Theatre Kids

As I begin this post, I really have to stretch back and give you a little history. Some of you know, but most of you probably don't know that I used to sing in a group in elementary through high school. The group consisted of 4 girls and we traveled around Oklahoma and the surrounding states and performed every weekend...one weekend we performed in 7 different cities in 2 days doing 1-2 hour shows at each place! Needless to say, I was a performer growing up and it CONSUMED my life! (Maybe I'll blog about all that one day with photos! haha!) At one point we had a personal choreographer that choreographed all of our songs. Her name is Kathy Grufik and we have somewhat stayed in touch through the years. Her husband is head of the entertainment at Mayfest, so I always talk to them around that time when I perform there. I was so excited when they were able to make it to mine and Trevor's wedding. And most recently, back in March, Kathy asked me to teach a vocal music/musical theater class at the camp that she has been in charge of for years. So for the past 2 weeks, that's what I've been up to!

The camp is located at Henthorne Performing Arts Center (It's what used to be Clark Theater and Heller Theater, but they are now combined). I had SO much fun being able to teach in a more creative way (math isn't always exciting and not all my students are like these crazy theater kids!) Speaking of theater kids...they haven't changed a bit since I was in school. I definitely would not consider myself a theater kid-I didn't exactly hang out with that group in school but I was always friends with them. And I definitely was not as outgoing as the majority of them! (For the most part I did so much performing outside of school that the last thing I wanted to do in school was sing, but my senior year I decided I wanted to be in show choir, so I became well acquainted with all the "theatre kids" that year!)
Here are a few ways to describe theater kids: they sing everywhere they go-loudly, they all LOVE to be the center of attention (duh! spotlight/stage), they are dramatic over any situation, they are usually wearing shirts to advertise their next production, they have an abnormal amount of inside jokes with other theatre kids, they spell theater-theatre, they are obsessed with a LOT of musicals, they are at school at odd times-late at night, early in the morning, weekends, they have no sense of awkward boundaries around other theatre kids, and they just LOVE to perform...do you know any or are you one yourself??? Anyway, they are so much fun to work with and I'm going to miss each and every one! Luckily, a couple of them will be joining me at Union 6th next year and I'm hoping they are on my team! :)

A student made me this, so I hung it in my room for the week!

So, onto the last couple weeks. There are 40 kids total at the camp and they are divided into two groups of 20 by age. So technically there is a younger group and an older group. We don't like to call them that during the week, so we let them come up with group names. The younger group decided on Tie-die Snowballs and the older group decided on The Sparkling Pigeons (don't ask about the weird names-it's a theatre kid thing, remember?) The kids go to classes during the day and then at the end of the two weeks they put on 3 performances for parents to come and watch. The students go to an acting class, a dance class, and a musical theater class. (I was in charge of musical theater). Each group goes to each class 2 times a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I started brainstorming awhile ago what I wanted to do with each group and I decided on an Annie Medley for the younger group and a Motown Medley for the older group. They were both great choices because the students LOVED them!
Here are a couple photos of lunch time...

 

During the second week, the students tie-die shirts for the performances. Each group decides on 2 colors they want to use for tie-dying and they perform in those shirts. The older group decided on purple and navy and the younger group wanted purple and red.

getting their shirts ready

soaking in the first color

The Sparkling Pigeons' shirts

The Tie-Die Snowballs' shirts

Starting on Wednesday, we start piecing together the show, choose an order for the singing/dancing/acting to go in and then we run the show over and over!

Awe, they are just too cute!! I can't get enough! Well, I did record one of their run-throughs, but I couldn't get it to upload on here...you will have to check back later if I can get it uploaded!
I had so much fun choreographing the songs, working with the students, teaching singing and breathing technics, watching your hard work turn out looking great on stage...it was really neat! As the students went on stage I was getting little butterflies for them! :) My mom, dad, aunt and grandma got to come to the show on Thursday night. I loved that they came to support even though it wasn't me on stage this time.

After the show we went and got dinner together at Ricardo's (my fav restaurant!)

On Friday the students did an afternoon show and an evening show. The afternoon show was probably the best and the evening show got a little hectic. One little girl ran off stage during the first number because her stomach started hurting, so she went home before the 2nd number. Also during the first number a girl fell and her hands were stepped on, so there were lots if tears! But the show must go on...

Here is a group picture with all the campers and me:

And here is a picture of the session 3 teachers:

I also got this awesome shirt...

As I said earlier...this was life as a child!

Such an awesome 2 weeks! Hopefully I will be able to do it again next summer!!

My first time teaching music was a success...I can't wait to see what's next.