Category: KATA! Summer 2018

The students of KidsAct! Session #4 had a spectacular start to the week!

Today, we each got to know each other’s characters! We dove into our new world where we are a King, Dragons, and Elves. We spent the morning exercising our creativity. Whether it be games like “Smile if You Love Me” or “What Are You Doing in My Kingdom,” or practicing our improvisational skills with the game “Three-Headed Expert,” these children are clearly wonderfully creative and funny!

In Music, we are learning “Try Everything” by Shakira, featured in the movie Zootopia. In the coming days, we will be adding choreography. We are also learning the song “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.” The fresh air and sunshine in the morning are a great start to the day!

Before we wrapped up camp for the day, we shared our skills with the TeensAct group. They cheered on the preformance before sharing their original song with us in return. Their song got stuck in the campers’ heads before they went home.

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Congratulations to Session #3’s KidsAct! campers for their incredible performance this last Friday! We are so proud of all of their hard work and determination in the devising process and can’t believe our time together is ALREADY over 😦 We hope you all have a phenomenal rest of your summer, and we are look forward to seeing our returning students this Monday!

Special thanks once more to BCC for letting us use their awesome auditorium and another thank you to Session #2 and #3’s Lead Teacher, Sophie, for their good energy, incredible direction, and hard work these last four weeks! We will miss you Session #4, but hope you have a wonderful rest of your summer 🙂

This last week at KidsAct! has been so much fun!

Starting off Tuesday, our campers enjoyed a relaxing swim at the pool, which we can’t wait to repeat this coming week!

After some time in the water, we began character work and devising the plot our show. So far, we have created a tale involving an exciting quest towards the end of the rainbow, pirate shenanigans, and a Taylor Swift concert!

Speaking of Taylor Swift, our students have been using their beautiful voices in music class to review the two songs they have learned and add dance! Here, the kids sing and dance to “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” which will be in the show on Friday!

In addition to the hard work that has been achieved, we also have been having so, SO much fun! After moving most of our classes outdoors this past week, the campers have been playing some fun games such as “Kitty Wants a Corner,” “SPLAT!” and, a new favorite, “What Are You Doing In My Kingdom?”

Just some quick reminders;

This week, we will have our second pool day on Tuesday, July 30th as well as a themed day on Wednesday (be sure to check your emails for what our theme will be)! The show is also only 5 days away – Friday at 2pm, and we can’t wait to see you all there 🙂

Today was our first day of session #3 of KidsAct! and we could not be more thrilled to start off camp!

We began the day with some fun get to know you games, including “Name and Gesture,” “This or That,” and my personal favorite, “SPLAT!” Our campers also found themselves getting to know two of the songs that will be sung in their show; You’ve Got a Friend in Me from Toy Story and The Rainbow Connection from The Muppets. Having learned both these songs in just under 45 minutes, the campers exceeded all expectations and sounded lovely in their songs!

After a nice, long lunch outside, the students came back and learned about “yes, and…”: the first and most important rule of improv! Using this guideline, we were able to play some fun-filled improv games such as “Follow the Leader” and, a camp favorite, “What Are You Doing?”

Then, our campers began devising. We started by asking questions related to rainbows and then expanded to discussing their dreams, hopes, and wishes!

We can’t wait to continue our work (and fun) tomorrow; don’t forget, it’s POOL DAY!!!

We are so proud of your tremendously talented students. The show was a huge success! Funny, creative and filled with lots of heart. It has been such a joy to watch everyone learn and grow throughout these two weeks. Thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing your students again at KidsAct! We wish you a phenomenal rest of your summer. Congratulations!

We had a fabulous first week of KidsAct! Session #2! We are truly impressed with the heart, ideas and passion that all of your students have brought to camp.

After a week of devising, we’ve created a show centered around a boarding school where all the students in the school have magical powers! Some are shapeshifters, some control a particular element (fire, water, air, etc.) and others control multiple elements!

We created tableaus, or frozen pictures on stage to practice devising!

In music class, we learned THREE popular songs from the musical theatre canon- “When I Grow Up” from Matilda, “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray, and “What Is This Feeling?” from Wicked. All of our campers have great voices!

We did movement exercises around the room to dive further in our character work. So fun! Overall, a phenomenal first week.

Today was the first day of our second week! Session #2 music director Alex has written an original song that will serve as the introductory number into the world of the play. The students got a sneak preview today and are going to learn the vocals very soon!

We can’t wait for the rest of this week. A reminder that tomorrow, July 16th is POOL DAY.

AND Wednesday, July 17th is pajama day! Yay! (No slippers please) Thank you so much for a wonderful first week.

See you on Friday at 2 PM for the show!

The student’s of KidsAct! Session #2 had a spectacular first day!

Today, we each got to know each other better by playing many games as well as exercising our creativity. Whether it be icebreaker games like “As The Wind Blows” or “Two Steps Forward,” or practicing our improvisational skills with the game “Machine,” these children are clearly wonderfully creative and funny!

Also, our campers learned -not one- but TWO songs; “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile” from the musical Annie and “When I Grow Up” from the musical Matilda. As music director, I was thoroughly impressed with everyone’s beautiful voices!

Later in the day, we began devising our original musical by asking students to share what they want to do, learn and be when they get older, inspired by the song “When I Grow Up” from Matilda that they learned in music class earlier in today.

Here are the notes from our group devising discussion!

We are so excited to continue with this fantastic group of campers. A reminder that tomorrow, July 9th is POOL DAY. Thank you so much!

And with that, our first session of KidsAct! comes to a close! Thank you so much to all of our campers for your never ending creativity and energy; your hard work really helped make this show unforgettable. Thank you to all the parents who came to the performance; your laughter and positivity in the audience was infectious. One more special thanks to the Berkshire Community College for letting us use their wonderful space and lighting, and we at KidsAct! wish you all a lovely rest of summer!

For those joining us in Session #2, we can’t wait to see you tomorrow, 9AM!

As the show approaches, our campers have been working hard devising and creating their show! With one week complete, we have added 3 new songs (2 of which are original compositions!), 1 new dance number, and many hilarious scenes featuring the shivering bugs of Saturn, detective space animals, and Denise Carol Musk (Elon’s evil twin sister). 

Our students have also been able to play many games (including a creation of their own, Werewolf) as well as spending their lunch times sitting, eating, relaxing, and making friendship bracelets!

We are so excited for our show coming up this Friday at 2pm! Be sure to keep a lookout in your emails about information regarding parking and directions to the theatre. Additionally, this Saturday, the KidsAct! campers have been invited to perform at the Common Ground Festival this Saturday, July 6th. If you are able to participate, please email mgescheit@barringtonstageco.org for more information!

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is Red, White, and Blue day, so please arrive in your most patriotic gear!! We look forward to the rest of the week at camp and seeing the show come to fruition!