Applications Now Open for Theatre Exile's 2024 Paper Wings Theatre Camps

Applications are open through March 18 for Theatre Exile's 2024 Paper Wings spring and summer Theatre Camps, welcoming young writers and artists to engage in a unique and immersive educational experience. The specially curated scriptwriting and performance program is set to educate, encourage, and inspire students from the tri-state area to tell their own stories and explore the wonderful world of theatre. International author, performance poet, art activist, playwright, trauma-informed and award-winning Theatre Exile Director of Education TS Hawkins (they/them), and award-winning director and playwright Cheyenne Barboza (she/her) will teach the weeklong program at the South Philadelphia-based theatre March 25 through 29.

The spring program is designed for students from sixth to twelfth grades, with scholarships and courtesy pricing for returning students available upon review. Intimate class sizes, early drop-off, and late pickup options are high-demand features of the camps, which continue with a summer session, ‘Acting in Exile,' later this year from July 22 to 28.

To complement Theatre Exile's 27th season, young creatives will write on the theme of "fearlessness," unpacking what it can mean to step into the unknown and exceed expectations beyond one's wildest dreams. Working with Hawkins and Barboza, students will learn how to craft and perform original monologues and plays based on themes they want to explore. Following a week of theatre games, dramatic world-building, script sculpting logistics, and advanced scene study, students will have the opportunity to display their creative storytelling skills in a community showcase for family and friends and be awarded a certificate of completion. Through Hawkins' and Barboza's combined experience, students are introduced to the tools and skills necessary to build creative storytellers of the future.

“Through this one-of-a-kind program, we are building a legacy of playwrights to create and support the future of arts and artists,” said Hawkins. “We want to amplify young voices, activate this next generation of writers and performers, and give them a space to grow to their highest potential.”

Hawkins is a member of the Dramatists Guild and an international author of plays, short works, and books, including Seeking Silence, sweet bread peaches (formerly Cartons of Ultrasounds), Too Late to Apologize, In Their Silence (formerly They'll Neglect to Tell You), #RM2B, The Secret Life of Wonder: a prologue in G, AGAIN, #SuiteReality, “don't wanna dance with ghosts…”, Sugar Lumps & Black Eye Blues, Confectionately Yours, Mahogany Nectar, Lil Blaek Book: all the long stories short, and The Hotel Haikus. #SuiteReality received the 2017 “Theatrical Reality Check” Surya Bonaly Award, an international publication in WORDPEACE Literary Journal, showcased in Chicago at The Goodman Theatre for the Black Lives, Black Words International Theatre Festival, and shares residence at the Carnegie Mellon University Hunt Library.

Barboza's theatre career features directing credits for several productions, including Peter and the Star Catcher (Seton Hill University), Looking Over the President's Shoulder (Millbrook Playhouse), sandblasted (Theatre Horizon), Passing Strange (Long Wharf Theatre), The Agitators (Theatre Horizon), The Wiz (Theatre in the X), The Last Seven Shakers (InterAct Theatre Company), Cartons of Ultrasounds (reFocus Fest), and Trade (Inis Nua Theatre Company). She also holds assistant directing credits for How I Learned What I Learned (Arden Theatre Company) and The Mountaintop (Philadelphia Theatre Company). Barboza is the author of the play Running Numbers (Theatre in the X) and co-founder of AudienceHelp Consultants. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Directing, Playwriting & Production from The University of the Arts.

Find more information about in-school residency partnerships, early and late camp drop-off hours and fees, daily times of operation, and camp requirements at theatreexile.org.