THEATRE Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts and Encore Studio of Dance, Music & Theatre Kelly Fouchi The Face of PHOTO CREDIT: FOREVER FAURIE PHOTOGRAPHY
F or more than three decades, Kelly Fouchi has been a driving force in the New Orleans performing arts community. As an Artistic Director, Producer, Director, Choreographer, Educa- tor, Performer, and owner of two performing arts organizations, she has shaped thousands of young artists through Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts and Encore Studio of Dance, Music & Theatre. Her leadership and impact have been widely recognized. NOLA Family Magazine readers voted Rivertown Theater “Family Theater Program” in both 2024 and 2025, and Kelly was recently named “Theater Educa- tor of the Year” by the Crescent City Theatre Awards. What sets Kelly apart is the way she bridges classroom training with real-world experience. At Encore, students study acting, voice, and dance in a nurturing, multi-disciplinary environment that builds confidence, discipline, and collaboration. At Rivertown, those skills are applied in professional-level productions on both the children’s and mainstage seasons. Kelly has brought to life many of Rivertown’s most beloved audience favorites, including Newsies , Matilda , The Music Man , Hairspray , Billy Elliot , Annie , Frozen , Mean Girls , and the Junie B. Jones and Fancy Nancy series. Kelly believes theatre is far more than rehearsing and performing. She fosters a culture of community through theme days, preshow rituals, big/little mentorships, and cast gatherings that teach young performers to support one another and celebrate each other’s talents. Her students grow not only as artists, but as leaders and compassion- ate teammates. She also nurtures the next generation of theatre professionals. Teens take on backstage roles in choreography, teaching, stage manage- ment, running crew, and operating technical systems. Through her student-led Raise Your Voice program, young performers have raised more than $60,000 for local charities while producing their own theatrical events. Kelly’s impact spans generations. Her students have gone on to BFA programs, national tours, theme parks, and careers across the enter- tainment industry, while others enter fields like medicine, education, and technology, crediting their theatre training, and Kelly’s mentor- ship, for their confidence and leadership/communication skills. Many return to mentor the next generation, carrying forward the enthusi- asm for the arts she helped ignite. To Kelly and the performers she works with, theatre is a home, a training ground, and a community. Its impact lives on in the young people who carry their love of the arts into the world, finding their voice, their confidence, and their place on its stage. Kelly manages both Rivertown and Encore with her husband, Marc. Their daughters, Tess and Savannah, grew up on the Rivertown stage and continue to pursue careers in the arts, through college studies, and working as an Equity stage performer at Walt Disney World.
22 Faces & Places ® | Winter 2026
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