UW-Superior Theater Camp Excites 6-12 Graders
By Felicity Bosk
Stage from UWS Theater Camp
Every summer, 6 through 12 graders join UW-Superior Theater Camp. Here they spend two weeks creating a production that does not cease to impress. This year they performed Into the Woods Junior, a play that ties many classic fairy tales into one man’s journey. It incorporates comedy, drama, and musical aspects, all of which done impressively by 28 students and in such a short time.
The Baker, played by Derek Ronding, was on a mission to find items that would appease the witch who has cursed his family. He is joined by his wife, who he starts off by telling not to come along, but eventually they learn to work together as a team.
They locate the needed items even if they at one point have to rip the hair straight from Rapunzel’s head. They encounter Jack and sell him magic beans for his cow, as well as Cinderella as they take one of her slippers. The baker turns out to be the lumberjack who saves little red riding hood and her grandma from the wolf when all he was really after was the red scarf for the witch.
The thing that impressed me the most their ability to have memorized all the lines without pause, and conduct their blocking with purpose. The show seemed like it was prepared in a few months rather than two weeks.
Children were singing without fear in front of an almost full theater, and at moments even perfectly harmonizing with each other. The show began with the different fairytale storys singing about what they wished for, going from one singer to another without missing a beat.
“It is amazing what they have done,” said Director and UWS theater professor Cathy Fank. This was her eighth year running the theater camp.
“It has definitely helped my daughter open up and express herself. I wish it was longer than two weeks,” said Barb Schlais, mother of two of the actresses. “She had gotten into from her friend, and now her younger sister has joined too.”
All the campers got an award at the end of the night for something related to their experience during the camp. There was a “wife of the malk man,” award, “best entrance from inside a wolf”, “most likely to explode” and “most likely to adopt Noah.”
