‘Return’ from the Big Apple for camp
Ottawa couple to lead online summer theatre camp
Ottawa theatre couple Emmanuelle Zeesman and David Hersh have been holed up in their tiny Manhattan apartment ever since the Broadway tour they were both working on was cancelled because of COVID-19.
Now they’re thrilled to be “returning ” to Ottawa, the city where they started their careers, met and fell in love, to conduct an online musical-theatre summer camp for Ottawa Children’s Theatre, the school guided by the artistic direction of their old friend, Amanda West Lewis. The Zoomsical the Musical camp will take place on the Zoom video-conferencing platform.
“Honestly, I haven’t been this excited by anything since the quarantine started,” Zeesman said by telephone from New York City. “I love the idea of being connected to home during this crazy time. It just brings me so much joy. My brain is going again and creating, and there is something just so fulfilling and homey all at the same time because it is home.”
Although she was born in Montreal, Zeesman grew up in Ottawa, studying vocal performance at De La Salle High School. She met Hersh, who was originally from Toronto, but lived in Ottawa for more than a decade, while they were both working on a children’s show with Salamander Theatre.
After a stint in Toronto, they moved to the Big Apple six years ago. Between her singing, dancing and acting talents and his diverse skill set, they’ve been busy. Their last work-related foray to Ottawa was with the 2015-16 touring production of The Wizard of Oz, in which Zeesman played Auntie Em. The show had a post-Christmas, early New Year run at the National Arts Centre.
Just before the pandemic, the couple had been touring the United States with Finding Neverland for nearly two years, with Zeesman playing a lead role as Mrs. Dumaurier and Hersh hired as the personal stage manager and coach of the eight boys in the cast.
“It was my first real lead on a Broadway tour, and it was the most incredible, life-changing experience,” said Zeesman, 39. “I always say I’m the luckiest actor in the world because I get to do what I love and explore the world. For everyone else in the company, it’s bittersweet because they’re missing their person, but mine always finds a job on the show and comes with me.”
Hersh, 49, is a jack of all trades in the theatre world, able to handle almost any job on stage or off, from stage-managing to props to script work. He has also done lots of theatre work with children. Like most people these days, both Hersh and Zeesman are familiar with Zoom and learning more about it every day.
The Ottawa summer camp on Zoom is an offshoot of a five-week pilot project run by the theatre school this spring. When the lockdown started, the school, which normally operates out of Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, had just wrapped up its winter semester with a series of open-house presentations for nearly 300 students ranging in age from three to 18 and their families.
The pilot project, which offered interactive drama classes on Zoom, was a big success, said artistic director Lewis, and many students wanted to continue.
“The children have so much curiosity, desire and interest, and we find in the Zoom space it’s personal and yet safe,” said Lewis, who credits her instructors for displaying creativity in adapting to the platform. “Private coaching is easy online, but I wasn’t sure how classes would work. So we brainstormed and we tried it … I’m as surprised as anyone that it’s working.
“It actually started with the youngest children, the three- and four-year-olds. We wanted them to see a familiar face, Miss Laura or Miss Emily, and do the songs they’d been doing already, and that worked wonderfully. The youngsters came (online) with their stuffed animals and wanted to show their house. It was really quite moving.”
The online classes are designed for limited numbers of children at each time. Topics include creative drama, acting, improvisation, musical theatre, radio drama, theatre appreciation, writing for the stage and writing poetry.
The summer camps will take place on a daily basis for a week or two at a time. While they’re not intended to be substitutes for babysitting, they will occupy children for an hour at a time for the younger ones and up to three hours for older students, with a craft break.
“What we’re trying to do is give the parents a chunk of the day where the kids are absorbed,” Lewis said. “Even if it’s only an hour for the younger kids, they’re very involved.”
The Zeesman-Hersh camp is booked for July 6-17. Registration opens June 5. For details on pricing and times, go to ottawachildrenstheatre.net. Other musical theatre camps will also be available.
Another Ottawa theatre school is offering free drama classes on Zoom for children, teens and adults this summer.
The Ottawa School of Theatre in Orléans closed its physical spaces in March because of COVID-19. The remaining 11 weeks of classes for the term were cancelled, with students offered choices of either a refund or completing classes next fall.
In the meantime, interactive drama classes have been taking place on Zoom, artistic director Kathi Langston said. They will continue twice a week in June and July.
With files from Jacquie Miller
The children have so much curiosity, desire and interest, and we find in the Zoom space it’s personal and yet safe.