Peak, 20, is having a ball singing such standards as "My Funny Valentine" and "The Lady Is a Tramp."

Now a junior, Peak has risen through the ranks at NKU, where she's made big impact as a dancer. We saw her first in Sweet Charity in her freshman year. By last spring, she was the lead dancer in Jesus Christ Superstar and last summer came a real thrill.

"I've been dancing for 16 years," says the Louisville native. "I have four sisters, we all dance."

She also choreographs, for high school and university dance teamsas well as for the dance and musical theater troupes at NKU.

She had her first "big choreography job" last summer when she designed the dance for the original musical Burger Town, by faculty members Jamey Strawn, Christine Jones and Ken Jones. "It was cool to be involved in something my teachers had created on their own."

It's also cool to share a stage with another of her professors, Mike King. The creative team is busy looking for a small theater in Chicago in early summer 2005. If Burger Town moves, Peak intends to be there.

For now she's "surprised in a good way" to be playing Billie, the outsider who wins the heart of our hero (Roderick Justice, terrific as Judas in Superstar last spring) in Babes, a musical gem from the 1930s by Rodgers and Hart.

Performances are 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday in NKU's Corbett Theatre. For reservations and information, call the box office at (859) 572-5464.