DM Playhouse Announces Summer Theatre Classes

The joys of learning and creative expression don't have to stop when school ends; the Des Moines Community Playhouse is offering a wide variety of week-long classes throughout the summer for students entering kindergarten in fall 2016 through grade 12. Camps start June 6 with the last session beginning Aug. 15. For registration and more information, contact the Playhouse education department at515-974-5365 or visit dmplayhouse.com. Summer classes are sponsored by Wells Fargo.

For students in preschool-grade 2, classes are literature-based and designed to foster listening and cooperative skills, as well as self-esteem and individual expression. Some of the classes include The Adventures of Flat Stanley, Theatre ABCs, Neverland Adventures, Pirates and Pixiedust, Clubhouse at the Playhouse, Magic Tree House Adventures, and Skippyjon Jones in collaboration with the Des Moines Art Center, as well as the return of Broadway Babies and Broadway Lullabies. Many classes for the youngest students are creative drama based, and may include story enactment, imagination journeys, theatre games, music, puppetry, and dance.

Acting classes offered for students in grades 3-8 may include putting on a play or presenting a series of scenes. These performance-based classes explore voice development, body awareness, character preparation, and ensemble formation. The summer will kick off with Summer Theatre Olympics and continue with Summer Stock: Alienated, William Shakespeare's Star Wars, Playhouse TV Live! Pilot Season, All I Really Need to Know I Learned From Being a Zombie, classes in collaboration wit the Des Moines Art Center, and more. Audition workshops focusing on material from the upcoming season will also be offered for grades 3-8 in August.

Our seventh annual Performance Academy will be held July 11-Aug. 6 for grades 7-12, with four weeks of intensive rehearsal preceding public performances of "Disney's Camp Rock the Musical." Forty teens from more than 20 area high schools will showcase their hard work in public performances on the Playhouse Mainstage. In addition to rehearsing and performing, Performance Academy students can choose amongst workshops in costume construction, set construction and painting, lighting design, and sound design.

The Playhouse is one of the oldest and largest community theatres in the US. Located at the 42nd Street exit of I-235, the theatre has presented a full season of shows since 1919 and also offers a wide variety of educational experiences including classes for ages 4 to adult, theatre trips to New York, and volunteer opportunities onstage and backstage.

For more information on summer theatre classes and other Playhouse educational offerings, contact the Playhouse education department at 515-974-5365.

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