Nashville Children's Theatre Announces Start of Registration for Summer Camps and AVENUE Q, SCHOOL EDITION

Nashville Children's Theatre (NCT) kicks off its Summer Drama Camp registration on Saturday, February 11 at 8 am. 2011-12 season subscribers and friends of NCT at the Explorer level and higher are eligible for Early Bird registration, which begins on Saturday, February 4 at 8 am.

NCT Summer Camps usually fill to capacity, according to company spokesperson Steve Bianchi. NCT Summer Camps run May 29–August 3 and offer weeklong camps for students age three through grade 12. NCT expects to see over 1,000 campers during the summer.

"The summer is an amazing time at NCT-full of energy and creativity," says Alicia Fuss, NCT Director of Education. "Elementary students play with a wide variety of children's literature, while exploring what it means to create characters and tell a story onstage. Middle and high school students get to tackle stage combat, musical theatre, Shakespeare, acting for the camera and more! Our camps are designed to provide exciting challenges to all of our students while keeping them in a supportive and playful environment."

New this summer: In addition to sessions at NCT, the theatre will offer a series of camps at Ensworth School's Devon Farm Campus.

The cornerstone of NCT's Drama Camps is the popular Voyager Series, which introduces students to theatre skills in a fun, progressive way that builds on each previous camp as the child's development advances. This series includes:

-          Setting Sail for three-, four- and five-year olds-a half-day camp for adult and child to take together! The participants explore creativity and movement through stories, nursery rhymes and songs.

-          Lil' Voyagers for rising kindergarteners-a  half-day camp allowing young children to discover their own creativity by experimenting with characters and storytelling.

-          Junior Theatre Voyagers for rising grades one and two-young campers gain confidence and stage presence in this introduction to theatre. The energy and imagination of young actors is channeled through theatre games and playful story dramas. Campers build theatre skills, work as a group and are prepared for future classes.

-          Theatre Voyagers for rising grades three through five-campers create an original adaptation of a children's story, myth or legend. They write the play, rehearse their parts and perform their work. Through rehearsal and games, participants learn some of the essentials of acting, discipline and teamwork.

-           Advanced Theatre Voyagers for rising grades six through eight-through creative exercises, improvisation and focused scene work, campers delve into the acting process and character development. This engaging course allows young actors to sink their teeth into a script and prepares students for specialty classes should they wish to advance.

At the end of the week, parents, family and friends are invited to attend performances done by the campers (Setting Sail and Lil' Voyagers do not have performances). Each week the camp content is different, and this allows students to take the camp more than once over the summer.

Older students, (rising grades four through twelve) can choose from the many specialty camps that make up NCT's Emerging Artists Series. Some prerequisites apply to Emerging Artist camps.

-          Musical Theatre Express for rising grades five and six-this introductory camp brings together singing, dancing and acting into a review of popular musical numbers.

-          Musical Theatre for rising grades seven through twelve (a two week camp)-campers explore vocal technique, song interpretation and dance as they rehearse and perform some of Broadway's most interesting songs. This camp is good for all levels of experience.

-          On Camera for rising grades four through twelve-an adaptation of our successful Theatre Voyagers and Advanced Theatre Voyagers classes, these camps let participants create stories for the big screen. Screenings of their work will occur on the final day of the camp and students receive a DVD copy.

-          Scenic Design and Production for rising grades seven through twelve (a two week camp)-this  camp focuses on developing the scenic design and painting techniques for NCT's Emerging Artists Production through hands-on experience students explore the elements of design and learn basics of construction and painting.

-          Project Costume for rising grades seven through twelve-aspiring designers learn how to create a costume design from a script and will create a miniportfolio of completed renderings.

-          Scene Study for rising grades seven through twelve-designed for a variety of experience levels, this camp develops skill and confidence as campers analyze, rehearse and perform scenes from classic and contemporary plays.

-          Theatre Ninjas: Stage Combat for rising grades seven through twelve-covering the basics of stage combat, this camp focuses on fight choreography with an emphasis on safety and is suitable for a variety of experience levels.

-          Young Artists Company for rising grades seven through twelve (a two week camp)-this dedicated ensemble of young actors striving for excellence will focus on the work of Shakespeare, exploring scenes from the Shakespearean cannon. Audition required.

For Summer 2012, NCT's Emerging Artists' production will be Avenue Q, School Edition. Based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway show, Avenue Q, this tamed school edition was adapted by the show's creators, (book by Jeff Whitty, lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, music by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx) to make it appropriate for high school students.

"This show presents a variety of unique learning opportunities for our most advanced and mature students," says Fuss. "The play features a strong ensemble and will require actors to develop strong collaborative skills. The process will encourage our students to explore forms of comic performance we haven't previously tackled with our Emerging Artists. The heavy emphasis on puppetry in this piece will also develop a new skill-set for this cast- both for those who will perform as puppeteers, and those who will interact with puppets onstage. This is an ambitious choice, but we strongly believe that Nashville's young performers are up to the challenge!"

This production is rated PG-13, and the camp is for rising grades eight through graduating high school seniors, and an audition is required.

Camp Scholarships are available. Forms and requirements can be found at http://nashvillechildrenstheatre.org/camp_financial.htm Schedule specifics, class descriptions, pricing and registration information can be found at www.nashvillechildrenstheatre.org. 

To post a comment, you must register and login.