Arts
Bravo!
by Gene Armstrong
all it a summer camp, if you must. But instead of s’mores around the campfire, sing-alongs of “Kumbaya” and snipe hunts, Arizona Theatre Company’s Summer on Stage program for high school theater students includes studies in voice, movement, improvisation, scene analysis and technical production.
For the past five weeks, 39 local teenagers have been studying all things theater for eight hours a day and five days a week at the University of Arizona’s Department of Theatre Arts and at the Temple of Music and Art.
The program will culminate in two performances each of the Broadway musical “Footloose” and Jim Dale’s and Frank Dunlop’s adaptation of Molière’s classic comedy “Scapin” (re-titled “Scapino”) early this month at the Temple.
Theater professionals from ATC and the UA are serving as Summer on Stage’s faculty, said Summer on Stage program director and ATC education coordinator Julie Vance.
This is the ninth season for Summer on Stage, and recent high school graduates Jake Miller and Courtney Dusenberry, both 18, are completing their third year in the program. It has afforded them the opportunity to build a fast friendship, even though they attended separate schools.
Before his first Summer on Stage season, Canyon Del Oro graduate Miller had two small parts in school productions.
“And one of those was as the person who turns on the strobe light,” Miller laughed in an interview during the program’s second week. “So (Summer on Stage) has really introduced me to musical theater in the fullest sense. I’m actually going to go to college this fall at Oklahoma City University, seeking a degree in it.”
Miller said before Summer on Stage, he was thinking his post-high-school life would center on enlisting in the Army or maybe studying linguistics.
The professional training atmosphere at Summer on Stage is a huge advantage, Miller said. Everything is taken seriously, but the pressure is kept to a minimum. “All the instructors really treat the students equally and on a professional level.”
Dusenberry’s recent alma mater, Catalina Foothills High School, has a prestigious theater program, she said, so much so that until she attended Summer on Stage, she was a little intimidated to audition.
“But after that first summer, I didn’t want to stop. I got a lot more confidence after that. And I have been learning the skills necessary to give me that confidence”
Dusenberry, a freshman-to-be at Los Angeles’ Occidental College, said Summer on Stage takes theater to the next level. “It’s not like a school atmosphere. You’re learning a lot of stuff in a practical, technical sense.”
Justin Rapp agreed. A home-schooled 16-year-old from the Phoenix area, he’s enjoying his first Summer on Stage season.
A veteran of the Ahwatukee Children’s Theater, Rapp said he appreciated the in-depth scene analysis classes and improvisational exercises to which he was been introduced. But he most values the audition experience he has received.
The process of auditioning is traditionally a nerve-wracking one. But Rapp said, “The way we did auditions has been so comforting. I never really enjoyed auditions before I came here.”
Rapp said he now hopes to return to the UA as a theater student after he finishes his high school studies. “I believe theater is almost essential for any person. I had a huge fear of speaking in front of people. Now I actually feel like I can do almost anything in front of an audience.”
Summer on Stage students will perform “Scapino” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3 and Friday, Aug. 5. They’ll present “Footloose” at the same times Thursday, Aug. 4, and Saturday, Aug. 6. All performances are at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Admission is free.
We can always use more live theater downtown, and we’re pleased to note that Beowulf Alley Theatre Company, in the old Johnny Gibson building at 11 South 6th Ave., is presenting its inaugural production through Aug. 14. Artistic director Stephen Elton is directing and starring in “The Death of Zukasky,” a farce about corporate America. His co-stars are Carrie Hill, Steve McKee and Bill Epstein. For times, tickets and reservations, call 882-0555.
For more about Beowulf Alley and other performing arts downtown, be sure to check out the fall performing arts preview article in September’s issue of the Downtown Tucsonan.
