ACTING UP
Fresh Air Fund helps makes drama camp more accessible
Theatre company helps kids build confidence and communication skills at summer camp,
On a hot summer afternoon, on a make-believe stage at Mount Pleasant Road Baptist Church in midtown, April, 9, whips off her shoe, and thrusts a pinksocked foot high in the air towards Taylor, 10, who is sitting in the chair beside her.
In a high-pitched, nasal voice, April introduces Taylor to her “best friends” — her toes.
“This is Frida, Mimi, Kuku, Moomoo, Titi,” says April, lingering for a moment on each digit, before kicking off her other shoe, and completing the introductions. “This is Kuvu, Tuku, Moomoo, Kutu and Bubu.”
Then she transforms into a cat, and starts meowing at Taylor, who reacts with disgust, and takes her leave.
April’s antics solicit raucous laughter from the crowd, a dozen or so kids seated in a semicircle around the pair of chairs, which, for the purposes of this improv game, represent a park bench. The scene always starts the same way: One person is sitting on the “bench,” minding their own business. That peace is disrupted when a second person sits down beside them, and adopts a weird, gross or creepy character — whatever it takes to prompt the other person to walk away.
It’s the first day of camp at the Great Big Theatre Company, which runs classes and weeklong day programs at more than 30 locations — churches, community centres and schools — across the GTA and southwestern Ontario, from London to Oshawa. The camp, which offers funding to low-income families and accommodates children with special needs, serves a broad cross-section of the community with support from the Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund.
Artistic director Lily Small, who founded the non-profit organization with her husband, Charles Small, in Dundas, Ont., in 1994, said the program grew through an “organic process” that started after the pair put on their first play, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.
“It was so popular,” she recalls. “People asked us, ‘Can you teach me? Can you put on another play?’ ”
This summer, roughly 1,400 children will participate in the programs, which aim to build confidence, communication skills and teach various aspects of theatre production, including acting, wardrobe and set design.
Interest in theatre is not a prerequisite for campers, but it seems to be a common trait among April, Taylor and their fellow campers at the midtown Toronto site.
“I just wanted to act,” says Liam, 11, when asked why he signed up.
“I really love acting,” interjects Jack, 12. “My mom and dad and all friends said I should get into acting.”
If they were nervous on Day One, it wasn’t obvious. Shortly after meeting each other, they jumped into icebreakers and drama games and got to work on the week’s primary task: Putting on a play. On Friday afternoon, the children will perform for their parents.
After being divided into two groups based on age, they chose scripts — the juniors selected The Three Little Pigs and Friends and the intermediates opted for Rapunzel — and got their roles. By the afternoon, they already running lines.
Lily Small, who spent Monday hustling between camp sites, said the transformation she sees in the kids over the course of the week is “amazing.”
“Sometimes you talk to them on Friday and as if they’ve been there the whole year. They’ve gotten to know their friends and the counsellors have gotten to know them,” she said. “There’s a lot of camaraderie. They feel like they own the world at the end of it.”