With show day looming just a day away, levels of excitement were at an all-time high today. We spent all day refining and polishing our shows, adding in props and costume elements, and sharing the entire shows with the other group for the first time. This session has created two wildly different but equally fantastic shows inspired by their field trip to the Norman Rockwell museum, and we cannot wait to share them with their friends and families tomorrow! KidsAct! will be singing and dancing to “We Go Together” from Grease as well as “True Colors” and performing their suspenseful, hilarious, and fun-filled Legend of the VonTacos. Their play was inspired by multiple paintings at the Norman Rockwell and involves a horrible Swiss family band, a crazy meemaw, and a comical mix-up that leads to them being asked to perform for the queen of Russia. Will they get there, and what will happen if they do? TeensAct! will be presenting a poignant tale inspired by the painting “Moving Day” that explores the topical issues of embracing differences, confronting addiction to technology, and re-establishing human connection. New Girl in Town follows the journey of Rose, who has just recently moved to a new school, as she struggles to fit in and navigates a world of peers who are very different from her. This story incorporates the songs “New Girl in Town” from Hairspray, “Gorgeous” from The Apple Tree, “Popular” from Wicked, “Alone in the Universe” from Seussical, “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman, and “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen, and it is at once comical, real, thought-provoking, and moving. We could not be prouder of all the creativity and hard work that went into the creation of these two shows, and tomorrow will be a bittersweet and exciting day as we finish off both this session and the entire summer and show off all we have accomplished over just two short weeks!

Issy will be wrapping up the summer with one final blog post tomorrow, but this will be my last one – It has been a pleasure keeping a record of the exciting happenings each day, and I have loved every minute of devising theatre with these sweet, talented, inspiring young people! -Katy

We had another very busy day today, where lots of wonderful work was done that is bringing us closer and closer to show day! KidsAct! spent the day polishing the second half of their show, which is filled with potions and unicorns and is just as wacky and silly as the first half. We can’t wait to see it all put together! They also practiced both of their group numbers, nailing down the vocals for “True Colors” and perfecting both the vocals and the complex dance moves for “We Go Together.” TeensAct! reviewed solos, including “The New Girl in Town” from Hairspray and “Alone in the Universe” from Seussical, and figured out how to incorporate them into the storyline as a whole. They devised many new scenes, including an exciting homecoming dance for the climax of the story, and came very close to completing their epic tale. Both groups are ready to start rehearsing and refining tomorrow!

Friday marked the end of a crazy busy, but very productive first week! KidsAct! worked incredibly hard and was able to finish their play, which is a wonderfully complex and funny story about a crazy family and a Russian queen. There are so many wacky scenes and fun surprises that it is sure to be a great time! TeensAct! has also been hard at work on their play, which is developing into a social commentary on what it means to be popular, fitting in, and addiction to technology and social media. They have been creating powerful vignettes and monologues as well as working on ambitious solos and group songs like “You Will Be Found” and “This is Me,” and next week will be focused on bringing all the great work that has been happening into one cohesive story. Katy also worked on choreography with both groups. teaching dances for “We Go Together” to KidsAct! and for “This is Me” to TeensAct!. And finally, Friday was water play day! Everyone had a blast splashing around in the water and it was a great way to head into the weekend. We are so excited to continue developing our shows in the coming week!

Day 3 is always an exciting day, as it’s the day when we get to take all the wonderful inspiration we got from our field trip and explore where it might lead us as we begin the process of creating our plays, and today was no exception. KidsAct! worked on devising scenes for a play about a family of terrible musicians who lives in Switzerland, and the comical characters each of them has chosen are already emerging in very exciting ways. TeensAct! has yet to decide exactly which direction their play will take, but they had a rich discussion about tackling themes such as having confidence in yourself, standing up for those who are bullied, and embracing differences. They also wrote powerful monologues relating to these themes, many of which were drawn from personal experiences. Sam taught commedia dell’arte to TeensAct!, and they had a blast exploring the world of servants and masters. Both groups worked on music with Gaylan, learning songs like “True Colors,” “What the World Needs Now is Love,” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” TeensAct! discussed ideas for other songs relating to the theme they have chosen for their play, and they devised two short scenes that may or may not end up in the play, one set at a dog show and the other in a fairytale kingdom. We can’t wait to see what new, creative ideas will spring forth in the coming days!

Today we welcomed all 25 campers for our last and biggest session of the summer and kicked it off with a fun-filled day. Both groups began with getting-to-know-you games like Jump In, Jump Out, Name-Name-Name and Big Wind Blows, and then dove straight into learning about the rules of improv and pantomime. TeensAct! learned about the importance of “Yes and,” and then we practiced our improv skills with games like What are you Doing, One Word Story, and Build the Environment. KidsAct! learned about the world of commedia dell’arte with Sam, embodying zanni, pantalone, brighella, magnifico and more. Both groups worked on music with Gaylan and learned “This is Me” from The Greatest Showman. Many of them even tried singing alone, and we were so impressed with the talent in both groups! TeensAct! also did story circles and told each other true stories about times they were embarrassed and times they were brave, and then they created still images to depict some of these stories. Altogether, it was a great day with lots of learning and making new friends, and we cannot wait for our field trip to the Norman Rockwell museum tomorrow!