University Marketing & Communications: Layton Shumway | 801-863-6863 | LShumway@uvu.edu

Written by: Jay Wamsley | 801-863-8504 | Jay.wamsley@uvu.edu

With the desired end result being increased confidence and creativity for youth, the Noorda Theatre Center for Children and Youth is currently taking registration and finalizing plans for their upcoming summer camp at Utah Valley University.

Now in its eighth year, the youth theatre camp will be held June 5-30, with one-week, two-week and four-week courses and activities available. The classes are staffed and led by theater faculty and students in the UVU School of the Arts, theater students who are pursing degrees in theater, according to John Newman, associate professor and director of the Noorda Center.

“The objectives for the courses each summer,” Newman said, “are sensitive socialization, confident communication, and engaged imagination. Everything we do is about developing confidence, developing individual creativity, and enhancing communication skills.”

All of the courses, regardless of length, are based around a production project, Newman said. The shorter-length courses will be doing “junior versions” of “The Lion King,” “Into the Woods,” and Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”  The classes for younger students, he said, teach about drama, movement, art, and “the processes of production.”

For youth aged 11-18, there is an option to be involved in a full production, “where we bring in a professional playwright and students will collaborate with the playwright and create play especially for young actors,” Newman said, noting that this opportunity is a four-week course.

Generally, there are about 300 youth involved in all sessions of the camp and registration is taken right up to opening day. Complete information and registration can be found at UVU Community Education website, www.uvu.edu/ce, under the “Youth” tab. The camp courses are three hours in the morning or three hours in the afternoon.

“There have been young people who have come into (the youth production company) that have been very shy, that have a hard time communicating on stage and we have created roles for them that were safe. And by the next year, they had gained confidence and were playing leading roles,” Newman explained. “That’s very exciting for us.”

Many of the completed productions will be performed for the public in the Noorda Theatre. Times and dates are noted on the summer camp’s website.

Fourth region (Section 1)