PLAN NOW TO AUDITION FOR OUR GREAT 6th SEASON of SHOWS! Audition dates and times are listed below -
DURHAM REGIONAL THEATRE IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE
From a strong field of candidates we have picked a DRT favorite, KORINN JEFFERIES
(Rising Sophomore at Howard University and former DRT student and Main Stage performer)
As DRT Assistant Camp Manager, summer 2015
In the summer of 2013, Korinn Jefferies volunteered as a Teen Teaching Intern with DRT; she was an immediate favorite with campers andstaff as a strong, steady, good-humored creative presence that added to our positive theatre experience.
In 2014, Korinn graduated from Durham School for the Arts having performed in area theatres, including DRT, Walltown Children’s Theatre and Evening of Entertainment (2006-2013.) She just completed her first successful year as a Musical Theatre major at the amazing, fantastic Howard University. We are thrilled to continue our relationship with Korinn as she moves from student, to volunteer teacher, to stipend level management with Durham Regional Theatre.
Teen Teaching Interns will meet Korinn at our Interns Training on Saturday, June 6th from 10:30 to noon at the camp site. We still have Teen Teaching Intern positions with all children’s theatre camps. Fill out a Teen Intern Form at durhamregionaltheatre.com/theatre-camps/
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It is Showcase Week for DRT spring acting classes on the lovely stage at EK Powe Elementary School. The Tuesday acting class, ages 9-12, kicked-off our Showcase Week with great energy. Every student actor gave fully to creating a funny and smart performance of the play they helped to invent. It was exciting to watch each actor realize a character he or she had created only eight-weeks ago. The audience laughed in all the right places!
After the performance, the cast and audience mingled happily for our celebration, munching Strawberry Shortcake, pretzels and watermelon. Sipping lemonade. Reliving favorite moments in the show.
As I wiped whipped cream from my fingers with a napkin, a parent said something like this to me, “Every time our daughter finishes one of these classes her reading skills absolutely leap up at school.”
That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to find the words to express about the power of arts in education. Of course at EK Powe and other A+ (arts in education focused) schools, this power is already being unleashed.
The arts, and in our case especially the performing arts, are not just beneficial but necessary for both social and brain development. As Jane Healey noted in her seminal text (“Endangered Minds, Why Our Children Can’t Think”) without constant practice of the oral language (talking, listening, being heard, hearing, imagining, expressing, identifying) the part of our brain that makes connections between different pieces of information – i.e. relationships – simply does not develop.
With the active, consistent, age-appropriate practice of oral language through storytelling and theatre at DRT, a child develops necessary learning-strengths more quickly and more solidly. And they have the greatest fun in the world doing it.
DRT acting classes for 2015-2016 (INCLUDING THE OFFICIAL START OF HAMLET PROJECT DURHAM CLASSES) will be open for registration on July 1, 2015. Mark you calendars now, and plan to grow, learn and have a great time with DRT.
You may think - because all four DRT Children's Theatre Camps are filled for this summer - that the gorgeous fellowship hall at Trinity Ave. Presbyterian Church where we hold our camps will be creative and positive only because of the presence of 5-12-year-olds - but that is far from the truth! On the first day of each camp, 25 campers will join a Table Group of five campers, and each Table Group will be joined by one of our FANTASTIC TEEN TEACHING INTERNS - And Teen Teaching Interns make all the difference to the success of our children's camps.
Teen Teaching Interns provide crucial community service with DRT each summer - while gaining real skills in theatre, teaching and camp management. Check out our Teen Teaching Internship positions at durhamregionaltheatre.com/theatre-camps/ - download the job description and application form - fill it out today - it doesn't take that long - and send it back to durhamregionaltheatre@gmail.com.
Former DRT Teen Teaching Interns have gone on to colleges including Harvard Univ., George Washington University (DC,) Howard Univ. and Univ. of Rochester in New York. Teens (ages 13-19) are invited to join this great tradition in theatre and education today!
See you in the summertime,
Jenny Justice
As the earth displays her first burst of spring glory with daffodils, forsythia and tulips, DRT is bursting too - for the first year since we began offering our exciting Summer Theatre Camps in 2011, ALL of our CHILDREN'S THEATRE CAMPS are full with young actors. We still have space in our 3-week TEEN THEATRE CONSERVATORY in July and are accepting applications for summer camp TEEN TEACHING ASSISTANTS - Join the excitement this summer. You can get TEEN ASSISTANT job descriptions and applications, and register for the life changing Teen Theatre Conservatory at our Education/Summer Theatre Camps page. And create something great with DRT this summer!
Two spaces have opened up for our Children’s Theatre Camp 1, June 15-27, 2015. This almost never happens so take advantage of opportunity and REGISTER your young actors for this great experience today. Find out why campers return to DRT summer after summer, year after year!
Also, we are still accepting registrations for our first camp of the summer, “A Play A Day 1,” June 8-12, 2015 and for our "Teen Theatre Conservatory" in July.
For Information and Registration go to our Education/Summer Theatre Camps page.
Happy Spring, Jenny Justice
It is exciting each time we begin a new session of acting classes at Durham Regional Theatre, and this spring brings extra anticipation with TWO new classes about to take off - on Wednesday we hold our first DRT Satellite class at Sandy Ridge Elementary School and on Thursday we begin the great adventure of "Hamlet Project Durham."
I hope everyone has been keeping up with our progress and the new website (Two people have let me know they are having trouble accessing the site and I'm working with SquareSpace to try and figure out what's up. If you're having any access trouble, please use the old DurhamFamilyTheatre.wordpress.com blog site - I'm keeping the info there up-to-date.)
Meanwhile, our first summer theatre camp has filled past the brim (Play A Day 2 is now closed for registration) and the others are fast moving that way - so is you want to create something great with DRT this summer, register asap on our durhamregionaltheatre.com/theatre-camps/ page.
Spring is definitely in the air!
Warmly, Jenny Justice
Jenny Justice & Joy Harrell-Goff (Music)
After months of discussions and preparations, today Durham Family Theatre has officially been renamed Durham Regional Theatre - there are butterflies in my stomach, such as a new actor feels while waiting in the wings for that first entrance. There are, I will confess, a few tears in my eyes as I say goodbye to the Durham Family Theatre blog site where we posted nearly 200 messages and received over 15,000 visits. And then I think this is, indeed, a very butterfly-like moment and wonder what the beautiful insect feels as its wings first stretch and fly.
I look forward to hearing our creative community's thoughts and ideas via our visions for the future; to begin, I hope you'll post a comment letting us know what you think of the new website. We hope it is beautiful to look at, easy to use and tells you what you need to know about getting involved with Durham Regional Theatre.
Warmly, Jenny Justice
We had another positive, hardworking DFT/DRT board meeting today - everyone pitched in with ideas and offers to take on extra tasks as we approach the day - THIS COMING THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015 - when we will make the formal announcement of our new name and unveil the Durham Regional Theatre website to everyone who has supported Durham Family Theatre through 4 1/2 years of steady growth. I'm excited thinking of what we will create together in the next five years.
Warmly, Jenny Justice