CHILD'S PLAY AT CAMP WHIRLWIND THEATER COURSE FOR YOUNGSTERS CULMINATES IN PRODUCTION.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Thirty youngsters are painting the floor of the Lancaster Performing Arts Center's ``black box'' auxiliary theater.

They are getting ready to put on ``Story Theatre'' - incorporating eight Brothers Grimm fairy tales and one fable by Aesop - the result of three weeks of summer theater camp in which the students get a well-rounded experience in the theater business.

``It's really fun,'' said camp member Natali Truax, 12, who is in her second summer at the camp and who will portray a crow, two robbers and a dead cow in the production. ``I've met a whole bunch of different people, and the people here are really nice.''

This is the second year for the theater camp, which has been extended this year from two weeks to three. The camp has also added voice and dance classes to give students a better appreciation of theater life.

``We wanted to give them an idea of how difficult it is to train your voice. The same thing with dance...it's a lot harder than it looks,'' said Mary Tanner, theater manager.

They must learn a dance piece in just three classes.

``Most shows are put together very, very quickly and so we wanted to give them the experience of how little time you actually have,'' said Tanner. ``This is not easy for the kids. It really is a lot of work. There's no time here for memorization.''

Even getting into camp was a challenge. Eighty-six students auditioned for 30 positions by performing a monologue or singing a song. Technical students had to put together a portfolio and do an interview.

``I think next year it's going to be a lot more competitive,'' said camp director Rodney Stickrod, LPAC's technical director, who said he looks for kids truly interested in theater or thinking about it as a career.

In addition to performing in the show and taking the dance and voice classes, the students also learn how to paint and build sets and how to operate lighting and sound systems.

One of their lessons involved imagining how they would put their bedroom on the main stage and what they would need to do to make it look real.

``We touch all the areas of technical theater,'' said Stickrod. ``I take them through how we do lighting, how we do sound, set design, costume design, kind of just the beginning groundwork: what does a designer do, what kind of steps do they have to take to come to the end of the play, to achieve the goal.''

Truax attended camp last summer, and the experience was so enjoyable she came back this year and also plans on attending camp next year.

``This one I think we did a lot more stuff. Last year there were less people so the director had more of an opportunity to work with us and we got more attention, but this year we did a lot more stuff,'' said Truax.

Perry Self, who is directing the play, said the fairy tales aren't what people expect.

``They're a lot more visceral, they're a lot more powerful because they were dealing with real life and they didn't try and sugarcoat it,'' said Self. ``(It was a) much older time period. People were living on farms so they were used to killing their own animals and having their own food and the forest was this deep dark evil place, because bandits lived in there so it was a bad place.''

He recommended the show for kids age 10 and up.

``We want to shield them (kids) as much as possible. Back then it was next to impossible to shield them so what you wanted to do was prepare them for life, it's tough, it's hard...so they didn't always end happily because life doesn't always, unfortunately.''

Theater camp cost $100 for three week and runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday for three weeks in July.

``It's a blast. I have a lot of fun doing it with the kids and the kids really seem to enjoy it,'' said Self. ``It's marvelous for me to see 30 kids who come in and maybe one or two know each other and within two days they're like buddies...it's just really cool and that's really gratifying.'' ``Their ability to in three weeks do a full length show, the sense of accomplishment that gives is great for them,'' said Self.

Performances are 1 and 4 p.m. July 28 and tickets are $5. The theater is at 750 W. Lancaster Blvd.

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Young performers at theater camp act as horses and a carriage carrying Neccole Ryelee Kreeger, inside the coach.

(2 -- color) Victor Albaum, sits in a rocking chair made up of Caitlin Legan, center, and Shawn Schlapfer. They are part of Lancaster Performing Arts Center's theater camp.

(3) Theater camp members, from left, Samie Burnett, Stephanie Drake and Mauli Shah paint a set as part of the three-week summer program by Lancaster Performing Arts Center.

(4) The stage floor at Lancaster Performing Arts Center gets a coat of paint by campers, from left, Laura Sandisco, Natali Truax, Neccole Ryelee Kreeger and Lisa Hatland.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer