Month: July 2009

Charleston Stage’s 2009 SummerStage Musical Theatre Camp will be presenting Guys and Dolls Jr. opening tomorrow, Friday July 31st at 7pm.  There will also be a Saturday matinee on August 1st at 2pm.  67 rising stars have been working hard, acting, singing, and dancing in preparation for their opening night.  The young cast met today for the first time at the College of Charleston’s Sottile Theatre for their two technical rehearsals.  SummerStage is Charleston Stage’s youth theatre camp that provides young people with the opportunity to learn the magic and discipline of performing in a musical.  At the end of the camp, students present their own full-scale musical complete with sets, lights, and costumes.  Guys and Dolls Jr. is a theatrical experience not to be missed!  Fun for the whole family!  Bring your kids to see other kids perform on stage and support our youth.

 

(Featured center:  Bailey Buckner as Miss Adelaide along side the Hot Box Girls in the musical number “A Bushel and a Peck”) 

(by Mary Lee Carter, returning TheatreWings Apprentice, Year Three, Junior, Visual Arts Major at School of the Arts)  The TheatreWings Apprentice Program is a-maz-ing. We just finished up the week of June TheatreWings training, in which new apprentices learn everything from chop-saws to chain-stitching, and returning students learn new skills. This week has been so crazy- Stefanie and Mike Christensen, Charleston Stage’s Technical Director and Props Master, cram a year’s worth of theatre knowledge into one week. Not only do you learn through working on projects for the theatre, they allow you to apply your skills in “real life”. We made whiteboards, corkboards, shirts, arm warmers (sleevies!), and more.

A year in the TheatreWings Apprentice Program is an amazing experience. In the theatre, anything can happen, and you can have the craziest experiences! Like during Frankenstein, I got to set off a bunch of fog machines, CO2 fire extinguishers, a burning frog (!!!) and loads more. I’ve worked a giant follow spotlight; my buddy Morgan, who is sitting next to me, has thrown debris into an audience from a catwalk above and then ran onstage to meet “Elvis”.

TheatreWings is a great program to take part in for so many reasons.  The people you meet, the places you go, the things you make, the experiences you, well, experience make all the work worth it. 

(Far Right:  Mary Lee Carter building versatile scenic pieces that will be used throughout the season for KidStage and Theatrical Troupe classes)