Houston Summer Camps for Children

Young Performers Summer Studios

Registration Form

Each Studio level meets Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to  3 p.m.

The program is open to students entering grades 2-12 and will be organized into the following studio levels:

*WAITING LIST To put your child's name on the waiting list for either Session I and/or Session II for the Youth Studio or Junior Studio, please email rochelles@alleytheatre.org.

All students will participate in age appropriate theatre games, voice and movement exercises, and improvisation that will promote creative development and build confidence.  The instruction focuses on the following:

Ensemble Building
Students develop a broad base for understanding how to collaborate, solve problems, and communicate.  Theatre games and activities are utilized to expose common ground and build common experiences.

Improvisation Techniques 
Improvisation is the creative, cooperative, and spontaneous dramatic response to changing and unanticipated dramatic stimuli.  Students will analyze the components of a story or play and use those components as they create their own work.  The improvised story is carefully structured, played, evaluated, and replayed.  As students become more adept at improvisation and creative dramatics, they prepare to perform for an audience.

Physical and Vocal Training
Movement is the external expression of an internal idea.  Students practice self-expression with nonverbal communication of an action, an activity, a mood, or intention.  The voice is main instrument for expressing meaning and feeling.  In practicing vocal skills, students also learn how to be receptive and improve listening skills.

Acting Classes
Students participate is exercises that develop character and believable behavior.  Instruction focuses on action, motivation and revealing character with a wide array of ways of moving, talking, and feeling that are unique to particular individual.  The classes enable students to know themselves and to appreciate one another’s uniqueness.

Production and Design Workshops
Scenery, lighting, props, costumes, make-up, and sound are all part of theatre.  These workshops guide students in developing a fuller awareness of the nuances of light, color sound, movement, and composition.  Students will visualize, design, and create costumes, masks, and props to support their characters.

PERFORMANCE DATES
At the close of each three-week studio program, family and friends are invited to a final performance – a culmination of the process students have experienced during their summer session at the Young Performers Studio.

REGISTRATION AND TUITION
Registration begins January 29, 2009.  Space is limited to 16 students per studio level.  Registration is on a first-come, first served basis and is not final until payment has been received.

Tuition is $750 per student.  Tuition for Alley subscribers is $675 per student.  The Alley subscriber tuition rate may be used to register immediate family members only.

Supplemental instruction
This extra service may be purchased when parents register online for Summer Camp or at Parent/Student Orientation. For students who want or need it we will offer additional classroom instruction from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. for an additional fee of $60 per student, per week.  At this time classes are only available to students registered for our 3-week sessions. 

This summer we will offer week long specialty class as follows:

COMIC ACTING
Instructor: Julie Minerbo
Offered Week 1 – June 8 – 12, 2009 & July, 6 – 10, 2009
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Students in this workshop will focus on learning physical and verbal comedy and exploring elements of comedy such as jokes, punch lines, timing, wit and wordplay.  Students will participate in improvisational games, sketches, and various types of humorous monologues and scenes.

THE MAGIC OF SHAKESPEARE
Instructor: Matt Hune
Offered Week 2 – June 15 – 19, 2009 & July 13 – 17, 2009
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Using the magical characters and elements in Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, THE TEMPEST, and MACBETH, students will explore various ways of creating truthful characters in fantastical situations and heightened language.  Students will work together as an ensemble creating imaginative and collaborative performances taken from key moments in the three plays.  The older students will gain a deeper understanding of Shakespeare's language as a tool for the actor.

PUPPETRY
Instructor: Joel Orr
Offered Week 3 – June 22 – 26, 2009 & July 20 – 24, 2009
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre Artistic Director Joel Orr will lead the young performers through the process of creating and performing an original shadow puppet play.  The course begins with an instructional overview of shadow puppets: how they are designed, constructed and manipulated.  Then, with all the materials in hand and under the supervision of Mr. Orr and Andrea Hyde, the performers will be broken into groups where they will design, build, write, rehearse and in the end perform a short original work of shadow puppet theater.

Scholarship
We grant a limited number of scholarships to Houston residents based on need.  Please click on the link to download an application form in pdf format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to access this file format (Most new computers come with Adobe. If you do not have Adobe, it is very simple, useful, and FREE to download). If you would prefer to have an application mailed to you, please contact the Alley Theatre’s Education and Community Engagement Department at 713-228-9341.

For more information, e-mail Rochelle Sanders at RochelleS@alleytheatre.org or call 713-315-5423.

Alley Theatre Young Performers Studio Sponsors
        

*All files with a are in PDF format and require Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the free Adobe Reader.