Chicago Dance Gazette The Entertainment Project: Chicago’s Unique Performing Arts Summer Camp
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso
Spanish Cubist painter (1881 - 1973)
Jimmy 10 years old; Nebiyu Berhane directs a dance rehearsal; Sydney 10 years old; The crew at TEP--Mary Dumnett (Director of Music), Nebiyu Berhane (Director of Dance), Danielle Desiré (Director of Business Liasons), Timothy Kiernan (Executive Director), and Renae Stone (Artistic Director)
There are about a dozen kids ages 6 to 10 lining up at the door to leave for their dance rehearsal. At St. Benedict School, I am sitting on a comfy couch next to a bright window with Renae Stone. She sits facing the door so that she can greet the stragglers and direct them to class. “If I was a kid and I had something like this I would have freaked out!” Coming from a musical family, she remembers doing community theater as a child. However, there was no real theater training for kids available to her at the time. When she got parts, she was expected to jump right in. “If I didn’t know something I would have to feel stupid until I figured it out or until someone helped me.” She is now drama instructor Artistic Director of The Entertainment Project. The Entertainment Project was conceived by Executive Director Timothy Kiernan in 1993 and transplanted to Chicago from Florida in 2005. It joins a select group of theater companies in Chicago dedicated to the education of youth and teens in the performing arts.
Renae’s goal is for the kids to learn but to also keep it fun. “We do games in our blocking class: where is stage left? Stage right? Where is the main? We had 60 kids in the program last year with an 11:1 student teacher ratio. Kids learn basic theater curriculum, dance and voice. During the regular school year we also do visual arts. The kids are involved in the creation of the sets and with costumes and make-up design.” Renae believes that a program such as this boosts confidence and improves memorization skills. True, there is much to do and little time to do it as summer camp consists of three, three week cycles. At the end of each cycle there is a full length show.
“Days can get a little hectic!” says bright eyed 10 year old Sydney of the days at summer camp. She enjoyed her time at summer camp so much that she decided to audition for The Entertainment Project’s Fast Track program during the regular school year. (From their website: “This [Fast Track] training program is designed for one purpose only...to help the student reach his/her highest level of performance possible, in as short amount of time as possible. This program WORKS MIRACLES, but requires a VERY DEDICATED STUDENT.”) I asked who came to see her in her last show. “My whole family and like, the whole block!”
Part of the Fast Track program consists of private training in dance, voice and acting. Nebiyu Berhane, Director of Dance, expects his private students to explore forms of dance that they may not necessarily be comfortable with such as hip hop or jazz. One of his greatest challenges as a teacher is getting the kids to relate the choreography or movement to their character in the show. “The motivation has to come from within. I tell them that’s what happens: The feeling becomes so strong that words are not enough and you have to dance or sing. When it finally clicks, you can see it in their eyes,” he says with a smile.
10 year old Jimmy finds his way across the room and sits by me on the couch. “I like Julie Andrews the best. She makes me believe she really is that character.” Jimmy is also a Fast Tracker and another one who plans to come back for the summer camp. “My favorite thing is that I get to be the dance captain. I get to be the teacher sometimes.” He looks thoughtfully into space. “When I thought of it, I decided that I want to be an actor. I’m looking forward to my career.”
Please contact Danielle Desiré at The Entertainment Project at 773-687-0660 about summer camps and productions. www.EntertainmentProject.org
04-24-06