Would-be stars will get a chance to shine this summer as Gavilan
hosts its 22nd annual acting and filmmaking camp starting this
month.
Gilroy – Would-be stars will get a chance to shine this summer as Gavilan hosts its 22nd annual acting and filmmaking camp starting this month.
The Summer Theatre Arts Repertory camp hosts two month-long sessions for aspiring actors – one at Gavilan College in Gilroy and another at El Teatro Campesino Playhouse in San Juan Bautista. It also organizes a small moviemaking class out of the college’s television studio in Gilroy.
“It’s just a really fun and safe place for the kids to be,” said Janine Mortan, program coordinator.
The theater camps, which run from June 25 to July 21 in Gilroy and from July 24 to Aug. 12 in San Juan Bautista, mix about 90 kids of different ages in a hands-on production. Participants get a chance to sing, dance and flaunt their talent every morning during rehearsals and at the end of the camp when Gilroy kids put on “Fiddler on the Roof” and San Juan Bautista kids produce an adapted version of “King Lear.”
“The kids come out of the program feeling really good about themselves and what they’ve done,” Mortan said.
Rehearsals are are held in the morning; afternoons comprise arts and crafts, games, and using the campus athletic facilities.
The programs are the same for the three-week filmmaking camp, except in the mornings when participants write and shoot their own short film or documentary. They also record productions put on by the acting camps, which will then shown on local television.
“Theater has opened up so many doors for me,” said Nathaniel Kent, a senior in New York University’s drama program and a counselor at the camp. “I hope to give (campers) the same opportunity.”
Gavilan offers scholarships to those who cannot afford the fees.
“We want to make sure that anybody who wants to be here can be here,” she said.
