A Little Bit of Drama

On last Wednesday afternoon, on center stage there were 20 or so billy goats.

To stage left were about four trolls with very long noses. And in the wings, one of the camp counselors was prompting a forgotten line.

Welcome to the dress rehearsal of the South Mountain YMCA's Drama Camp Drama One's production of "Three Nanny Goats Gruff," one of three productions being preformed during the first three-week session of this popular camp.

And for the first time in the camp's history, the plays will be performed on a professional stage at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC), in South Orange, NJ.

"What's so exciting," says Lisa Drogon, South Mountain Y's Creative Dramatics Camp Director, "is the opportunity for our campers to see what a professional stage looks like, sounds like, and feels like." And professional it is. The campers will be performing on the same stage as Carrie Fisher did last month. It has a full lighting grid, 400 seats and the camp will have a professional audio/lighting engineer provided by SOPAC to mic and light the performances. There's one other nice thing that SOPAC has, especially for this summer, air conditioning.

The Y's drama camp has been around for over seven years. In the past they have performed everywhere from a building in a small strip mall to a church basement to a school auditorium. All were just fine for a summer camp production. However, performing at SOPAC is a big step up and the campers and counselors are extremely excited at the opportunity.

The specialty camp, which has about 80 campers, is broken down into three sections. Drama One is for ages 5 and 6. Drama Two is for ages 7 and 8. Drama Three is for ages 8 and above. Drama Three was added this year due to overwhelming demand of campers that had 'aged out' of the camp last year.

And while at camp, they do do normal camp things, like swimming, but they also learn all about theater.

The first day is spent getting the kids on stage. It's sort of an non-audition, audition. "About 80% of them get up and sing 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' or 'Happy Birthday'," says Drogon. "Nobody is forced to perform. I want them to have a good time.

Drogon joined the Y in 2006. She answered an ad for a lead preschool teacher. While looking over her resume, Jennifer MacAfe, the Y's Assistant Childcare Director, noticed that Drogon had a theater background. The Y wanted to have a drama camp in the summer. The Y got their drama camp director and Drogon got her dream job.

Drogon, along with her Drama Camp Coordinators In'dia Castleton-Dixon, LaTricia Crawford, Joanna Rybnick, Assistant Coordinators Aja Faison, Bridget Sloan, and camp counselors Jane Carpenter, Tristan Chapman, Akailah Jennings, Canadace Kidd, Janea Miller, Melanie Rodriguez and Lydia Watson-Lewis, help pull together 80 campers from audition to performance in just 20 days. They do this magic three times over the course of the summer.

During those three weeks the campers learn stage right from stage left. What and where their 'marks' are for the show. They learn their lines and the songs. They make their own costumes. They build their own sets. They go swimming and go on field trips to see other plays. This session's trip was to see Beauty and the Beast at the Pax Amicus Theater in Budd Lake. They also learn core values. They learn the power of teamwork by working together. The learn confidence from new experiences, like dancing and singing in front of an audience.

Another important part of the camp is camper involvement. While the plays are chosen by Drogon in advance, it's the campers that decide what the set will be, what the costumes will look like and how they will develop their characters. The counselors are there to assist.

At the end of the three weeks the plays are performed, one session after another on the third Thursday of the session in the evening.

The curtain goes up on the their production. Parents, grandparents, siblings and friends fill the audience and applause fills the hall. The smiles on the faces of the campers are only matched by the faces on the audience.