A Note From Pendleton - Summer Theatre Camp: Young Artists at Play
Hi I’m Jon Woelfer, the Tech Director for the IFCC‘s Young Artists at Play theatre camp in Pendleton. The YAP children’s theatre camp was started by IFCC Creative Director Adrienne Flagg 14 years ago and has been a program run in partnership between the IFCC and the Blue Mountain College Community Theatre for two years.
During the week long camp, a group of seven professional theatre folk from Portland teach classes about masks, stage combat, playwriting, and a whole bunch of other stuff from the realm of theatre. During the week about 40 kids develop, memorize, rehearse, and in some cases write a collection of short plays that they’ll perform at the end of the week. For many of the kids this is the only exposure to theatre they get all year, so it’s pretty cool to see what they can do. Every year we bring a different culture to the camp. Last year we did stories from West Africa; this year it is Italy. The Italian culture really requires the kids to make big, expressive, physical choices.
So many of them started off really shy this week. But not anymore! Through games and exercises, they are really coming out of their shells. It has been so cool to see some of the kids who return year after year – about 75% actually – and how their confidence and focus has grown. We are going into our final rehearsals today and the 8 short plays are looking really good. A group of the older kids (age 13–16) are completely improvising their play under the direction of our newest teacher [teaching artist and professional performer] Jennifer Lanier. It is a hilarious piece about coming to a new culture and being an outsider – learning the customs and language. Amy, who is 16, and has been coming to the camp for at least 5 years, says this has been the most fun, most challenging play yet. She will be joining the team next year as an intern and will also help out at the Portland based IFCC camps.
Anyhoo, a lot more goes on here than can fit on this little article, but this should give you a taste of the reach IFCC has into the world. And I really don’t know how to write a good ending for this so I guess I’ll say, ‘Whoo-Hoo Pendleton camp is awesome funness for all’ and leave it at that. – Jon Woelfer, IFCC Young Artists at Play: Pendleton Technical Director
What Jon hasn’t told you is that he began as an intern at this camp five years ago when he was 15. He progressed quickly to become the Technical Director and has been an active volunteer at the IFCC helping with guests, filming events and caring for our technical equipment. We are preparing to bid him a fond farewell as he prepares to leave this Fall for one of the top 10 theatre programs in the country, the Goodman School of the Arts at De Paul University in Chicago. Jon will work towards a BFA in Technical Direction. Congrats Jon! – Adrienne Flagg, IFCC Creative Director
