Oct. 26, 2016
Students from four rural counties will get the chance to perform on stage and work behind the scenes backstage in a weeklong drama camp next summer at the Princess Theatre in Harriman.
Two grants are funding the effort, said Clarissa Feldt, Roane State adjunct theatre professor.
The goal, Feldt said, is to "help students engage in the arts, with the hope that it will promote community-building, foster a community involvement in the arts and create a greater demand for arts programs in the nearby public schools."
Feldt said 15 students from high schools and junior high schools that don't have theatre programs in Anderson, Roane, Morgan and Cumberland counties will be selected for the camp, tentatively planned for the first week of June 2017.
They'll practice an hour-long play during the mornings and learn "all of the different aspects of putting on a play" from a theater professional in the afternoons. The play will then be performed for the public on the Saturday after the camp, Feldt said.
Feldt said she'll recruit applicants during visits to each school, and the students who apply will undergo an interview "to determine who is best fitted for the program."
A $1,500 Arts Build Community grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission will be matched by the Princess Theatre Foundation, a nonprofit that revived and reopened the 90-year-old theatre, a historic centerpiece of downtown Harriman. Roane State operates the theatre as an arts and education center.
Foundation board member Gary Baker, credited with spearheading the drive to revive the Princess, "said this (the camp) is exactly the kind of thing the foundation is interested in doing," Feldt said. Students will be provided lunches during the free drama camp.
A $2,000 President's Imagination Mini Grant from Roane State is also helping fund the program.
If the inaugural camp is successful, "we'll do it again in the years to come," said Felt, who has been teaching at Roane State since 2012 and directs all Roane State plays.
To learn more about the drama camp, contact Feldt at (865) 354-3000 ext. 5296 or feldtcm@roanestate.edu.
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