The next camper in our series of entries is a soon-to-be PYMS 7th grader, Kat Green. Kat's entry includes a bit about our day-to-day operations as well as some "words of wisdom" to future campers. Kat's perspective comes as one of our more seasoned performers have appeared in camp shows for 5 years and over a dozen shows in total, between our Christmas programming, PYE and PYMS Drama Club Productions. Kat writes:
Hello! My name is Kat Green, I am 12 years old, and I am part of PYTCo drama camp. This is my 5th show with PYTCo summer camp. On a basic day at camp, we start the morning talking with our friends and playing fun group games. The awesome counselors lead the games and activities. After that we do one or two warm-up dances. One is always the same, and the second changes from day to day. After that we do vocal warm-ups and start the day. The first day of camp, we will learn an audition song and sometimes a dance. We then perform them for our director, conductor, counselors and choreographer. They cast the show and announce the roles. This year, we are performing Willy Wonka Jr. and I get to play Mike TeeVee! Now we start blocking, which is where your director tells you where and how to move. We also learn songs and dances. We start to throw costumes in, along with hair and makeup (which my mom is in charge of).
We also use lights, microphones, sound effects, and lots of other tech stuff. And the crazy part of all this is, we pull it all into a show in 3 weeks! Honestly, I find it insane and incredible how fast and how well we do it. We perform 3 shows at the end of camp.
Another cool thing we do at camp is the workshops. We have experts in hair, makeup, lights, sound and dance come in and teach us about all those things. We will always welcome more kids to join our theater family!
Here are a few tips for future PYTCo kids:
Don’t be nervous. We are all here to cheer you on, and we all believe in you.
I know auditions can be scary, but no mater what, you get to be part of the show! We don’t cut anyone from the cast.
When it comes to makeup, WE DON’T SHARE EYE MAKEUP!!! This is super important, so I figured you should know.
Just have fun! That’s what camp is about! Making friends, learning new things and having fun!
One thing I love is that we have kids from all over in our cast. We have kids from Maryland and Georgia, plus all over New York. No matter who you are or where your from, we love to have you join the cast!
~Kat Green
Thanks, Kat, for your perspective and lending your talents and incredible personality to our program. Now that she's become one of the older campers, Kat is certainly a kid that our younger campers look up to and admire.