This summer, 34 campers from Olivet Boys & Girls Club’s Summer Theatre Camp will be participating in Face the Music, a 2-week musical immersion program sponsored by the Reading Musical Foundation and led by four professional, local, musician/educators.
Each morning from July 1 to July 12, campers, age 9 – 14, will be studying guitar, African drumming, keyboards and vocals at their camp site, the PAL Center for the Arts at 328 Walnut Street in Reading. The workshop will culminate with a free public performance on Friday July 12 at 11 am at the Center for the Arts (328 Walnut St., Reading).
The Reading Musical Foundation has supported Olivet Boys & Girls Club’s music program for many years through grants and scholarships. RMF provides 400+ hours of musical instruction during the school year at the PAL Center for the Arts and other Olivet sites in Reading. The partnership continues in the summer with Face-The-Music which serves as a perfect cross-curricular activity for the theatre campers who also taking classes in acting, singing, art and dance.
During the 2-hour morning program, four groups of campers cycle through 25-minutes sessions with each musician. Campers new to playing an instrument are grouped together to learn the rudiments of the instruments; veterans of Theatre Camp are grouped together in order for them to expand upon their existing skills.
During the second week of the program, campers are asked to select two areas of preference and the work becomes more focused and refined. On the final day of the program, Friday July 12th, each camper performs live before an audience of family, friends, Olivet and RMF Staff and the community.
Face-The-Music is coordinated and led by local musician Josh Taylor who teaches guitar for the program. Jeff Roeckle, local blues and jazz musician, assists Josh Taylor with guitar; Composer, band-leader and Olivet’s Digital Music instructor, Cliff Starkey, instructs the campers on keyboard, Janet Peck, artistic director of N’Boyne Drum & Dance Ensemble teaches African drumming and former CFA/Olivet member, Malia Ewen, senior at Oakwood University of Alabama, will be the vocal instructor.
The Face-The-Music program is made possible by Reading Musical Foundation and RMF President, Keri Shultz. In addition to the 2-week Face-The-Music program, the Theatre Campers participate in classes in acting, singing, dancing and art, they swim weekly at Olivet’s Clinton Street pool, spend the day at Olivet’s Blue Mountain Camp, go bowling, roller-skating and take a filed trip to the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster to see MAMMA MIA!!
During the final week of Theatre Camp, the campers will present their production of MADAGASCAR, Jr. (August 8, 9, 10 at 7 pm). Performances at the PAL Center for the Arts, 328 Walnut Street in Reading, PA, are free to the public.
