Archive: Arts & Entertainment

CSMA’s musical theater camp, Star Search, is gearing up for its 20th year.  As part of preparations for the 20th season, faculty and former participants will present an evening of information and exploration, where members of the public can come to observe, invent and ask questions about this unique musical theatre camp.  There will be performances and interactive demonstrations of choreography, music and stage combat.  The info session will take place in CSMA’s historic Third Floor Space, on May 28th from 7-8 PM.  Anyone is welcome to bring their questions and their creativity.

Star Search is an exceptional, immersive experience in musical theatre. Over the course of ten intensive days of musical theater exploration, kids will rehearse, produce and perform an original play. The instructors, Holly Adams, Doreen Alsen, and Elizabeth Livesay, work with young performers to help them discover their talents and embrace their originality.

This is no ordinary musical theater camp. Every actor has something substantial to do and gets a turn in the spotlight. Each is guided to success in an individualized, non-critical process.

The kids do everything: sing, dance, act, build props and sets and design their own costumes. The program is a total immersion in every aspect of musical theater.  One participant said of Star Search: “I love that Star Search is a community of hard working people who love theater and music and I love that I can express all of my interests in one program.”

Now in its 20th year, the camp began with original musicals written especially for Star Search by Doreen Alsen. Fun and upbeat, with lots of singing and dancing as well as acting, the program has involved countless numbers of area youth, many coming back year after year. Some children have come from as far as Seattle and even from across the Pacific from Thailand, to participate! They build long-standing friendships which they maintain even after Star Search ends.

Directed by Holly Adams, choreographed by Elizabeth Livesay and with script and music direction by Doreen Alsen, these three master teachers create a space where difference is celebrated and no idea is too small. Recognizing their unique ability to foster creativity, one parent of a performer expressed that she “keeps thinking about how incredible it is that Liz, Holly and Doreen can take a group of kids with such wide-ranging experience and skills and put together a musical in 10 days. Last night was an impressive example of what kids can do when they have the support and encouragement of talented (and non-critical) adults who simply believe in them.”

The first of two sessions begins in August, with a revival of the original production, preformed in Star Search’s first year, To Be or Not to . . . What? The Search for Hamlet. Jo has left her English assigned reading, Hamlet, until the day before the test. No Cliff Notes, no DVDs, and, even worse, her mom has taken away her laptop, tablet and smart phone. Poor Jo is reduced to actually reading the play.While reading, she falls asleep and drops into The Shakespeare Zone. She meets her tour guides, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who help her track down the elusive Hamlet so he can tell her his story. She meets many other crazy characters along the way.

The second session continues with The Big Bang Theory Goes Boom! It’s a normal day in Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment, and the boys are putting the finishing touches on a fancy robot they’ve designed. At least, it’s a normal day until Sheldon notices that some people have moved into the building across the street. He sees they’ve moved their furniture into the courtyard and around a fountain that wasn’t there earlier. Stranger still, they’re dancing in the fountain. Then the boys’ robot goes rogue and escapes absolutely ready, willing and able to create mayhem. Worlds collide when the gang from Friends moves in across the street from the gang from The Big Bang Theory!

Each session of the camp meets Monday through Friday at CSMA, from 9 am -2 pm, with a performance on the second Friday evening of each session.
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