Summer Youth Theater Workshops at the Arcata Playhouse

Summer is upon us and the Arcata Playhouse is gearing up for its summer youth theater workshops. There is still time to sign your child up for a fun and engaging experience this summer.  This year’s classes will featuring explorations in everything from puppet making and performance to creative movement and clowning to our very popular outdoor spectacle classes known as Pageant on the Plaza.

The schedule of classes is in three different segments over the summer with a wide variety of opportunities to fit into your busy summer plans with Puppet Camp June 25-29, Pageant on the Plaza July 9-12 and Theater Camp running July 23-27.

Costs for the sessions range from $100 for a half day to $400 for a full-time two week course with scholarships available. For further details see class descriptions below or visit our website for registration forms at www.arcataplayhouse.org/youth_workshops

Puppet Camp June 25-29 from 9:00 am – noon & 12:30 am - 3:30 pm (ages 6 - 14) consists of a puppet building laboratory during the morning session. Campers will be guided through a brainstorming, planning, and building process by the teachers. The lab focuses on building your own puppet characters and puppet stages.  In the afternoon campers will write and create original puppet plays with the puppet characters they build in the morning. Cost is $100 for a half day and $175 for whole day.

Pageant on the Plaza July 9-12 from 9:00 am - 4:30 pm (ages 9-14) is an exciting two-week adventure into outdoor performance and spectacle. The two-week workshop begins with a week of skill building during which classes are presented in storytelling, character development, construction of large puppets, music, movement and stilt walking. The second week is dedicated to applying those freshly minted skills to building and rehearsing an original production to be performed at the end of a Saturdays' Farmers Market on July 21st. Cost is $400 ($350 before June 10) for full-time two week session.

Theater Camp July 23-27 from 9:00 am – noon & 12:30 – 3:30 pm (ages 6-9)

Two classes offered are Creative Movement in the morning and Clown Town in the afternoon. For Creative Movement Children will dance, roll, wiggle, run, hop, skip and learn basic acrobatics and more in this active theatrical movement class. The teacher will work with recorded music and help the group create their own music to move to as an ensemble. Lots of energy required!  In Clown Town kids will develop their own hilarious clown characters that all live in a goofy town together and will have a comic clown adventure to save Clown Town. Cost is $100 for a half day and $175 for whole day.

Please email Amy Tetzlaff with questions or for a registration form: amy@arcataplayhouse.org

or call the Arcata Playhouse at 822-1575.

For additional information visit www.arcataplayhouse.org or call 822-1575.

The Arcata Playhouse presents “A Woman’s Place is in Her Home” an exploration of women experiencing the largely unplanned, unpredictable realities of housing insecurity in Humboldt County. Whether living rough on the street, traveling, or couch surfing, housing instability takes its toll and comes with long-lasting consequences for individuals, families, and community. Opening Friday, April 27 and running through Sunday, April 29.

“A Woman’s Place is in Her Home” is a theatrical event, fusing storytelling, dance and music, performed by professionals alongside community members on stage for the first time. Ruthi Engelke directs the play featuring Humboldt’s own Lyndsey Battle, performing original compositions inspired by stories of the houseless. Over the past year, our creative team, Jacqueline Dandeneau, Ali Freedlund and Tammy Rae Scott, documented the hardship, beauty, resilience, and resourcefulness of women in various states of homelessness, and witnessed the obstacles they face every day. Many of the cast and crew have experienced houselessness at some point in their lives. Together, throughout the production process, we’ve shared life stories, prepared meals, laughed, cried and developed an extraordinary bond.  

After each show, audience members will have an opportunity to participate in a talk- back session with performers, the creative team, and representatives from our partners, Arcata House and Food for People.

“A Woman’s Place is in Her Home” premieres Friday, April 27 at 8pm and runs Saturday April 28 at 8pm with a matinee on Sunday April 29th at 2pm, at the Arcata Playhouse, 1251 9th Street in Arcata. (www.arcataplayhouse.org)  Advance tickets can be purchased at Wildberries Marketplace, Brown Paper Tickets or reserve seats at 707-822-1575 (no one turned away for lack of funds).