The fifth Marysburg Centre of the Arts Musical Theatre Camp took place from Aug. 10-14 with 20 kids learning the ins and outs of drama, singing, dance, set design, props, costumes and makeup, culminating in a performance of Fractured Fairytales.
“Everything we did was related to what happens in music theatre,” said Sharon Carter, who co-ordinated the camp along with Rita Frank.
The kids involved came from around the region, including Bruno, Middle Lake, Humboldt, Saskatoon, Clavet, and Muenster, ranging in age from 7-13.
“One of the reasons we do this is because we want to give kids who wouldn’t normally have this kind of opportunity given to them the experience of doing something like this,” Carter said.
She said that at the beginning of camp, especially with younger kids, there’s some skepticism about whether this is something that they want to do. By the end, Carter said that wariness typically disappeared.
“By the end…it’s like, ‘Oh for sure, we’re doing this next year.’ There’s a lot of confidence that they get in the experience over the week.”
The camps don’t always get to run every summer, but to Carter, it’s important to give the experience of being involved in the arts.
“This is a way to give children an experience. It’s only for one week, but it’s a quite intensive week, so they really get a feel for what’s involved in this,” she said. “If children don’t experience this at a young age, why would they want to be involved in this later in life?”
All the sets are made by the kids and the songs and lines are memorized over the course of the camp to prepare for the final performance that took place on Aug. 14.
“It was excellent. We had a fabulous audience,” Carter said. “The family members just loved it. For some of them it’s a surprise to see how far their children come from when they started and in that week what is accomplished.”
With all of Carter’s many years of experience in the arts, “in some cases it’s life changing for some of the children to be involved in something like this,” she said. “All of a sudden they see possibilities that they wouldn’t otherwise have.”
