Walking Fish Theatre Goes to New Mexico for Summer Camp

B. Someday Productions, located in Walking Fish Theatre in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, announces a new initiative serving Navajo youth in New Mexico, starting this summer. The Summer Arts Camp will serve Navajo children and youth, ages 5-18, residing in the eastern area of the Navajo Nation and/or in area of the Thoreau Community Center, Thoreau, NM where the camp will be sponsored. The camp will also serve Navajo elders and parents of the children and youth.

B. Someday Productions' Artistic Director, Michelle Pauls, and Reading Specialist, Maryellen Gardner, will bring two weeks of arts activities to Navajo children and youth to the region of the eastern area of the Navajo Nation Reservation. This program will be divided into two sections. The mornings will serve grades first through fourth, in arts and crafts activities, reading activities and incorporating some native handicraft and traditions in these activities. The afternoons will serve grades nine through twelve and will focus on storytelling, theatre games, and creating an original piece of performance, based on stories from their own lives. Traditional stories shared by community elders will also be incorporated.

It is the hope that B. Someday will bring this summer arts camp to the reservation again, and eventually, create a Cultural Exchange, where Navajo youth will travel to Philadelphia, PA to share in local arts and performance such as hip hop dancing, performance poetry, puppet making, and the like. And then Philadelphia youth will travel to the Reservation and learn traditional arts and customs from the Navajos, such as storytelling, Indian lore, and care of horses.

B. Someday Productions is located in a multi-cultural, low-income community of Philadelphia, PA. We use a combination of theatre, literature, and myth to bring together local artists, students, and the community. With like-minded groups from the immediate community, and the community at large we collaborate and produce theatrical works that are both original, and adapted. Our mission is to have youth from the community encouraged and mentored by local artists to write, produce, and promote shows that are taken from the youths lives and then transformed into live theatre. These performances are seen on stage at the community schools, institutions, and local community centers.