition, a film audition, or if they get cast in a local professional production where they need to have rehearsals during the day, they can take that time away from class without being punished because it is a home school situation.”
McCleary anticipates that FSVA performing arts students will learn skills that they can immediately apply in their school, community and equity theater productions.
“When you’re in a quick rehearsal process, you often don’t get down to the nitty gritty, but they can take home and apply [what they learn at FSVA] to the productions that they’re in, skills that these kids need.”
McCleary has already announced that her team of arts instructors for the 2025-2026 school year will include A.J. Mendini in acting and vocal technique, Amy Fenicle in dance technique and Rachael Lord in music theory and vocal training.
For more on Florida Sports Virtual Academy, visit https://www.fsvacademy.com/.
Amy Marie McCleary is a multi-faceted musical theater artist who works as an actor, director and choreographer in local and regional theater. Most recently, she directed and choreographed “Waitress” at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre and “Jerry’s Girls” at Southwest Florida Theatre at Gulf Coast Symphony.
McCleary started in theater as a chorus girl. Since then, she has played some pretty prestigious roles: Mona in “Dames at Sea,” Velma Kelly in “Chicago,” Velma Von Tussle in “Hairspray,” Lexie in “The Dixie Swim Club,” Lola in “Damn Yankees,” Bombalurina in “CATS,” Gladys in “The Pajama Game,” Tiger Lily/Mrs. Darling in “Peter Pan,” Lily St. Regis in “Annie” and Sheila in “A Chorus Line,” to name a few. Her reprisal of Velma Kelly in Prather Entertainment’s 2018 production of “Chicago” earned her a Broadway World Best Actress in a Musical Award.
Most Southwest Florida theater lovers know McCleary more through her work as Prather Entertainment Group’s resident director/choreographer. In that capacity, she has staged more than 50 productions, including “Broadway Palm Thru the Decades,” a revue of the top-selling musicals produced by the theater since its inception in 1993, “The Wizard of Oz” (2022), “Escape to Margaritaville” (2022), “Singin’ in the Rain” (2022), “Beehive the 60s Musical” (Dutch Apple Theatre), “Holly Jolly Christmas” (which she created), “The Sound of Music,” “Happy Days,” “Holiday Inn,” “Kinky Boots” (choreography by Chris Kane), “Beauty and the Beast,” “Momma Mia,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Saturday Night Fever,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Memphis,” “Hairspray,” “Grease,” “CATS,” “Swing,” “Sister Act” and “Peter Pan,” among others. As choreographer, Amy has staged dances for “Evita,” “Cabaret,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” “All Shook Up,” “The King and I,” “Les Miserables,” “Annie,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and the 2009-2010 national tour of “The Wedding Singer.” She also did the choreography for Prather’s 2018 production of “Chicago,” for which she won a Broadway World Award for Best Choreography (Professional).
Among McCleary's favorite director/choreographer credits are “Grease” (Broadway Palm 2021), “Beehive: The 60s Musical” (Broadway Palm 2021), “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” (Broadway Palm), Yeston & Kopit’s “Phantom” (Broadway Palm), the 2015 national tour of “Memphis the Musical,” the international tour of “The Wizard of Oz” (Choreographer), “Footloose,” “Sister Act,” “I Love a Piano,” “Hairspray,” “9 to 5” (Little Theatre on the Square), “CATS,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (for the Herb Strauss Theatre), “Spamalot” (Herb Strauss Theatre), “Hairspray” (UNCG), “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story,” “The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical,” “Grease” and “Some Enchanted Evening.”
McCleary has also created a number of musical revues for Prather Entertainment. In 2019, she wrote, directed and choreographed the highly successful holiday smash “Sounds of Christmas.” Among Amy’s other revues are “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “A Swinging Christmas.” The latter production featured a Fosse version of The Nutcracker Suite and a tap ballet featuring all nine of Santa’s reindeer.
Over the course of her more than 30 years in theater, her work has been enjoyed by audiences across the country, including national and regional touring productions and regional houses that include Circa 21, Suncoast Broadway, The Little Theatre on the Square, Allenberry Playhouse, University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Department of Drama and Lauderhill Performing Arts Center.
McCleary’s directorial style reflects her passion for creating the world first and giving each actor equal attention as a facet of the story. She brings fresh and original ideas to every production in which she becomes involved.
“I’m very much about focus and finding the role each actor plays within the world,” Amy explains.
When directing, McCleary feels as though she has a part in all the roles, and is able to affect the picture at large. There’s a stronger sense of being able to work with individuals and help them grow in their paths as performers. Her positive energy, passion for theater, collaborative style, inventive direction and unequalled organizational skills create wonderful environments for actors to play and discover.
“I am ‘an actor’s director’ and have a knack at creating a great ensemble connection that spreads from the rehearsal room onto the stage,” she says.
McCleary’s movement style is always character based and works to propel the storyline forward with special attention to time period and the confines of the world being created.
“I love stepping out of the box with style and vision,” she expounds. “My individual dance style combines a love of ballet, Fosse and contemporary street. I’m equally at home with a romantic pas de deux in the 'The Music Man' or the poppy hip hop of 'High School Musical.' And a good old fashioned Weimer era club scene makes me weak at the knees.”
“Working with Amy is like a breath of fresh air in this business,” says Katherine Walker-Hill, who played Betty Haynes in 'Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.' “Not only is she well-prepared, she is also interested in creating a truly beautiful piece of art. She works well with all ages, talent levels, and backgrounds; but she also pushes each and every performer to be the best they can be in a nurturing, yet professional setting. She has raised the bar for all directors and choreographers, which is a gift to the theatre community.”
“I’m a champion of education and thrive on working with young professionals,” states Amy, who has a passion for education through the arts. “And as a working mother, I’m a self-proclaimed feminist who encourages tenacity and leadership in the young women I have the honor of working with on a daily basis. I hope my legacy is to encourage and enlighten other artists in the best way possible – through excellent work that has vision and heart.”
In 2015 Amy created the Musical Theatre Intensive Arts Summer Camp in partnership with the Alliance for the Arts. The camp works with students on music theory, performance skills, dance, acting, collaboration and improv. In partnership with Broadway Palm Dinner Theater, campers are provided with the opportunity to work with professional actors on their skills.
Amy received her BFA with highest honors from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied at CAP21, the premiere training ground for musical theater performers. She now makes her home in Southwest Florida. Her works in progress include two children who love singing and dancing almost as much as their mom.
For more on McCleary, read:
· “Amy McCleary and the vocabulary of movement on WGCU”
· “Amy McCleary promises to be busier than ever”
· “Amy Marie McCleary redefining next generation of performers”
· “Celebrating Amy Marie McCleary’s ‘Sounds of Christmas’”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.