By Nicole Barrios
Hays CISD elementary and middle school students are enjoying a week of theater fun at camp.
The Hays High summer theater camp, headed up by theater teacher Brandon Snyder, runs from June 9-15.
Camp attendees spent Tuesday auditioning for roles in the show. They also practiced line memorization and played games such as “Honey, I love you. Will you smile?”
Snyder explained the game to the group of about 20 campers.
“You pick someone in the circle and ask, “Honey, I love you. Will you smile?”
The goal, Snyder said, is to get the other person to smile. But the goal for the person being asked is NOT to smile. That person says, “I love you but I cannot smile.”
He demonstrated the game for the campers.
If the person who was asked to smile actually does, then he or she goes into the center of the circle and starts asking others to smile. It’s harder than it looks. But the students appeared to enjoy playing.
On Sunday, the group will perform “Around the World in Eight Plays,” which they will spend the week rehearsing, said Erin Miller, 16, second time camp counselor.
Lindsey Bourland, co-director, said the play tells stories from around the world teaching kids about different cultures and folklore.
Trent Tyson, co-director, said the play is a comedy the kids enjoy.
“For me, the big payoff is seeing them performing at the end, it’s so cool because, you know, they just love it and I hope that I could start a spark in them to start doing theater or something that they love,” he said.
This summer is Riley Fall’s fourth year at the camp. The nine-year old said he enjoys participating in the show and everything leading up to it.
“Basically I have a blast because you get to like play games and you get to do a beautiful theater act,” Fall said. “It’s always fun. You get to meet new friends that’s in here, you get to play new games that you never heard, it’s basically everything in one.”
Fall said he hopes to be an actor someday.
“My favorite thing about acting is performing in the theater, like feeling all the energy and like yeah, I’m going up on stage,” he said.
The kids are very involved in the camp and acting in the play, said Matthew Linder, 17, Hays High senior and camp counselor.
“I think it’s very great to just kinda see the kids have an interest in theater and get more interest in theater,” Linder said. “I love theater and I am happy to spread the love, I guess you could say.”
Maren Howard, 12, said she enjoys acting at the camp because it allows her to pretend to be something else and experience something new.
“I like coming here because I like all the counselors and all the games we play,” she said. “And I like how we practice acting and how they teach us how it can help us with acting, like speaking and stuff.”
Camp counselor and Hays junior Griffin Hogan, 15, enjoys seeing developing young actors learn and grow at the camp.
On Tuesday, counselors taught the kids vocal warm ups, how to articulate and how to speak from the diaphragm in order to project and reach the audience.
Hogan said he works “behind the scenes” in the technical and lighting area of the Hays High theater department.
“It’s really fun to see these kids act because I watch the Hays (High School) kids act every day, and when I watch (the kids), I see mini versions of them almost,” he said.
