Young actors and actresses will be showing off their skills at the end of the week-long Kids Rule Theatre Camp at Sacred Heart School, where kids ages 6 to 13 will perform an ensemble production Friday at 6:30 p.m.
This year’s performance is especially exciting for camp founders Kristy and Norm Burchard who are celebrating 10 years of the summer camp. The camp is sponsored by San Benito Stage Company and hosted at Sacred Heart School.
“It really is a huge milestone for us to think we started it 10 years ago,” Norm Burchard said. “We had no idea it would even last a year – that we would last a year.”
The program this year includes 160 students in the Kids Rule portion of the program and 20 advanced students in the ENCORE THEATRE workshop who will perform a show on Saturday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
More than 50 counselors and staff members work with the campers to create an ensemble piece that includes dance and song, while the advanced students put on a complete play in six days.
Kids Rule Theatre campers were decked out in bright neons, leg warmers and crazy sunglasses on Wednesday as part of the 1980s theme day at the summer program. The program ran Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There was a different theme each day, including a Disney Day and Pirate Day later in the week.
During the afternoon session, a group of 9-year-old campers rehearsed choreography to “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” performed by the cast of “Glee.” The danced around and acted out the words to the song, such as “When you knocked on my door, I gave you my key,” with the boys pretending to knock on an imaginary door and the girls holding their hands out as though they were offering up a key.
“The theme this year is Broadway,” said Nancy Perales, one of the staff members. “You will see songs and dances from Broadway.”
Perales got involved in the program the first year when her son was a camper.
“It gives the kids more time to learn the basics,” she said. “They are learning beginning dance and acting technique.”
The youngest kids in the camp start with pantomime, while the older kids act out a skit or scene from a play. The advanced students in the Encore program need to finish two years in Kids Rule camp before they are eligible for it. Most of the kids also have experience in San Benito Stage Company productions or school plays by the time they try out for Encore.
“Everything is accelerated,” Burchard said. “A typical show has six or seven, sometimes eight weeks. We do auditions, casting, stage exercises and blocking scenes. It’s like a mini production cycle.”
The Encore show this year is a play called “Be Careful What You Wish For.” Burchard said he looks for shows that have 18 to 20 parts and have roles that have a similar amount of stage time. Burchard described the show as part fairytale, part fable. He said it is about wish givers who are granting wishes to unfortunate people who are being investigated because some of the wishes they give are backfiring.
The show is a learning experience for both the students enrolled in the program as well as the counselors, most of whom went through the program as campers.
“I try to give counselors a piece of the play that they can own,” Burchard said. “They can do their own blocking or a run through. … I think it fosters interest in directing.”
Perales, too, said the counselors are given a lot of responsibility during the camp.
“It just feels great that these kids started 10 years ago and now they are counselors,” Perales said. “It’s great to see the growth.”
MORE INFO
Kids Rule Theatre Camp sponsored by the San Benito Stage Company will present an outdoor finale program on Friday, June 29th at 6:30pm at the Sacred Heart School. The 6-13 year old campers will be singing, dancing and acting in Kids rule 10th anniversary EXTRAVAGANZA. The Kids rule Rockband will warm up the audience beginning at 6pm. The show is FREE and open to the public. Please come support the arts in our community. Details: Call 801-1203.
ENCORE THEATERworkshop will present “Be Careful What you Wish For . . . ” a dramatic comedy performed by 10-14 year old actors on Saturday, June 30th at 7 p.m. at the LDS Church on Cienega Road. This workshop was founded and director by Kristy and Norm Burchard in 2006. The actors audition for the play on Monday and perform the play six days later. The show is FREE and open to the public. Please come support the arts in our community. Details: call 801-1203.
