When Rebecca Keith found out she'd be managing a performing arts center inside a high school, she wondered how to convince acts to play in a building where the three R's don' t normally include rock 'n' roll.

"Not being from the area, I didn't know how a facility in a high school was going to be perceived," she said. "I had my doubts."

So far, it hasn't been a problem for the nationally known acts that have played the Washington Township Center for the Performing Arts, a 2,500-seat theater located inside the high school's 11-12 building.

"A lot of artists don't even know they're in a high school when they come in the backstage door," Keith said.

In the past year, k.d. lang, the Moody Blues and country singer Trisha Yearwood have performed at the center. And country superstar Willie Nelson played to a sellout crowd at the center on April 12.

The center is one example of the collaboration between the arts community and schools, an issue that will be discussed at the Regional Business/Arts Summit on April 27 at the South Jersey Performing Arts Center on the Camden Waterfront.

Nelson's show was staged by New Park Entertainment, a Philadelphia-based concert promoter that started using the center for shows last year. New Park saw the center as a way to branch out into the suburbs, said Jesse Lundy, the company's publicist.

"People like to be able to see things in their own own neighborhoods. They appreciate the convenience of it," Lundy said, noting that the center also offers an abundance of parking spaces.

New Park and the township school district are close to to signing a two-year deal that would allow New Park to manage the center in exchange for paying all operating costs, even when it isn't using the theater, according to Margaret Meehan, the district's business administrator. Under the agreement, New Park also will pay the school district a fee based on the number of tickets it sells for each show.

Previously, New Park rented the venue on a show-by-show basis.

The district will continue to use the theater for student performances and assemblies and rent the center to community groups, Meehan said.

Lundy said he could not comment on the agreement until it was complete.

The $7.2 million performing arts center, which includes a 600-seat balcony, opened on Sept. 1, 1998, three years after local voters approved its construction in a referendum. The district signed a management deal with Chesapeake Concerts Inc., a Virginia-based promoter. But the company's owner, Sam L'Hommedieu, died in August 1999, leaving bookings in limbo.

In February 2000, the district hired Keith, a Chesapeake employee with an extensive background in concert promotions, to manage the theater.

In August, New Park started booking national acts at the theater. Of the dozen shows New Park has staged there, more than half have been sellouts, Keith said.

During the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2000, the district made a modest profit of $8,251.38 from the theater, according to Meehan. This year's figures are not yet available, she said.

Keith said she hopes the theater will someday be used up to 200 nights a year for live shows performed not just by artists who have already made it, but also those on their way up.

"It's a community center, it's not just (for) national acts," she said.