Broadway Bootcamp is a local opportunity for students to process and express complex emotions through character development and performance. The event will be held in the Homer High School Mariner Theater. This year some of the key musicals the camp will explore include the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hairspray and Wicked. Youth enrolled in the camp will have five days to learn and memorize features from these musicals and then perform in a fully choreographed, staged and costumed performance for the community.
Director Jim Anderson expressed several of the features of the camp beyond stage and theater opportunities; it will also focus on general leadership skills and techniques such as confidence, negotiation, posture, interaction, projection and expression.
Anderson told KBBI that currently there are 25 students enrolled in the camp but there is space for more and youth can and are encouraged to enroll up until the morning of the first day of the event. It does start early, at 8 am, and as Anderson explained, this is why the event is called “bootcamp.” He noted that many of the youth show up on the first day a little hesitant but by the time of the performance, “their energy is electrified and they are excited to be on stage.” This is the second year of the event but Anderson hopes it will continue to grow as an event for the state.
Anderson has led camps like this in the past and said that the leadership component of the event is key, “I've had kids come through my program in the last 30 years that have gone on into medicine, law, education, all walks of life, and I keep getting messages back from them like, Wow. This training that I had has made me more confident. It landed me jobs. It made me more communicative, gave them the confidence that they needed to do whatever they wanted to do. And the theme for this year's camp is Unstoppable, and that's what we want these kids to walk away from, is that I can do anything, anything is possible.”
Additional instructors for the camp are the same people who provided instruction last year: Lonnie Quin with CBS in New York who will be providing the acting instruction, Dr. Linda Brennan from Los Angeles who is one of the top dialect coaches in the entertainment industry. Theresa Hayes will be the choreographer “who has toured extensively with Broadway Productions,” Anderson said. Finally, John Lewis is a “master storyteller and screenwriter,” also from New York. More extensive resumes are available on the HCOA website.
Local stage assistance for the final performance will be provided by Simon Lopez with lights, Scott Forrester creating sets, Jill Berryman with costumes and Homer High School graduate Bri Miller as the stage director. Christopher will provide photography. Anderson said that he is still looking for stage hand assistance if any one listening is interested they can contact him or the HCOA office in Homer. Stage hands need to be available for Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the event.
In addition to the youth camp, adult courses will be available at HCOA including “The Meisner Technique for Professionals” with Lonnie Quinn, a “Speech and Dialects” workshop with Linda Brennan and “The Power of Story” with John Lewis. More information on these class opportunities and registration is available on the HCOA website: www.homerart.org.
Anderson extended thanks for the support he has received by Homer High School staff Eric Pedersen and Katie Bynagle: “I cannot say enough about the support from Eric Peterson and Katie Beinecke. Those two people have been instrumental, not just in what they're doing for Homer and for the school district. You know, Eric, having gone from being the principal at Paul banks and then going into the district and making those associations and then coming back as the high school principal, it's going to be such an exciting new chapter for the school here in Homer.”
Registration for Broadway Bootcamp is available on the HCOA website and the cost for the week is $200. Interested participants can also register in person in the office at 355. West Pioneer Avenue.
