North Lenoir Drama alumni return home for September 13 benefit concert
Nearly three decades after graduating, recording artist and national touring performer Jenn Quader (Jennifer Michels) joins professional singer and pianist Clifton Cuddington and a new generation of North Lenoir performers to raise funds for the drama program that helped launch them.
Nearly three decades after leaving North Lenoir High School and launching a career that would take her from national tours of Broadway musicals to recording an album with GRAMMY®-winning collaborators, Jenn Quader, known to many in Lenoir County by her maiden name Jennifer Michels, is coming home to sing for the program where it all began.
On Sunday, September 13 at 3:00 p.m., Quader will join fellow North Lenoir Drama alumni Clifton Cuddington, Holly Holder, Allison Manning, Parker Ball, Anna Hull, Abigail Hull and Anna Marshburn for a special Benefit Concert supporting the North Lenoir High School Drama Department.
The hour-long concert will span generations and genres, with selections from musical theatre and jazz as well as a first look at original, unpublished works. All proceeds will benefit the North Lenoir High School Drama Department.
For Quader, the performance represents a rare return to the community where her life in music first took shape.
A 1998 North Lenoir graduate, Quader went on to perform professionally as a singer, dancer and actress, including national touring productions of Barry Manilow's Copacabana and the Broadway musical The Full Monty. She later worked on the 10th Anniversary National Tour of RENT. Today based in California, Quader continues to perform and record while also serving as CEO of a national communications agency.
Her album, Love, In All Its Forms, brought her back to another important part of her Eastern North Carolina musical roots. The recording features acclaimed Los Angeles musicians Jeff Babko, Sean Hurley and Zach Danziger, with vocal consulting from GRAMMY® Award-winning jazz vocalist Sara Gazarek. Also featured on keys is Quader's father, longtime Eastern North Carolina optometrist and musician Dr. Dennis Michels, with whom Quader grew up performing as part of the locally known "Musical Michels" family.
"Coming home is about much more than nostalgia for me. It is about seeing the artistic lineage continue," said Quader. "North Lenoir has given generations of young people a place to take creative risks, work hard, find their voice, and discover what they are capable of. To return after all these years and share a stage with artists who have been a part of this program across different generations is deeply meaningful."
Joining Quader on stage is Clifton Cuddington, an accomplished professional singer, pianist and theatre performer who serves as choir director at First Christian Church in Goldsboro and has performed all over the world, from Oceania cruise ships to Broadway in the Wisconsin Dells to Wohlfahrt Haus Theatre in Wytheville, Virginia. Cuddington’s love of musical theatre is what connects him to North Lenoir, having shared his talents with the Drama Department’s last two musicals, helping a new generation of students experience the same program that has shaped artists for decades.
The concert also places a spotlight on a remarkably active generation of recent North Lenoir graduates whose work has continued well beyond their high school stage.
Holly Holder, a Duke University graduate who studied theatre, has performed in dozens of musical productions across North Carolina and has worked as an actor, director and filmmaker. Her documentary Little Red Pocketbook chronicles the courageous 1952 student walkout at Kinston's Adkin High School, an important chapter in the early Civil Rights Movement. Holder has also returned to Eastern North Carolina stages in roles including Ariel in Lenoir Community College's The Little Mermaid.
Anna Hull has become a familiar presence to local theatre audiences, most recently starring as Ariel Moore in Lenoir Community College's Footloose. Her credits also include Maria Rainer in The Sound of Music, Sandy in Grease, and appearances in Anastasia and School of Rock. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hull also performed with UNC's Psalm 100 a cappella ensemble.
Her sister, Abigail Hull, spent more than a decade participating in North Lenoir Drama productions, culminating in a standout performance as Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street. She has since appeared in Lenoir Community College productions including School of Rock and Anastasia while pursuing her studies at the East Carolina University.
Allison Manning, now a student at East Carolina University, has continued building her stage experience through productions at both North Lenoir and Lenoir Community College. Most recently, she appeared as Urleen in LCC's 2026 production of Footloose, following performances in Matilda and The Sound of Music.
Parker Ball is pursuing Music Education at East Carolina University while remaining deeply involved with the North Lenoir Drama Department. He recently appeared as Willard Hewitt in LCC's Footloose and served on North Lenoir's directorial team for its 2026 production of Oklahoma!, reflecting an early commitment not only to performing but also to helping develop the next generation of young artists.
Anna Marshburn, a Lenoir County native and North Lenoir alumna, has performed throughout Eastern North Carolina. Her recent credits include Rusty in LCC's Footloose, Jo in Jagged Little Pill at New Bern Civic Theatre and Woman 2 in Songs for a New World. At North Lenoir, her roles included Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly!. Marshburn also studied in East Carolina University's BFA Musical Theatre program and later performed with the University of Mount Olive's touring a cappella group Carolina Sound.
In addition, a group of current and former students will perform in a closing number.
Together, the performers represent nearly three decades of North Lenoir Drama history, illustrating the lasting impact a high school arts program can have long after students leave the classroom.
"This concert is a living picture of what arts education can do over time," says longtime North Lenoir Drama teacher and producer Marian Kennedy. "You work with young people when they are still discovering who they are, and you never fully know where those experiences will lead them. To watch former students build lives in music, theatre, education and other professions, and then choose to come home and invest in the students coming behind them is truly special."
The benefit comes at an important moment for the North Lenoir Drama Department as schools across the country continue to confront the challenge of sustaining robust arts programming. Proceeds from the September concert will directly support the department's work producing live musicals and plays and providing students with opportunities to develop skills in performance, collaboration, discipline and creative expression.
The North Lenoir High School Drama Department has been operating for more than 35 years, producing hundreds of musicals and plays and educating thousands of students. Longtime drama teacher and director Marian Kennedy received an Honorable Mention for the Excellence in Theatre Education Award presented by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University and was awarded the prestigious Lorelle F. Martin and Michael R. Pelt Excellence in Teaching Award from her alma mater, the University of Mount Olive.
Kennedy continues to support the drama department as producer alongside full-time drama director Bailey Sutton, an accomplished professional opera soprano and award-winning vocal competitor who holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from East Carolina University.
Kennedy is producing the event in partnership with ALLCreates.
EVENT DETAILS
North Lenoir High School Drama Department Benefit Concert
Sunday, September 13, 2026 at 3:00 p.m.
Young H. Allen Auditorium
North Lenoir High School
2400 Institute Road
La Grange, NC 28551
Suggested donation: $12 ($8 for students)
All proceeds benefit the North Lenoir High School Drama Department.
