Curtain goes up on student summer theater program
Board backs pilot program to encourage arts participation
New Berlin — A community theater program will start in the New Berlin schools as early as this summer, but it may eventually flower into a real civic theater such as the Sunset Playhouse in Elm Grove or the Bay Players in Whitefish Bay.
The New Berlin School Board on Monday approved a community theater proposal costing roughly $5,000 per year for a three-year trial period.
The first year will be a two-week summer theater camp for grades one through eight. It would culminate in a performance for friends and families.
The second year would still have the camp and family performance, but would add a community show. Adults would be invited to take part in the community show along with the children. The third year would be the same as the second, but would change the community show to a musical.
Superintendent Paul Kreutzer favors the theater program, noting that "The arts is one of our big eights," referring to the schools' eight high-priority areas.
New Berlin West Middle School English teacher Mary Kirby, spokeswoman for the staff members who developed the pilot theater proposal, said after the board's unanimous vote, "I'm thrilled that the board is putting its support behind the program and that it is dedicated to the arts in the district."
The theater program will go beyond the regular school drama offerings in creating opportunities for student expression and will open new avenues of creativity, she said. It also will help students learn self-confidence and improve their communication skills through performance, according to the program goals.
Another program goal is to cultivate an interest in theater within the community.
The fee for the half-day summer theater camp will be $125 for New Berlin residents and $150 for nonresidents, provided there is space. The goal is to attract 50 children to the camp with a limit of 75.
The classes would include improvisation, characterization, puppetry, sensory observation, technical aspects of theater, acting and the Stanislavski method of acting.
Board member Art Marquardt asked if the staff would try to find a patron who would sponsor the district's part of the pilot program.
But Kreutzer predicted that attracting private funding would probably happen a different way.
"It would be kind of a 'Field of Dreams' approach," he said, with donors coming to the program as they see the fruits of it.
"Success will breed success," Kreutzer said. "First we need to get it off the ground."
The participation fees would cover many of the materials costs such as small props and makeup, but the schools will pick up more substantial materials costs such as sets plus hiring teachers for the program.
The director of the performing arts center at New Berlin West High School, the Eisenhower Middle/High School music teachers, drama director and three English teachers, Principal Michael Fessenmaier and New Berlin West Assistant Principal Margaret Holloway developed the proposal.
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