Where Broadway Begins: How Popejoy Hall Is Changing Students’ Lives with Broadway for Teens
- Teresa Robinson
- Dec 11, 2025
- 5 min read
Today, the venue opened its doors to students from 34 Title I high schools for a free performance of MJ The Musical, a day that mixed the excitement of a live show with a catered lunch and a post-performance talkback with members of the cast.
This year’s event is the largest to date, reflecting both the growing community support and targeted fundraising that removed barriers of cost and distance. “Chevron is proud to partner with Popejoy Hall on the Broadway for Teens program,” said Patrick Killen, Chevron’s Senior Manager for New Mexico State Government Affairs, highlighting the company’s investment in STEAM education and creativity that “inspires students across New Mexico to dream big.”
Behind the logistics and fundraising is the person who has been guiding Popejoy through a recent period of growth, Director of Popejoy Hall, Fabianna Borghese Tabeling. She has been at the theatre since 2016 and stepped into the director role in 2023, entering her third year as director. “I mean…it does feel like kind of a lifelong dream,” Tabeling shared. “I've always loved the performing arts. I've been on stage, trying to find that career path in the performing arts. I kind of landed here, and it's been a really incredible experience to get to kind of, it's a big responsibility and an honor to kind of helm such a prestigious place in New Mexico. So, I do feel very honored and a little bit of pressure on that. But I do, I'm excited about some of the new programs that we've started and just trying to increase the accessibility of the arts.”
Accessibility is the program’s north star. Broadway for Teens was inspired by similar initiatives elsewhere and by a conviction that New Mexico students deserved the same exposure. “I had seen similar programs and really wanted to start something like that here in New Mexico,” Tabeling explained, adding, “I felt like we had the community that would get behind it and support it. I felt like the need was here. There are so many kids here in New Mexico that don't get to come to shows here because of either cost or distance.”
Those practical obstacles are expressed in the letters students write to apply. “So we open applications a few months before the performance. So I think this application period opened in September. And so students would write a letter and answer a few questions that we kind of posed to them,” shared Tabeling, describing the process: “They get signed off by a teacher and a school administrator saying that they would support the participation. So our board of directors actually reads all of the letters, and our selection committee makes the selection of which schools participate.”
This year, thanks to Chevron’s funding, all applicants were accepted, a change that meant more students could make the trip. The ability to allow all students who applied to attend lifted Tabeling’s spirit. “It's nice to be able to let everybody come and have this experience.”
The letters reveal stories both ordinary and extraordinary: kids who have never set foot in Albuquerque or who face multi-hour commutes just to reach their school. “The ones that always stick out to me are the ones that are like I've never been to Albuquerque,” shared Tabeling. That realization underscored the importance of the program. “I was surprised at how many of those were…kids that live two, three hours away and just have never come. Just reading those…this is going to be a big deal for them…to come here to the city and see the show.”
Some of the details are quietly striking: students who must “wake up at 5 in the morning to get to their school bus, and then it's a two-hour drive from the school bus to the school.” Hearing those daily realities makes the day at Popejoy feel less like a single outing and more like an opening. “Just kind of hearing some of the struggles that they have, you know, it's just really heartwarming to kind of be able to bring this to them and let them experience what some of us sometimes take advantage of. I get to see shows all the time,” Tabeling explained.
The announcement reveal was unforgettable. When students learned they would see MJ The Musical, the reaction was electric. “That was pretty cool! We did a live in-person announcement at Del Norte High School and…they were so excited,” expressed Tabeling. “You could kind of see they knew something was coming, but they didn't quite know what it was. The particular girl who had written the letter at that school was…over the moon, and so that's always kind of nice to acknowledge.”
Tabeling liked that the program can publicly honor the student whose letter made this moment possible. “This is the student who wrote the letter that got you the opportunity. To kind of acknowledge her was really kind of neat to do in front of her classmates.”
Looking ahead, the ambition is steady and realistic: “I would love to be able to have this big of a program every year. It's dependent on funding and fundraising and kind of the donor support,” says Tabeling, noting the importance of sustaining partners like Chevron. “This year, we had that generous gift from Chevron, where we were able to bring all these students. In the future, we kind of hope to maintain that. We have some really good shows next year that I would love to bring a whole bunch of kids to. So I think just kind of maintaining that growth of the program, working towards getting more exposure here at the university, meeting with more professors and academics, and ingraining that a little bit more is something we hope to do in the future.”
For schools or students who doubt their chances, Tabeling advice is simple. “I think just speak from your heart in the letter. You can feel that in the writing - the passion of the students,” she said. “So just be as heartfelt as you can because we do read them. We read all the letters and are really inspired by what we read.”
That mix of institutional support, planning, and individual stories was on display throughout the day. Students got to see their first Broadway-level production, meet performers during a talkback, and walk away with the sense that the arts can be accessible to them. “Many of these students have never had the opportunity to attend a professional theatrical production,” a reality Broadway for Teens is meant to change.
Taken together, the program is less about a single performance and more about a steady expansion of possibilities. The letters the students wrote are the proof. “It just really enforces why we do this program and why it's important,” Tabeling expressed, and on a chilly December afternoon, over a thousand voices in that theater seemed to agree.
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