The Observer Newspapers | Performance Will Benefit Theater Arts Program

October 31 , 2008

Performance Will Benefit Theater Arts Program

By Leslie Perales

Observer Staff Writer

Adam Ace, formerly known as Adam Burger, started his comedy career at South Lakes High School in the 1990s, and he will return to the school's stage on Nov. 7 to perform a comedy show to benefit the theater arts program. Ace said he was too small to play for some of the sports teams in high school, so he decided to join the drama club.

"I tried it and really loved it and enjoyed it," Ace said. Throughout high school, he participated in plays, musicals and one-act shows, but he found he "was never good at the dramatic parts" and "couldn't sing at all." Ace said what he really enjoyed was making people laugh.

Ace said he never expected to become a professional entertainer and he studied elementary school education in college. He planned to become a teacher until he decided to try comedy at the end of his senior year of college. "I was pretty terrible when I started, but everybody's bad when they start," Ace said. Through high school and college, most of Ace's performances were at birthday parties, daycare centers, senior citizens centers and local events, he said.

After Ace started his comedy career, he could not find anything else he enjoyed doing as much, he said. "In high school and college, I did it for free and did it because it was fun," he said. "Then when I really found out I could give it a go as a job and as a living, I figured that'd be the greatest thing in the world." Finding a career you love, especially in entertainment, is something Ace said he likes to stress to the younger crowds at his shows.

"I hope kids can realize that it is possible to do what you like to do for a living—whether it's performing or anything else," Ace said. He said sometimes people only notice a few very successful people in a field and do not realize that there are other people earning a living doing the same thing—just on a different level. Ace said he tries to encourage children and teens that he meets to find something they enjoy and turn it into a job. "Then they'll have a great, happy life I think," he said.

Ace said he owed much of his success to South Lakes' theater instructor Maria Harris, who was one of his high school teachers. He also credited the theater program at South Lakes with shaping him into the person he is today and allowing him to build his career.

Ace attended the school's performance of "Beauty and the Beast" in the spring, and after the show, Harris introduced Ace to the cast because she wanted them to know they could have careers in the performing arts, he said. Ace said that afterwards he knew he wanted to return to the school and perform a benefit show for the school's theater program. "I'm really looking forward to it," Ace said.

Harris said ACE performed a fundraiser comedy show at the school about five years ago, and that show was very successful. "He's always been extremely supportive," she said. "I feel very blessed that Adam thinks enough of this department to come back and help us out."

Harris said that when Ace is in town, he often stops by the school to watch the students' shows and talk to them about his career. "He's just a really loving, caring and very talented young man," she said. Harris said it is always beneficial for the students to see professional entertainers that graduated from South Lakes.

Ace has performed for a variety of audiences from tourists on cruise ships to members of the military and high school and college students. He also took the stage at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and on NBC's show "America's Got Talent." Ace said no matter the setting, he always loves performing for an excited crowd.

Ace's all-ages show at South Lakes will be held at 8 p.m. Nov. 7 and tickets are $6 in advance and $8 at the door. His 90-minute routine will feature "just fun, goofy, turn your brain off, forget about the problems in the world, kind of comedy," he said.