Many children spend their summers in front of video games and television screens. But for the past five weeks children in the Hillside Youth Theatre Program have been spending their summer on a production that promotes face-to-face interaction and real-world skills. The play, called "Escape from Puzzle Island," will be showing at Lincoln Park Middle School on July 28 and 29.
"The play starts with kids who just want to play games and then end up getting sucked into Puzzle Island," said Jennifer Eddy, executive director of the Myers-Wilkins Community School Collaborative. "So then they have to develop some life skills like strength, teamwork and problem-solving."
The collaborative is a nonprofit through Myers-Wilkins Elementary School, which is based on the model of schools being the hub of the community. The Hillside Youth Theatre Program was one of the first programs within the community school and serves over 400 kids throughout the year.
"We recently helped Lincoln Park write a grant to have a community school coordinator," Eddy said. "So we are hoping to kind of expand that model and help Lincoln Park bring more resources into the school."
ADVERTISEMENT
"Escape from Puzzle Island" was written by local playwright Jean Sramek, who writes plays every year for the theater program summer camp. It is a musical with four scenes, each kid being involved in at least one scene. This year there will be dance numbers choreographed by Sandra Gbeintor.
"We don't always have dance, but this year we have a volunteer working with us and doing some choreography," Eddy said. "There's always some kind of movement but this year there will be much more thanks to the choreographer."
Although it is a theater program, the kids do not spend all of their time acting and singing. When they aren't on stage they shift between different program areas, one of which is costume design. Here Tammy Walker, who has been with the program for 16 years, works with the kids to cut and sew their own costume pieces. She says that the kids are responsible for creating at least 50 percent of their own costumes.
"Some of the kids, who have been here a year or so and already know the basics of sewing, are also learning how to make clothing patterns and measure themselves for if they ever want to make something besides a costume," Walker said.
Another aspect of the theater program summer camp is the exploratorium, where the kids go to learn more about the concepts and vocabulary words in the play. This year the exploratorium was lead by College of St. Scholastica students Ashlee Olson and Samantha Steinberg. One of their main projects was tasking each kid with creating and drawing their own country.
"We based the drawings around real maps, so each one has latitude, longitude and a capital city," Olson said. "They also had to come up with three laws for their country. We're going to put all the drawings together to make a world."
If you go
"Escape from Puzzle Island"
ADVERTISEMENT
Lincoln Park Middle School auditorium, 3215 W. Third St.
1 p.m. and 7 p.m., Thursday and Friday, July 28-29
The July 28 evening performance features a special fundraiser event starting at 6 p.m. that includes music and appetizers. Donations are encouraged.
This activity is made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and culture heritage fund.
