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8-25 gst
Summer fun at The Growing Stage
BY ELSIE WALKER
For some kids, going to camp this summer meant roughing it in the outdoors. However, for those that attended the summer Arts Day Camp at the Growing Stage theatre, camp meant singing, dancing, art, and drama. However, the program wasn’t just about the theater.
“It enhances their creativity and teaches them about teamwork. What’s really exciting [about the program] is that kids come in as strangers and by Friday are working together as a team,” said Laura Petrie, Camp Director. Petrie, a teacher at Hackettstown Middle School, is also the Growing Stage’s Musical Director. She’s had that position for about 10 years, and has been with the theatre since its inception.
While some kids come to the camp for the chance to be on stage, Petrie mentioned that most come because they just love to sing and dance.
The Summer Arts Camp was for children Kindergarten ready through eighth grade and was made up of five one-week sessions. With about 50 children attending each week, campers were grouped by age and could attend more than one week. Working around a different theme each week, every age group developed its own musical production skit complete with any props or posters needed. (For example, the week they did pirates, the campers made swords.) The end product was a Friday night show for parents in which each group put on its own 15 minute musical skit.
“Each class gets its moment in the sun, “ said Petrie.
The staff included four teachers who are theatre professionals and nine counselors. The counselors were high school and college students who were interested in the theatre or education as a career.
The theme for the last week of the camp was “poetry” with age groups taking on the topics of animals, food, magical creatures and kids. Not only did the campers perform, but the counselors got into the act as well, putting on a dance number to “Ease on Down the Road”.
The only New Jersey theatre focused solely on children, The Growing Stage offers educational opportunities throughout the year. In addition to the summer arts camp, it offers a three week acting intensive workshop for high school students as well as 12-week Fall and Spring Creative Arts class sessions. The director of education is Lori Lawrence. For more information on The Growing Stage, visit its website at: www.growingstage.com
“Each class gets its moment in the sun”
Laura Petrie
GST 1
Growing stage Educational Director Lori Lawrence and Camp director Laura Petrie help a camper make a prop.
GST 2
Campers make a poster for their show. Each age group puts an a musical skit at the end of the week.
GST 3
The counselors at the summer Arts camp at the Growing Stage theater show a group of campers their dance routine to "Ease on Down the Road".
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