No child is upstaged at this Johnson County Park and Recreation performing arts camp
This summer, the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center has been alive with sound of preteens belting out Broadway tunes. One series of performing arts camps has proved to be so popular, organizers are already thinking about scheduling more this winter and next summer.
Over the course of a week, the kids learn not only songs and dances from Broadway musicals, but also more about the logistics of actually performing on stage and even a little improv. This year, five themed camps took place over the course of the summer.
Having themes, rather than a hodgepodge of popular show tunes, is new this year. Themes included “carnival magic,” “other worlds” and this year’s Theatre in the Park season.
Lacey Connell, performing arts coordinator for Johnson County Park and Recreation District, said she takes care to make sure selections are age appropriate for the 8- to 12-year-old crowd and tries to make sure there’s plenty of variety.
“I choose also based on the actual era that those musicals were written. I’m personally passionate about making sure our kids aren’t just obsessed with what’s on Broadway right now but what led those pieces to be there,” Connell said.
Featured shows ranged from 1934’s “Anything Goes” to 2019’s “Hadestown.”
The camps aren’t about finding stars but about learning together, Connell said. Some kids have lots of experience, but others are new to the stage.
“While there are a few solos here and there, it is very ensemble- and teamwork-driven,” Connell said.
Professional actors, high school teachers and college students are all part of the cohort of teaching artists who lead the camps. Performer Franci Talamantez-Witte has been giving lessons in musical theater since she was in high school.
“We’re really process over product-based,” Talamantez-Witte said. “We expect the kids to learn more than we expect a perfect product. We just really want to teach them. ‘This is upstage. This is downstage. This is how you behave backstage.’”
She was teaching during the week themed with Theatre in the Park’s current season, and the kids learned a song from “Bye Bye Birdie,” featuring characters gossiping via telephone.
“They were so excited to use the telephones. They got to use the actual telephones that the ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ cast used at Theatre in the Park, and they thought that was just the coolest thing,” she said.
Kansas City resident Charlotte McCormick, 11, has been attending the center’s theater camps since she was 6 or 7.
“You just bond with everyone in the camp always. The community here, we’ve all come to make so many great friendships here. It’s always so fun,” Charlotte said.
Her goal is to audition for Theatre in the Park next year. She appreciated learning about the audition process she can expect from teaching artist Hew McKoy.
Olathe resident Brielle Hunt, 11, has been in lots of theater elsewhere, but this is her first time at the center’s camp.
“I’m enjoying this amazing process and how they’re not throwing things on our shoulders every day. They’re not putting pressure on us. They don’t yell at us. They’re just so sweet and kind,” Brielle said.
The winter Broadway camp, running Dec. 30 to Jan. 3, will focus on “Cats.” Connell said there will be at least five Broadway camps next summer, too.
