NEWS RELEASE
Children will take the stage this summer when Park University partners with the Coterie Theatre to offer drama and acting classes at the University's Parkville Campus. Week-long summer camps for children entering kindergarten through 12th grade are scheduled for June 11 through June 29.
This is the second summer the Coterie School for Theatre Exploration will partner with Park to offer classes. In the Coterie's classes, professional teaching artists use games, improvisations, acting exercises and scene work to help young actors discover what it means to respond truthfully and believably. In drama classes for younger students, actors flex their imaginations through games, visual arts, music and improvisation.
Classes offered at Park include:
• Once Upon A … Pop Musical -- 9 a.m. to noon, Monday, June 11, to Friday, June 15, for students in fifth through 10th grade. Students will perform showstoppers from the Coterie's summer musical Once Upon a Mattress, the Broadway hit Into the Woods and the classic Beauty and the Beast.
• Once Upon a Fractured Fairytale -- 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., Monday, June 11, to Friday, June 15, for students in kindergarten through second grade. Students learn how to use the actor's tools of body, voice and imagination as they put their own twists on fairytales, folktales and favorite children's books through improvisation, art, music and movement.
• How to Be a Pirate in Five Days -- 9 a.m. to noon, Monday, June 18, to Friday, June 22, for students in kindergarten through second grade. This class introduces plot and character development through storytelling, movement and crafts.
• Fantasy and Gore Make-Up -- 9 a.m. to noon, Monday, June 18, to Friday, June 22, for students in fourth through seventh grade. Students will be guided through the process of making realistic looking bruises, scars and cuts.
• Pop Musicals: Triple Threat -- 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., Monday, June 18, to Friday, June 22, for students in sixth through 12th grade. Actors will be cast in scenes, songs and dance numbers as they work toward becoming a triple threat under the direction of a professional musical theater actor and accompanist.
• Commotion in the Ocean -- 9 a.m. to noon, Monday, June 25, to Friday, June 29, for students in kindergarten through second grade. Children's imaginations will go under the sea as they create characters and act out tales of greed and high adventure, inspired by Graeme Base's book The Sign of the Seahorse.
• Clash of the Mythologicals -- 9 a.m. to noon, Monday, June 25, to Friday, June 29, for students in third through fifth grade. Students will explore classic Greek mythology and the popular book series Percy Jackson and the Olympians in this creative drama class.
• Scenes from The Hunger Games -- 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., Monday, June 25, to Friday, June 29, for students in eighth through 12th grade. The popular young adult novel, The Hunger Games, will provide a wealth of complex characters and situations for aspiring teen actors to flex their imagination and skills.
Each session is $125 to $140 per person. Suggested enrollment is two or more weeks in advance of the first class date. A 10 percent discount is available for participants taking multiple classes and siblings. All students taking a Coterie class receive a complimentary pass to a Coterie Theatre performance.
For questions regarding class content and age appropriateness, contact Coterie Education Director Melody Butler at (816) 474-6785, ext. 231. To register for classes, call (816) 474-4241. Registration forms and complete class descriptions are available at www.coterietheatre.org.
