Kids go Hawaiian at Zach Scott Theatre

While Hannah’s friends spent their Spring Break entertaining themselves with a Wii, she was preoccupied making creative costumes and learning to be a nerdy gangster.

The Zachary Scott Theatre Spring Break Camp kept kids ages 5-12 actively engaged in learning the fundamentals of theater as well as prepared them for their end of the week performance in “Zach’s Big Luau.” The camp is described as a theater variety camp in which the kids do some singing, dancing and acting in preparation for the play.

Rog Wall, theatre teacher said the kids have the option of choosing to sing, dance or act in the play. “One teacher will do dance with them, one might do voice with them, and another might do all of the games,” said Wall.

Although the decision to participate is fully up to the kids, they all seem to want to be a part of the experience. Camp attendee grandparent Gina Rollman, observed through her granddaughter how active and engaged the kids were in making plans for the play and carrying them out.

“It wasn’t just one person directing them all of the time and that was good for her.”

Director of the camp Khara Vincent, said that the flexibility allows the kids to express themselves. “It’s a theater camp so there’s this huge opportunity for them to be creative, and really have ownership of the piece they’ve created,” said Vincent.

The students gained acting experience and prepared for their end of the week show with a variety of games. Theater teacher Jessica Arjet said the kids become absorbed in the games. "We play a lot of games to teach a lot of skills," said Arjet. "They think they're playing, but they're really learning theater."

Camp attendee parent Monica Farkash, said that her twins seem to enjoy the games most of all. “They’re not just any games, because they can play games anywhere, but the types of games,” said Farkash. “They learn this language, a vocabulary, and they love it.”
Many of the students enjoy this method of learning. Student Hannah McEvilly, said the games have helped her in terms of preparing for the play as well. “I learned to project and I learned to tiet my body out to the audience so they don’t see the side of my face,” said McEvilly.

According to Vincent, one of the best things about working the camp and preparing for the show is the fact that the individual kids have so much talent.

“My favorite thing is that each one of those students that walks through the door has so much potential and so much creativity,” said Vincent. “You just have to open the door and they give it to you.”

According to Arjet, the most rewarding part of the camp is the entertainment the kids bring. “The most fun is just the kids themselves, they’re so excited and want to do so many things,” said Arjet. “Getting them to get everything focused and actually get a play together is always amazing.”

According to Rollman, this camp provided a perfect opportunity for her as well as her granddaughter.

“When I saw the opportunity for her to do some acting and be gone from 9 to 5, I was just thrilled,” said Rollman. “I needed somebody to take care of her during the day, and yet something right up her alley.”

Arjet feels that as long as the kids are able to walk away from the experience with one or two things that they’ve learned, then they’ve succeeded. “Some of them were on the very basics, so if they just learned to face forward or to be loud enough, then that’s awesome,” said Arjet.

A Zach Theatre representative said that “Zach’s Big Luau,” included approximately 50 kids. It was also said that the final performance brought in many more friends and family than expected.