By Halley McCormick
This summer, Orcas Center welcomes guest instructors from the Village Theatre to teach two week-long day camps. The camps, called “KidStage,” follow a different theme each week.
The first week, students participate in a camp centered around the hit television show, “Glee,” and modern musicals, and the second week, the theme is Harry Potter. Instructors come to Orcas from Village Theatre with experience working with children on musical and theatrical productions.
Karissa Bryant, the first week’s musical director, is back in Washington after a few years of travel, study, and teaching in Asia. She has been a music director and vocal coach with Village Theatre, and she looks forward to helping her students “realize their potential in singing and in life,” she says. Eia Waltzer is the first week’s choreographer and director and has been working with KidStage productions for the past four years. In addition to performing professionally in the Seattle area, she teaches dance and choreography for high schools and theaters.
The instructor for the Harry Potter session is Emily Blackburn, a director who has taught and directed all over the world. She says that she is “thrilled to be back in the Pacific Northwest” teaching with KIDSTAGE.
Both weeks of camp include about twenty students, between the ages of eight and thirteen years old. During the “Glee” camp, participants work on songs that they will ultimately perform at the end of the week. They practice the songs themselves, learning the lyrics and melodies, and then they add choreography to every number. During the Harry Potter week, students explore the magical world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts through skits that the students create themselves.
Besides working hard on their songs or skits, the students play theater games and practice creating new characters. They will showcase the final product of their work in a demonstration for their friends and family. The demonstration for “Glee” will take place on Friday, June 24, from 3:30 to 4 p.m. on Orcas Center’s Center Stage.
The Harry Potter workshop will result in a performance on Friday, July 1, from 3:30 to 4 p.m., also on Center Stage.
