Week-long drama program ends with a Broadway revival and a drama
performance
Nearly 140 young theater enthusiasts participated in the Kids
Rule Theatre Camp and Encore Theatre workshop, sponsored by San
Benito Stage Company, June 20-24.
Kristy Burchard ran the Kids Rule Camp while her husband Norm
spearheaded the Encore Theatre program. The camp is open to kids
ages 6 to 13 years old. Burchard said about half the students were
returning kids from previous summers, though they graduated a large
class of 13-year-olds last year.
Week-long drama program ends with a Broadway revival and a drama performance
Nearly 140 young theater enthusiasts participated in the Kids Rule Theatre Camp and Encore Theatre workshop, sponsored by San Benito Stage Company, June 20-24.
Kristy Burchard ran the Kids Rule Camp while her husband Norm spearheaded the Encore Theatre program. The camp is open to kids ages 6 to 13 years old. Burchard said about half the students were returning kids from previous summers, though they graduated a large class of 13-year-olds last year.
“My true mission is to introduce musical theater, dance and singing to kids,” Burchard said, in an e-mail. “We hope to instill confidence by teaching them how to be up in front of a group and speak with expression and colorful tone in their voices.”
The Kids Rule Theatre will present an outdoor finale program June 24, at 6:30 p.m., at Sacred Heart School. Before the show, the Kids Rule Rock Band will play at 6 p.m. The campers will be singing, dancing and acting in a Broadway revival.
Burchard explained that the camp is doing a Broadway theme again this year because there are so many songs from which to choose, though they will not perform any of the same songs from last year’s finale. The students worked on ensemble music each day, to learn an opening number and a closing number for the finale. They will perform “Green Eggs and Ham,” from “Seussical the Musical,” and “Mamma Mia.” The ensemble music conductor will be coordinating the choir of 190, including campers and teen volunteers.
Other classes the students took included stage dance movement and small group vocals, where they learned stage terms, direction and positions, pantomime and other acting techniques.
Burchard has some adult helpers, as well as 50 teen volunteers. Each age is broken into smaller groups of about 16 students, with one older teen serving as the leader and two or three younger teens as counselors.
The students involved in the Kids Rule Camp also have the unique opportunity to vote on the San Benito Stage Company’s children’s production for 2012. Burchard will announce the show that is selected at the finale on Friday.
While the younger students are busy at Kids Rule Camp, the older, more experienced performances participated in the Encore Theatre workshop, where they will put on a dramatic play on Saturday. This year’s performance will be “Crumpled Classics,” a play by Craig Sodaro, about drama students who are trying to save their school’s drama program and teacher. The students update classic tales to make them applicable to their situation, such as “Romeo and Juliet,” “Frankenstein,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Sherlock Holmes,” and “King Arthur.”
Students who have participated in Kids Rule for at least two years and who want to try out for a dramatic play are selected for the Encore program. They have to audition on the first day of camp, with a one-minute monologue and are cast before the end of the day.
Encore Theatre workshop will present “Crumpled Classics,” a dramatic comedy performed by 10- to 14-year-old actors June 24, at 7 p.m., at the LDS Church, on Cienega Road.
For more information on the performances, call 801-1203.
