About Cortland Repertory Theatre
CRT Announces “Summer Theatre Workshops for Youth”
Cortland Repertory Theatre continues it’s “CRT Kids” programming in the summer of 2007 by offering two separate theatre workshops for young aspiring thespians. The purpose of both programs is to provide a positive theatrical experience for your child’s development. No experience is necessary - just an interest in theatre is required!
The first program, called “Stars of Tomorrow”, is a 4 week program beginning on June 28th and will be held at the Little York Pavilion, in Dwyer Park - summer home to CRT.
- The program runs from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm, Monday - Friday and will consist of morning workshops in various aspects of theatre (acting, improvisation, make-up, technical design, scene study, etc.) The afternoon session will be rehearsals for a children’s theatre production to be presented in a free performance to the community on Saturday, July 21st, the final day of the workshops.
- All sessions and rehearsals will be supervised by Bill Coughlin, a Central New York actor, director and drama instructor at Mexico High School. Guest workshops will be held by some of the CRT interns and technicians. Mr. Coughlin holds an MFA in Theatre from Brooklyn College and his work ranges from Shakespeare to children’s theatre. He appeared opposite “The Wonder Year’s” Dan Lauria in “Whenever Summer’s Gone” at the George Raft Theatre and appeared on “The Guiding Light” and “Ryan’s Hope”. His directing credits for CRT include “The King and I”, “The Sound of Music” and “The Wizard of Oz”. Bill also acted at CRT in “Over The River and Through the Woods” (for which he won Best Actor at the Syracuse Area Live Theatre Awards), “Annie Get Your Gun”, and “South Pacific” to name a few.
- The program is open to any 5th-12th graders in the 2007-08 school year. Students have the option of attending full-time or part-time. A minimal fee is required and payments may be made by the day, week or for the entire program. There is a maximum cost of 2 fees per family. All proceeds will go directly to the program to help defray the costs.
The second program, called “Showstoppers and Superstars” comes later in the summer, running one week only from July 30th - August 4th, and will be held at the Homer Center for the Arts, 72 South Main Street in Homer.
- Each day will have two sessions: “Showstoppers” will be for students in K - 2nd grade, and will meet from 10:00 1:00. “Superstars” are students in grades 3 - 5 and will meet from 2:00 - 5:00.
- The workshops focus on building self esteem, teamwork, cooperation, and creative problem solving thru the theatre arts of acting, improv, singing, and dancing. Each day focuses on a specific element of musical theatre in a 20-30 minute small group intensive. During the week these elements will be applied at the end of the day in the rehearsal process. A theme for the week is selected and students learn songs from standard music theatre rep that support that theme. Songs are also choreographed and scenes are written by the students to convey the theme.
- All sessions and rehearsals will be supervised by Tammy Holder, a New York City musical teaching artist and Arts Educator, a field she has worked in for the past 16 years. Most recently, she was the Resident Musical Director for TADA!, NYC’s leading youth development theatre. While there, Tammy music directed all main stage productions as well as taught private voice and music theatre classes. She continues to work for TADA! as a teaching artist in NYC public schools and composed an original bilingual musical for PS/IS 311 in NYC. Tammy has been a guest teaching artist, having done residencies for the Wake County Public School System in Raleigh, NC, Performing Arts for Children in Madison, WI, the Our Gang Players in New Jersey and the French Woods Festival for Performing Arts in upstate NY. She is also an accomplished music director in NYC and beyond with CRT credits including “They’re Playing Our Song”, “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”, and “Man of LaMancha”.
- A minimal fee for the week is required. There is a maximum cost of 2 fees per family. All proceeds go directly to the program to help defray the costs.
For more information or to obtain an application form for either workshop, call the CRT office at 607-753-6161 or visit the office at 37 Franklin Street during regular business hours. Class space is limited so call today!