Category: KATA! Summer 2018

Session Three, Day One: Getting to Know Each Other!

Today marks day one of session three at TeensAct! and KidsAct! We are so thrilled to be working with such an enthusiastic and energetic group. To kick off the next two weeks, we played getting to know you games as a group before the teens and kids parted aways. Both groups worked with Gaylan on our group musical numbers, and we all came together again to learn commedia dell’arte with Sam. Additionally, everyone learned about improvisational acting and the magic of saying yes! We ended our days by devising stories from still images, using fairy tales and the world of Commedia as inspiration. Tomorrow, we head to Hancock Shaker Village to find some inspiring source material for our plays! We can’t wait to see what we will find!

 

Session 2 Day 10 – Show day!

We finished Session 2 on a wonderful note with two innovative, inspiring, and wildly entertaining shows! Our final day was spent polishing up little details and conducting a final dress rehearsal before at last being able to share all our hard work with the families and friends of our campers. KidsAct! transported our audience to the Wild Wild West for a feminist comedy complete with a stampede, “damsels in distress” fighting bandits with taekwondo, and a full-company curtain call dance to the “Cotton-Eye Joe.” This was followed by TeensAct!’s epic story set in Paris at the Moulin Rouge that told a tale of dancers following their dreams who stood up and fought for their rights and won out over the greedy money-hungry producers in the end. The entire show culminated in a rousing rendition of “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” where KidsAct! and TeensAct! came together with an energetic kick line to close out Session 2 with a bang. We are so proud of the work every camper did that led to this amazing final product, and we can’t wait to see what new adventures are in store for Session 3!

Session Two, Day Nine: Dress Rehearsal!

IMG_2846

Tomorrow is show day! KidsAct! and TeensAct! are beyond thrilled to share our work with our families. Today was a day of rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing. Now that our shows are finished, we want them to be as polished as possible for our show. Costumes added excitement to our day and helped our damsels, bandits, dancers, and greedy producers come to life! We are so proud of the plays we have created: making these plays has required so much focus and creativity, and the final product certainly shows it. We know our TeensAct! and KidsAct! families will love being in the audience tomorrow. Get ready to travel to Paris and the Wild, Wild West!

Session Two, Day Eight: Finishing & Polishing our Plays!

As of today, both TeensAct! and KidsAct! have officially finished their plays! We can’t wait to share these stories: one is a suspenseful story of a wild day in the even wilder west, and the other a Parisian tale of following your dreams and overcoming obstacles. Although these stories take place across the world from each other, they are both full of important and wonderful messages which we cannot wait to share with our audience. Today, we polished our choreography and musical numbers with Katy and Gaylan. Teens were able to work on solos as well. The next few days will be dedicated to rehearsing and perfecting our plays. We can’t wait to see the final result!

Session 2 Day 7 – Dancing and Devising

With our big final show looming just three days away, we needed to accomplish a lot today, and we did! Despite the rain that kept us inside and the humidity we had to tough out, KidsAct! was able to complete their play and TeensAct! made significant progress with theirs. TeensAct! also got to spend time with Gaylan working on their solos, and both groups danced quite a bit. Katy worked with them to complete and polish the choreography for “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” add some choreography for a villain song in the KidsAct! show, and create an “audition” dance number for the TeensAct! show. They are both shaping up to be really exciting, ambitious plays with intricate storylines and well-developed characters, and it is wonderful to watch them develop!

 

Session Two, Day Six: Week Two Begins!

 

As of today, our show is officially in four days! Time is flying, and we are enjoying every minute of it. After a weekend of rest, KidsAct! and TeensAct! jumped right back into devising their plays. In the morning, everyone worked together on our opening number, refreshing our memory and polishing choreography. Teens began to work on solo numbers with Gaylan, and continued to piece together the play, which is quickly becoming an epic story of Parisian artists following their dreams. KidsAct! worked on the second half of their wild western play, incorporating choreography (including the cotton-eye joe!) and lazzis into their play. There may even be an epic chase scene… but we won’t give away any spoilers! It will take a great deal of creativity and focus to complete our plays this week, but we know this group is up to the challenge!

Session 2 Day 5 – Water Play, Monologues, and More Devising

We closed out a wonderful first week with Session 2 today with fun times on the splash pad and so much more! KidsAct! continued to devise their Wild West play and was able to complete the entire first half, and they also worked on polishing music and dance for the opening and closing numbers. TeensAct! had Commedia 2 with Sam, where they learned lazzi, or comedic bits, that they could incorporate into their play. They also really dug into their individual characters and worked diligently on their monologues, as well as created a dynamic opening scene to introduce the world of the play. We will miss being at camp this weekend but can’t wait to dive back in on Monday!

Session Two, Day Four: Dancing, Devising, Talent Sharing!

KidsAct! and TeensAct! had a busy and fun Thursday! Today, both groups put on their dancing shoes and worked with Katy on choreography for our opening number, There’s No Business Like Show Business. KidsAct! also learned more commedia to incorporate into their devising process while TeensAct! worked on developing the theme of their play, continuing to devise scenes, and writing monologues. In the afternoon, we had a talent share: piano, singing, dancing, drawing, and playing guitar are only some of our group’s many amazing talents! With all of this talent, exciting choreography, and music being added into the mix, we are sure our plays will be groundbreaking!

Session 2 Day 3 – Wacky Wednesday!

Wacky Wednesday was a full day of improv games with Jane, commedia dell’arte lessons with Sam, and beginning to devise our plays. KidsAct! has chosen to set their play in the Wild Wild West, where there are bandits, sheriffs, and damsels in distress, and TeensAct! is creating a story about dancers in Paris. In music class, both groups learned “There’s No Business Like Show Business” from Annie Get Your Gun and “Happiness” from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. We can’t wait to see how our plays will continue to develop over the next week and a half!

Session Two, Day Two— Visiting The Clark!

On our sunny second day of camp, KidsAct! and TeensAct! headed to the Clark Institute of Art in Williamstown, MA seeking inspiration for our plays. At The Clark, we explored artwork which came with a variety of intriguing stories about painters, dancers, war, the west, and Greek mythology. We also saw many beautiful landscapes and mountains across The Clark’s campus, and we were able to take a brief nature hike. Now that we have a variety of source material to work with, we are ready to dive in and start devising! We wrapped up our day by reflecting on the art we had seen and playing improv games. Tomorrow, we will be back at our home base and ready to start discovering our plays!