We offer a range of children’s programming, including summer and winter arts day camps at Johnson Hall and an after-school program at local schools.

TESS 2012 theme is Dr. Seuss.   Plays will be based on “If I Ran the Zoo,”  “And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street,” and “The Butter Battle Book.”  This year, funding allows us to present only one session, at Lincoln School, Augusta, in May.  The performance will be at Lincoln School on May 24, at 6 pm.

Support for TESS 2012 is from:

Wing-Benjamin Trust

Evergreen Foundation

Gosline-Murchie Insurance Agency

Attorney Karen Boston

Lincoln School

STAFF, 2012:

Theater Director: Kathleen Nation

Art Director: Nancy Barron

Teen Theater Directors: Sarah Kaplan, Noah Gallagher, Shaun Gallagher (all of Cony H.S.)

Teen Art Directors: Willa Barron, Maggie Coffin (both of Gardiner Area H.S.)

Teen-Elementary School Shows (TESS) – an after-school program

Depending on grant funding, Johnson Hall offers this program to two or three schools in the Capital area each spring.  TESS is offered free to participating students, because it is funded by grants, business sponsors, and $600 from each School PTA.

In Teen-Elementary School Shows, Johnson Hall Performing Arts Center hires professional theater and art directors to supervise the after-school program, and teenagers who are accomplished in theater and art to conduct it.  The program works on several levels–as a learning experience for teenagers and for elementary students, and to introduce school communities to live theater.  The adult theater director works with the theater teens to choose a subject and to write several short plays.   The themes over the eight years of the program have ranged from Aesop’s Fables and Winnie the Pooh, to the books of a local author and Greek myths. In 2007, the theme was Wicked Far Off-Broadway: Maine Stories and 2008, “TESS Goes Green,” and in 2010, “Classic Talespins,” new takes on favorite fairy tales.

Our professional director helps the teens write appropriate plays for the developmental level of the elementary students who will be performing. Johnson Hall staff work closely with the school administration and teachers to educate them about the program and contract with each school. Then JH staff distributes information and registration forms in the schools for the free program. The professional art director and several teens make a lively sign-up poster for the school bulletin board, and visit classes to promote interest in signing up. Students are accepted as theater or art students on a first-come, first-served basis. When the after-school program begins, teens lead the elementary students in theater exercises, decide who to cast in each play, rehearse and produce the plays. The art students, with teen directors supervising, create props, backdrops, and costumes. (The adults are always available for assistance.) The sessions are two weeks in duration at each participating school. Finally, they present the finished plays to each school population at an afternoon show, and to the parents and community at an evening show the same day.

TESS provides a live theater and creative art experience to elementary students and their proud parents. A lot of learning is woven into the fun and humor of the plays- about literature, performance, creativity, art, the children’s own abilities, and about how important each of them is to the whole. Many programs feature adults conducting theater or music in the schools. But the special magic of TESS is the key role of the teens.

Benefits of TESS:
Helps schools meet the Maine Learning Results performing arts and public speaking requirements.

TESS plays are based on literature, so it encourages students to read books, and increases their interest in literature.

Provides a creative activity after school, when many children are unsupervised and studies show they are more likely to get in trouble.

Offers a live theater experience in elementary schools.

Offers an art experience to those who may not want to appear on stage.

Brings children and teens together for a positive, creative experience. The young people see the teens as good role models.

The teens also learn– theater techniques and terms, time management, flexibility, how to work with a group of lively children, and leadership skills. The program encourages creativity and initiative among teens, and gives them job experience.

Professional Staff:

Theater Director: Kathleen Nation
Art Director: Nancy Barron

Summer Shenanigans

 Visual and Performing Arts Day Camp at Johnson Hall

2012 Schedule:

June 25-June 29 : Session I, is a half-day, 9 am-noon, for kids entering grades K-1.

July 9-13: Session II, 9 am-4 pm, for kids entering grades 2-4.

July 16-20: Session III, 9 am-4 pm, for kids entering grades 4-6.

July 23-27: Session IV, 9 am-4 pm, for kids entering grades 7-9.

Registration brochure available here: Summer Shen Brochure–2012.

Teen Job Application, for volunteers or paid staff, click here: Teen job app update 2012

Summer Shenanigans is an unusual theater and art camp, because kids create and perform a play, from A to Z, based on their own ideas. ANYTHING can happen when they create a play! At the beginning of the week, they decide what character they want to be, and they develop the locations and plot as a group. They learn how to make the audience believe they’re someone else: travelers from another country, a flying asteroid, a slippery shadow or maybe a giant grasshopper! They learn stage directions and acting techniques, and they make their own props, costumes, and sets. At the end of the week, campers’ family and friends come and watch the performance, which is sure to be fun and amazing!

Summer Shenanigans Visual and Performing Arts Day Camp incorporates both the visual and the performing arts.  Our staff is made up of artists and performers experienced in teaching children of all ages.  Our goal is to provide developmentally- appropriate, stimulating artistic experiences that are FUN!

Performing Arts instruction involves character building, improvisation, creative movement and story-telling skills.  Visual arts instruction will include a variety of possible media, ranging from painting through clay sculpture, fiber art, print or mask making, simple set and props construction.

Four sessions are held, for varied age groups.  

 
What is a week at Summer Shenanigans like? Campers spend their time with a minimum of two adult staff members and one teen intern at all times. On the first morning of each session, the Performing Arts Instructors will use structured, age-appropriate activities to help the campers use their imagination to develop a story they can tell together through performance. The Visual Arts Instructors will join the group during the morning to help decide which media and activities will match the play that has been born.

From then on, instructors and campers will spend half of each day on performing arts, half on visual arts. On Friday, they present a show for parents and also have artwork to take home. Campers need to provide their own bag lunches for sessions II, III, and IV and a snack for Session I. To get some fresh air, campers spend time outside in the mini-park next to Johnson Hall, and also occasionally go to the Common or the riverfront. They visit the Gardiner Public Library to learn how to use the library and to get resources for developing their characters and ideas for sets and costumes.

Tuition is charged for this day camp.

STAFF

Kathleen Nation, Theater Director, Sessions 2-4 and Upstage Youth Company
Kathleen trained at USM, Roehampton Institute in London, New Playwright’s Theater in Denver and Orange Coast College in California. She has directed both Winter and Summer Shenanigans for several years, and Johnson Hall’s Teen-Elementary School Shows (TESS) after-school program. She is a performing arts instructor for Augusta Adult Ed and Monmouth Middle School. She is also the Artistic Director for Monmouth Community Theater and directs the Olios of Cony’s Chizzle Wizzle.

Laura Howe, Art Director, all sessions
Laura studied at Maine College of Art and received her BFA from University of Southern Maine with a specialty in printmaking. She has taught art at Spiral Arts, Camp Vega, MECA, Portland Museum of Art, and in public schools. Laura has exhibited in community and gallery shows. She is currently an art teacher in MSAD#52, in the Greene and Leeds Schools.

Iona McCabe, Theater Director, Session 1
Iona has studied theater and dance in New York City and at USM.  She spent a year touring and directing with the Missoula Children’s Theater, has conducted Creative Movement Classes at Johnson Hall, and has been directing Shenanigans camps here since 1998.

*********************