Novato Theater Company Summer STARS Workshop for Kids

Children with an acting bug can learn the basics of theater by participating in the Novato Theater Company Summer STARS workshop.

The two-week class is part of the NTC education program and allows kids in third to eighth grades to be part of a musical theater production. 

The students create their own roles and pull together a script using fairy tales, popular legends and myths as well as current icons. 

According to NTC artistic director Blanca Florido, the children in the 2011 workshop developed a story line that took place in a hotel in France, where strange people came to stay. In the meanwhile, the sun kept making it too hot, so the forces of nature fixed it so the sun came down to the world as a child who arrived at the same hotel. The workshop sparks students’ imaginations, allowing them to create their own unique show.

The program runs weekdays June 18-29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the theater in Novato. Each class includes: improvisational theater games, singing, dancing, acting, a lunch break and rehearsal. The children then will present two live performances on Friday, June 29 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, June 30 at 2 p.m. 

Tuition is $350 with theater season subscribers receiving a 15 percent discount. Students can win a scholarship to the workshop by writing a short essay discussing why they want to attend the program and how it would benefit them and mailing it to P.O. Box 233, Novato, 94948. The best essay writer will have tuition waived.

All of the participating students also receive two tickets to the NTC’s annual presentation of A Christmas Carol. They also can try out for a role in the 2012 production of the play. Registration for the Summer Stars is available online at www.NovatoTheaterCompany.org or by calling 415-883-4498, Ext. 0.