The recreation commission’s summer theater program for kids will end with a performance of “Beauty and the Beast.”
Registration is now open for the Harrison Township Recreation Commission’s summer theater camp, a program that offers kids interested in theater the chance to participate in the production of a play.
The program is for kids 7 and up at all levels of experience.
“The program lets them express themselves,” said Recreation Coordinator Sharon Chew. “It enables kids to make friends who have the same interests as they do.
“”We’ve been doing these camps for the past 15 years,” she added. “We originally started doing these plays in the Harrison Township courtroom, but then started using the theater at Clearview High School.”
Classes for this year’s play – the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast” – will take place at American Legion Post 452 on Mondays to Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from June 17 to July 3. The week of July 1 is shortened due to the 4th of July holiday.
For the week of July 8, rehearsals will be at Clearview Regional High School’s theater at the above times and the play will be staged on Thursday, July 11, at 6 p.m.
Classes will be instructed by Jamie Wagner and Eileen Goodman-Tharp. Wagner is a teacher at Penns Grove High School in Carney’s Point and Tharp has been a summer camp instructor for more than 25 years.
Though the program is for kids 7 and up, preschoolers from the Dance Factory in Glassboro will participate in the play and a scene in it yet to be determined, apart from the main summer theater camp. Parents have the option of participating in a scene if they helped out with last year’s production, “The Little Mermaid.”
“These (parents) helped provide costumes and set pieces last year and we want to offer them a part in the production,” said.
Parents can register their children for the camp on Signup Genius. Space is limited, with only 50 spots available. Each child must be registered separately with no sibling discount, but there is a discount for those who register before April 30.
“This is really a start for children who have a love of theater,” said Chew. “We have seen many kids continue to do theater in both high school and college.”
