Young thespians get a taste of performance at Bemidji Community Theater summer camp
Jun. 19—BEMIDJI — Despite the challenges of face shields that made stage voices difficult to project and dance numbers choreographed to avoid touching, Bemidji's young actors hit the stage this week — big smiles beaming — to culminate the end of theater camp.
The Bemidji Parks and Recreation Department, Bemidji Community Theater and Bemidji State University teamed up to host a two-week summer theater day camp program from 1 to 4 p.m. June 7-18 on the BSU campus. Bangsberg Auditorium was once again filled with laughter and applause after months of sparse audiences.
During a dress rehearsal on Thursday, June 17, the group gave five short performances, along with additional dance routines and stage combat demonstrations.
Campers were divided into teams according to their age and experience level — blue, green, red, orange, purple and black — and dipped their toes in dancing, singing, stage combat, acting and script writing.
The first show, "Duck?!?" featured a group of children who were new to the stage and portrayed three varieties of ducks that disagreed about who was the true duck, until they were brought together by threatening behavior from the ruling swans. Unfortunately, three duck hunters arrive before their revolution has a chance to begin.
In another show, "The King's Spell," all of Mother Goose's Nursery rhymes are mixed up, resulting in Jack and Jill climbing walls instead of hills and Old MacDonald having little lambs instead of Mary, three blind cats instead of mice.
The third performance debuted a group of skunks and squirrels at odds, ultimately seeing the strength in their differences and becoming allies.
A more intermediate group performed a meta show — Audition 101 — about the struggles of putting on a theatrical performance on a budget. The production came to a close when the actors were made aware the director forgot to pay the electric bill and the stage lights were extinguished.
A final play was one written by the campers themselves, called Meadow Mishaps.
Ending the show with a bang came three dance numbers — with the final one being a selection from "Newsies" wherein the young performers danced with rolled up Pioneer newspapers as their props.
Ernie Rall, Vice President of Bemidji Community Theater, said the program had 65 campers this year. He said the program has been a big draw, with usually between 50 and 80 campers each year.
Older students involved in the local theater scene also served as interns at the camp, leading the groups in their performances and getting a chance to perform themselves.
Classes were offered in music, dance, theater, scriptwriting and advanced performance, and technical areas including scenic painting and stage combat.
The camp program, which has existed for seven years with the exception of 2020, often feeds young actors into the Bemidji Community Theater circle for parts in large productions like "Annie" involving children. He estimated maybe 25-30% of the campers go on to act in Bemidji Community Theater shows.
Theater camp looked different this year — young actors wore face shields or masks, resulting in no stage makeup and more limited costumes. Participants stayed six feet apart, and only a handful of parents were allowed at the final show. Despite all this, as they say, the show must go on.
Information about upcoming Bemidji Community Theater shows and BCT Junior can be found on their website.
