USF Expands Playmakers Youth Program
Published: January 16, 2018 | Author: Joshua Stavros | Read Time: 2 minutes
The Utah Shakespeare Festival recently announced an expansion to its popular Playmakers youth program, as well as auditions to enroll and perform.
The program trains youth in theatre techniques and performance etiquette and produces a musical for the youth to perform in. Traditionally, it has been one program for children up to eighteen years old. This year, however, Festival Education Director Michael Bahr is adding Playmakers Junior, for youth five years old and older who want to learn theatre fundamentals, including how to sing and dance with a live piano, rehearsal and performance etiquette, and how to work, share, give, and play with others. Culminating the experience will be public performances of the hilarious new musical We Are Monsters on April 23 and 24.
Britannia Howe is directing and teaching this program. She created a similar program for young performers in Ashland, Oregon, and is thrilled to provide this training for young artists here in Cedar City.
“For years we have wanted to provide Playmaker training for younger students,” said Bahr. “With this change, they will receive a foundation of theatre and performance fundamentals that will empower them throughout their lives.”
The traditional Playmakers program will continue for youth ages seven to eighteen. During the training, students will rehearse The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, an irresistible story of a fourteen-year-old boy growing up in the heartland of America, based on Mark Twain’s classic novel. The Playmakers will then perform the show for area schools on April 21, 22, and 23 and for the public on April 23 and 24.
Bahr will teach the class and direct the performance.
Auditions for both programs will be January 25 from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Frehner Rehearsal/Education Hall at the Festival. To sign up, visit www.bard.org/playmakers. If cast in the one of the programs, students will pay a $200 registration fee for Playmakers or $100 registration fee for Playmakers Junior. However, scholarships are readily available.
To help children prepare, the Festival is offering an audition workshop for anyone interested. It will be January 25 from 3 to 5 p.m. The workshop is optional, but can be very helpful.
For more information, call 435-865-8333 or visit the webpage at www.bard.org/playmakers.
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