Wagon Wheel Announces Its 2017 Summer Youth Camps
May 31, 2017 at 8:08 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Camps are arranged by students’ completed grade levels.
Grades 2-4
Students who just finished second through fourth grade will be able to take part in Summer Play, led by Wagon Wheel veteran and educator Kira Lace Hawkins.
This five-day camp will take the students through an original script surrounded by acting and movement exercises, according to information provided by the Wagon Wheel. Creative projects, improvisation, games and character studies will build confidence and further the students’ knowledge of acting technique.
Memorization of lines will be expected as the students perform before their friends and family on the last day of camp. Bring your lunch for each day along with a snack for breaks.
The camp is 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. June 5-9 in the Wagon Wheel Theatre lobby, 2515 E. Center St., Warsaw.
Cost is $150, which includes admission to the 2 p.m. performance of “Newsies” on June 8.
Grades 5-7
Hawkins also will lead Theatre Workshop for those students who just completed grades five through seven.
This camp is designed to challenge middle school students to further develop their acting skills. Over the course of five days, students will develop a theatrical piece to perform for family and friends at the culmination of the camp.
Theatre Workshop is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 19-23. Students should bring a sack lunch. Performance will be held on the final day of class.
Class will meet in the ballroom of Wyndham Garden Hotel. On the first day of class, it will meet in the Wagon Wheel Theater lobby and move to the ballroom together.
Cost is $150, which includes admission to the 2 p.m. performance of “Footloose” June 22.
Grades 8 -12
Musical Theater Workshop: Children of Eden is for students who just completed eighth through 12th grade. It will be led by Wagon Wheel actor and director Ben Dicke and Emily Ann Luhrs.
Now in its 13th year of producing the highest quality student productions on the Wagon Wheel stage, the camp that brought to life such shows as “Once on this Island,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” “HONK!,” “Kiss Me, Kate”?and last year’s “Urinetown” is back with “Children of Eden,” according to information provided.
Aimed at giving students a professional theater experience, this 11-day, fast-paced workshop will bring students from rehearsal to curtain in a week and a half.
Musical Theatre is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 14-24 every day except Sunday when there will be an evening rehearsal. Students should bring a sack lunch and snacks. Performance will be at 1 p.m. June 24.
Cost is $250, which includes admission to the 2 p.m. performance of “Footloose” June 22.
Sign-Up
Stop in the Wagon Wheel Theatre Box office to pay for the class and fill out the registration form. All questions should be directed via email to [email protected].
Scholarships Available
Scholarships are available for all programs. Wagon Wheel Theatre believes that every child should have an opportunity to experience live theatre first-hand regardless of ability to pay, the news release states. To request consideration for a scholarship, send an email to Holly Lantz at [email protected] with information about the child’s experience level and the financial need.
Teaching Staff
Hawkins studied music and theater at St. Olaf College, and holds an Masters of Fine Arts in acting from Penn State University. She teaches acting classes to all ages at Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, and she serves as adjunct faculty at Manchester University, directing productions and teaching theater classes.
This will be Hawkins’ seventh summer working with the Wagon Wheel Theatre Youth Programs.
Previous acting credits at the Wheel include Mary Poppins in “Mary Poppins,” Dolly Levi in “Hello, Dolly!”?and Paulette in “Legally Blonde.”
Luhrs is a Chicago theatre artist whose exploits include writing, performing, directing and puppetry. Her most recent projects include directing a TYA production of “Seussical” with the musical theatre students at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, and designing a five-headed dragon puppet for the theatre department's spring play “She Kills Monsters.” She also worked for five years as a teaching artist at the Denver Center Theatre Academy. She has a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in musical theatre performance from the University of Oklahoma.
Dicke began working at the Wagon Wheel in 2004. Favorite roles on that stage include Nathan Detroit in “Guys and Dolls,” Moonface Martin in “Anything Goes,” Applegate in “Damn Yankees”?and Cliff in “Cabaret,” among others.
Dicke helped co-create the Wagon Wheel’s summer youth programming alongside Andy Robinson in summer 2005.
In addition to their directing work with the students of Warsaw and the surrounding areas, Dicke and Robinson have collaborated as directors for the professional company on a number of projects including “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “Blithe Spirit” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” among others.
Dicke is excited to work both onstage this summer in “Young Frankenstein” and collaborate again with Robinson as co-directors for “The Crucible.”
Dicke is currently the chair of the theatre department at The Chicago Academy for the Arts.
Camps are arranged by students’ completed grade levels.
Grades 2-4
Students who just finished second through fourth grade will be able to take part in Summer Play, led by Wagon Wheel veteran and educator Kira Lace Hawkins.
This five-day camp will take the students through an original script surrounded by acting and movement exercises, according to information provided by the Wagon Wheel. Creative projects, improvisation, games and character studies will build confidence and further the students’ knowledge of acting technique.
Memorization of lines will be expected as the students perform before their friends and family on the last day of camp. Bring your lunch for each day along with a snack for breaks.
The camp is 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. June 5-9 in the Wagon Wheel Theatre lobby, 2515 E. Center St., Warsaw.
Cost is $150, which includes admission to the 2 p.m. performance of “Newsies” on June 8.
Grades 5-7
Hawkins also will lead Theatre Workshop for those students who just completed grades five through seven.
This camp is designed to challenge middle school students to further develop their acting skills. Over the course of five days, students will develop a theatrical piece to perform for family and friends at the culmination of the camp.
Theatre Workshop is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 19-23. Students should bring a sack lunch. Performance will be held on the final day of class.
Class will meet in the ballroom of Wyndham Garden Hotel. On the first day of class, it will meet in the Wagon Wheel Theater lobby and move to the ballroom together.
Cost is $150, which includes admission to the 2 p.m. performance of “Footloose” June 22.
Grades 8 -12
Musical Theater Workshop: Children of Eden is for students who just completed eighth through 12th grade. It will be led by Wagon Wheel actor and director Ben Dicke and Emily Ann Luhrs.
Now in its 13th year of producing the highest quality student productions on the Wagon Wheel stage, the camp that brought to life such shows as “Once on this Island,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” “HONK!,” “Kiss Me, Kate”?and last year’s “Urinetown” is back with “Children of Eden,” according to information provided.
Aimed at giving students a professional theater experience, this 11-day, fast-paced workshop will bring students from rehearsal to curtain in a week and a half.
Musical Theatre is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 14-24 every day except Sunday when there will be an evening rehearsal. Students should bring a sack lunch and snacks. Performance will be at 1 p.m. June 24.
Cost is $250, which includes admission to the 2 p.m. performance of “Footloose” June 22.
Sign-Up
Stop in the Wagon Wheel Theatre Box office to pay for the class and fill out the registration form. All questions should be directed via email to [email protected].
Scholarships Available
Scholarships are available for all programs. Wagon Wheel Theatre believes that every child should have an opportunity to experience live theatre first-hand regardless of ability to pay, the news release states. To request consideration for a scholarship, send an email to Holly Lantz at [email protected] with information about the child’s experience level and the financial need.
Teaching Staff
Hawkins studied music and theater at St. Olaf College, and holds an Masters of Fine Arts in acting from Penn State University. She teaches acting classes to all ages at Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, and she serves as adjunct faculty at Manchester University, directing productions and teaching theater classes.
This will be Hawkins’ seventh summer working with the Wagon Wheel Theatre Youth Programs.
Previous acting credits at the Wheel include Mary Poppins in “Mary Poppins,” Dolly Levi in “Hello, Dolly!”?and Paulette in “Legally Blonde.”
Luhrs is a Chicago theatre artist whose exploits include writing, performing, directing and puppetry. Her most recent projects include directing a TYA production of “Seussical” with the musical theatre students at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, and designing a five-headed dragon puppet for the theatre department's spring play “She Kills Monsters.” She also worked for five years as a teaching artist at the Denver Center Theatre Academy. She has a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in musical theatre performance from the University of Oklahoma.
Dicke began working at the Wagon Wheel in 2004. Favorite roles on that stage include Nathan Detroit in “Guys and Dolls,” Moonface Martin in “Anything Goes,” Applegate in “Damn Yankees”?and Cliff in “Cabaret,” among others.
Dicke helped co-create the Wagon Wheel’s summer youth programming alongside Andy Robinson in summer 2005.
In addition to their directing work with the students of Warsaw and the surrounding areas, Dicke and Robinson have collaborated as directors for the professional company on a number of projects including “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “Blithe Spirit” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” among others.
Dicke is excited to work both onstage this summer in “Young Frankenstein” and collaborate again with Robinson as co-directors for “The Crucible.”
Dicke is currently the chair of the theatre department at The Chicago Academy for the Arts.
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