TOWNSHEND — The Leland & Gray Players are again offering a Summer Performing Arts Exploration (SPAE) for students entering fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
The program opens with a family potluck gathering Sunday, July 21, and runs Monday through Friday, July 22 to Aug. 2, with culminating performances Aug. 2 at 7 p.m. and Aug. 3 at 4 p.m.
Days will include theater games, production work and workshops in acting, music, scene design, movement and dance, lighting, costumes and prop-making.
A final show at the end of two weeks will incorporate all that was learned. The overarching question posed throughout: Why do we make art? Why do we paint or sing or dance or write or act?
According to SPAE Artistic Director Karlie Kauffeld, who recently earned her bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Vermont, the answer is different for everyone.
“In this year's SPAE, we are going to investigate why it is that we make art - collectively and individually,” she said.
Kauffeld said SPAE's production of “James and the Giant Peach” will be more than the retelling of this timeless tale.
“We will bring to life the story of Roald Dahl and his family in the writing of this story,” she said. “Theo Dahl, the son of the author, was only three months old when he was hit in his pram by a taxi cab. During the painful months following, Dahl would escape to a fairytale world to write the story of a boy who flies away from his world on a giant peach. Through his writing, Dahl found relief, and the endings for the story and for the Dahl's ordeal are both happy.”
According to Managing Director Ann Landenberger, the show, as always with SPAE, is the tool to teach performance and design skills.
“It is the reward - but really, it is the process of creating the show that offers the richest learning opportunities,” she said.
Throughout the two weeks, local artists will lead special workshops in various art forms, giving participants a chance to meet people who've pursued and excelled in the arts they love.
More than 60 youth have participated in SPAE over the past five years, performing in ensemble-created renditions of “Peter Pan,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Coraline,” and “Robin Hood.”
Many of these students have gone on to flourish in productions at Leland & Gray and beyond. One SPAE alumnus, in fact, was in “Fiddler on the Roof” at Weston Playhouse last summer; another has performed with Main Street Arts and other area companies.
Other staff include Johnny Pozzi, '10, a junior in Fordham University's acting program; Leland & Gray Players' assistant producer Abby Wicker '02; and Maddi Etman '13. Counselors-in-training include SPAE alumni Nina Singleton-Spencer, Nathaniel Van Osdol, Jesse Cannella, Patrick Hauer, Tino Benson, Sam Turner, and Rachael Turner.
Leland & Gray's music director, Ron Kelley, will be music workshop leader; Amanda Wirth, '14 will lead dance workshops. Other workshop leaders will be announced in early July.
The cost for SPAE is $240 per student for the two weeks. A sliding scale fee is available on request. Free lunch is offered to all participants, and free bus transportation is available to and from Leland & Gray from stops up and down Route 30.