Education through Theater

Classes in the Theater

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 20:06:52 -0400

During the school year

Storytelling Classes: For students in 1st through 5th grades. These classes offer very young actors opportunities to work in the theater with stories they know, and stories they make up themselves. They learn how to turn these stories into short plays. Our emphasis in these classes is on process and socializing, not on a finished product. These very young actors learn how to work together, how to use their imaginations together to make a favorite story into a play, and how to use their inclination to pretend to act out a story. We often informally show what we’ve been working on to family and friends at the end of the class.

Production Classes: For students in 6th through 8th grades. Our production classes start with an introduction to improvisational techniques for "making theater”. We then apply these techniques to a story to create a production. At the end of six weeks with three meetings a week, production class participants present a short production that is costumed and performed on a simple set. Again, the emphasis is on process, but there is a product. Students learn to work together, to take responsibility for their work, to problem solve together, to use their imaginations creatively, and to take pride in their work.

Other Classes: On a less regular schedule, we offer classes in mime, clowning, theater and foreign languages.

Adult Classes: For adults, we offer an eight week Introduction to Acting class that meets one evening a week. Members of the class are introduced to improvisation and other theater techniques, and then work on scenes and monologues to present to the class.

During the Summer

Morning Classes for Young Actors: For children from six to eight years old, we offer a one week class. For children from eight to twelve years old, we offer a two week class. These classes meet only in the morning. The two week class focuses on a topic such as personal stories or humorous incidents and develops short theater pieces based on the topic.

Teen Theater Camp: For students twelve to eighteen yeas old. This camp hosts local and international students for a four week theater experience. These young actors produce a show at the end of three weeks that plays for two weekends. The class is comprised of young people from across mid-coast Maine.

The Vitelli Scholarship Program
Several years ago, the Vitelli family set up a scholarship to honor Mr. and Mrs. Vitelli, Sr. The Vitelli scholarships enable young people to take classes at The Theater Project and receive financial aid for tuition. Funds available for scholarships for each class are limited and will be awarded equally to students who are approved for scholarship aid.

For more information about classes and scholarships, please CONTACT us.

Outreach

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 18:16:55 -0400

The Theater Project offers performances, workshops, residencies and school matinees in its Outreach program.

Performances: The Theater Project prepares customized performances comprising stories from cultures that schools are studying. With sufficient notice, actors from The Theater Project's professional ensemble will develop a program based on a school's curriculum. This may include one or more performances, workshops with students and teachers, and a study guide.

Workshops and Residencies: The Theater Project has been conducting workshops and residencies throughout Maine and New England and beyond for thirty-five years. The focus of our workshops is always based on the needs of a school or classroom. Our theater workshops help develop initiative, cooperation, communication, risk-taking and problem solving, all attributes that are essential in a learning environment.

The Theater Project is available for single workshops, a day of workshops, as well as for residencies lasting from one to several weeks. Residencies may be concentrated or spread over a school year. We are available all year for these interactive programs. Our goal is to tailor our programs to meet the needs and objectives of your school. Al Miller has been doing this outreach work for over thirty years, and Wendy Poole has been doing it for over ten years. In that time they, and the others who work with them, have discovered a myriad of ways theater works as an educational resource. They seldom encounter a student who isn't engaged in these workshops.

Matinees: The Theater Project also offers school matinees of productions on our season schedule. We can seat 80 in our theater on School Street in Brunswick. Our Young Company (high school actors) productions are available for a limited number of matinees, as are our Company productions (profession ensemble). Bring your students to a production with all the trimmings: lights, sound, costumes, set, and most important, action!

For more information, please CONTACT us.

Classes 2009 - 10

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 16:44:45 -0400

Storytelling Classes: For students in 1st through 5th grades
These classes offer young actors opportunities to work in the theater with stories they know, and stories they make up themselves. They learn how to turn these stories into short plays. Our emphasis in these classes is on process and socializing, not on a finished product. These very young actors use theater games and improvisational techniques to learn how to work together, how to use their imaginations together to make a favorite story into a play, and how to use their inclination to pretend to act out a story. We often informally show what we've been working on to family and friends at the end of the class.

Production Classes: For students in 6th through 8th grades
Our production classes start with an introduction to improvisational techniques for "making theater”. We then apply these techniques to a story to create a production. At the end of six weeks with three meetings a week, production class participants present a short production that is costumed and performed on a simple set. Again, the emphasis is on process, but there is a product. Students learn to work together, to take responsibility for their work, to problem solve together, to use their imaginations creatively, and to take pride in their work.

THE RAINBOW GOBLINS
Grades 3 - 5
September 22nd – October 27
Tuesdays 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
$60
There is only one valley left with rainbows anymore, and the Rainbow Goblins want to find it…

CURIOUS GEORGE
Grades 1 & 2
September 30 - November 4
Wednesdays 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
$60
What kind of adventures can a class full of monkeys get into? And will there be a Man In The Yellow Hat to help them get out of trouble?

THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER
Grades 6 - 8
November 1 - December 20
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Performances: Dec 11, 12, 18 & 19 at 7:30 pm, Dec 13 & 20 at 2:00 pm
$300
When the Herdman children, probably the most inventively awful kids in history, collide with the Christmas story head on, it may never be the same again.

THE SNOWMAN
Grades 3-5
January 5 – February 9
Tuesdays 4:00 – 5:00 pm
$60
A magical winter tale where anything can happen.

ONE FISH, TWO FISH
Grades 1 – 2
January 6 – February 10
Wednesday 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
$60
“From near to far, from here to there, funny things are every where” From Seven Humped Wumps to a game called Ring the Gack, young actors will combine the fun of improvisation with weirdly wonderful Seuss stanzas.

THE LITTLE MERMAID
Grades 6 – 8
March 1 – April 11
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Performances: Apr 9 & 10 at 7:30 pm, Apr 11 at 2:00 pm
$300
Our version of the Hans Christian Andersen tale about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea to gain a human soul and the love of a prince.

AMELIA BEDELIA
Grades 1 – 2
April 27 – June 1
Tuesday 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
$60
Everyone loves Amelia Bedelia, the literal-minded housekeeper - when she makes a sponge cake, she puts in real sponges. When she weeds the garden, she replants the weeds. And when she pitches a tent, she throws it into the woods!

THERE’S A NIGHTMARE IN MY CLOSET
Grades 3 – 5
April 28 – June 2
Wednesdays 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
$60
A bedtime story...or is it? Now with extra monsters!

For more information, call 729-8584 or click this link to download a registration form TP Classes 09_10 Registration.pdf.

The Vitelli Scholarship Program
Several years ago, the Vitelli family set up a scholarship to honor Mr. and Mrs. Vitelli, Sr. The Vitelli scholarships enable young people to take classes at The Theater Project and receive financial aid for tuition. Funds available for scholarships for each class are limited and will be awarded equally to students who are approved for scholarship aid.

Summer Camps 2010

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 20:21:28 -0400

Using these stories as a vehicle to introduce theater games and basic acting techniques, we will work together, as a group, to create our own version of these classics. At the end of the week, family and friends will be invited to watch the results of our work.

For 5 - 8 year olds:

Raggedy Ann and Andy – Theater Camp for Kids
Dates: June 28 – July 2
Ages: 6 – 8
Time: 9:00 – 12:00, Mon-Fri
Cost: $150
Who knows what kind of adventures these rag dolls with “I Love You” hearts will get up to? Our young actors will use theater games and improv exercises to take on the world of these beloved toys.

Intro. To the Arts
Dates: July 6 – 9
Ages: 5 year olds only
Time: 9:00 – 11:00, Tue-Fri
Cost: $80
A new offering, this will introduce very young kids to various facets of the performing arts, from theater games to mask making to dance.

Monsters – A Theater Camp for Kids
Dates: August 2 – August 6
Ages: 6 – 8
Time: 9:00 – 12:00, Mon-Fri
Cost: $150
Monsters! What kind? Hairy monsters, silly monsters, under-the-bed monsters, monsters with wings, monsters with big feet? Only the creative actors in this class will be able to tell us!

For 9 - 12 year olds:

FULL! Matilda – Theater Camp for Older Kids
Dates: August 9 – 20 (Performances August 20, 21 22)
Ages: 9 – 12
Time: 9:00 – 3:00, Mon-Fri
Cost: $400
Matilda is an exceptionally bright young girl with an insatiable appetite for books and reading. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, think she's just a nuisance. Matilda soon discovers that she has supernatural powers which are not only going to prove useful at home but also at Crunchem Hall School where sheand her classmates must contend with the scariest headmistress of them all – Miss Trunchbull.

For ages 13 and up:

UPDATED! Boxers: A Collection of Shorts – Theater Camp for Teens
Dates: July 26 – 31 (Performances July 30, 31)
Ages: 13 – 18
Time: 9:00 – 3:00, Mon-Fri
Cost: $200
Bastian Balthazar Bux is a lonely kid who loves books. One rainy day he comes across a special book - The Neverending Story – which takes him on a magical journey to an amazing new world, and changes his life forever.

The Tempest - Shakespeare Project
Dates: July 5 – August 15 (Performances August 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15)
Ages: 13 – 18
Time: 4:00 – 7:00. M/T/W/Th
Cost: $300
This story of Prospero the magician and his daughter Miranda stranded on an island is considered to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest works. Another new addition to our summer offerings, this show will audition and run just like a Young Company show during the school year.

For more information, call 729-8584.

The Vitelli Scholarship Program
Several years ago, the Vitelli family set up a scholarship to honor Mr. and Mrs. Vitelli, Sr. The Vitelli scholarships enable young people to take classes at The Theater Project and receive financial aid for tuition. Funds available for scholarships for each class are limited and will be awarded equally to students who are approved for scholarship aid.