Peninsula Youth Theatre is offering after-school drama at Oak Elementary this fall! Students will learn the basics of acting, character development, storytelling and theater terminology while having fun and rehearsing a show. Classes are held on Oak Elementary campus and will culminate in a final performance on the last day of class. Parents will be asked to provide a simple costume for their child (instructions provided by Play In a Box instructor), to help their child with line memorization at home, and to be available via email for class updates. A maximum of 20 students will be accepted per session, on a first come, first serve basis - so sign-up now!
***** Scholarships are available to students on the free/reduced school lunch program. If you are interested in applying, please contact Meg Fischer at mfischer@pytnet.org
PYT gives the children a survey at the end of camp, and the surveys from Cinderella Caterpillar came back very positive! So sorry to hear that your daughter did not enjoy her time with us. As far as the story is concerned-- Cinderella Caterpillar was a modern twist on the CInderella fairy tale. I am guessing the snarky characters you refer to were the ones based on the evil stepsisters! Perhaps you were looking for something more traditional--we try and pick a wide variety of shows each summer and offer classic versions of familiar stories as well as funny modern tales. Our camps are staffed by a mix of college students persuing theatre and education degrees, seasoned theater professionals (some with masters degrees!) and credentialed school teachers with a drama background. We also use high school age interns to work alongside them-- perhaps the young staff member you encountered was an intern. Although we aren't able to promise every child will have the same number of lines, we do make sure that everyone has a speaking part, and the children also have morning drama classes where everyone has "equal billing". They also get to participate by making scenery and props out of cardboard, fabric, and other fun materials. So there are lots of opportunities to learn about theatre-- the play script itself is just one part of the whole camp experience, We are sorry to hear that the camp was not a good fit for what you and your daughter were looking for.
We had a terrible experience with this camp last summer (2014). My youngest did their Cinderella Caterpillar 2-wk camp and wanted to stop going 3 days in. The counselors are young and don't do a good job keeping the kids engaged. Their focus is more on the kids that get the top 3 or 4 parts and every body else gets neglected. I was also pretty disappointed in the play that they picked. 95% of the play was the kids acting snarky/mean to one another with a focus on being popular or pretty/handsome. Most of the girls played brainless fans who adored Prince Grasshopper and were mean girls to each other. My husband commented that it seemed like the Kardashian sisters wrote a kids play. It was awful.
Only a few of lines could even be described as positive, and even they were non-convincing you-can-be-anything-you-dream-to-be fluff.
Worst part is that my daughter, who loves drama, is now totally turned off by it. Truly regret having my child go to this camp.