The two sessions are done for this year, but new ones are planned in 2011. Children ages 5 to 12 can participate. Cost is $30 per child per session. For more info, contact Erin Kahn at (503) 540-8636.
Three years ago, Erin and Anna Kahn of South Salem needed money to attend camp.
The girls got creative and decided to put on a camp of their own: a theater camp in their backyard. One set of campers would help pay the way for another.
The innovative solution worked. It was so successful, in fact, that the camp has continued to grow and become a ongoing staple summer activity during the years in the Sprague neighborhood where the girls live.
The experience has led now-18-year-old Erin, a Sprague High School graduate, to choose to study English at Willamette University.
Erin has written or modified every play the campers have performed during the three summers.
The play for this year's first installment of the camp was a kid-friendly version of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The play for the second session was "Robin Hood."
"I simplified them a lot. I like writing. I took AP English last year. I want to major in English. I really like it," Erin said.
She has branched out from plays to video scripts. Last year, she took the money she earned from the camp and bought a video camera, which she uses to shoot movie shorts with her siblings. Then she edits them on her computer.
"We make the videos for our friends and stuff," Erin said.
Twice each summer, the two sisters host a four-day camp for kids ages 5 to 12 that teaches improvisation and acting.
Their approach is very effective; they teach through play. The younger children especially love the Kahn sisters.
According to Erin, many of the children return for the second session.
"Some of the kids were in it twice they like it so much."
During the first summer session of camp this year, the girls had 17 children on their hands. Most of them were young ones.
"It was really hard. We had to keep them focused. It was really challenging," Erin said.
The second session was much easier. The kids were a bit older, and there were 11 of them. Most of the children are from the neighborhood, but some come from church or by word of mouth.
The first day is spent playing acting and improv games with the children to relax them and get them ready to act. At the end of the day the campers try out for parts in that sessions play.
The next three days are spent rehearsing. The girls provide sets and costumes in addition to snacks and games, and they do this all by themselves.
Their mother, Joy, steps in from time to time but really lets the girls run the show.
The evening of the last day, the budding thespians' parents attend the big performance.
Although Anna still is young enough to attend the church camp that got them started three years ago, Erin has long outgrown it.
But she still participates in the theater lessons.
"I like doing it," she said.
Anna will be starting her sophomore year at the high school. The girls got their start acting at home. They would often put on short plays and skits for their mother, father, Ben, younger brother, Keaton, 14 and younger sister, Leah, 10.
This year, Erin is holding on to her earnings and saving them for college.
Though summer is over and the backyard theater sets and costumes are being stored away, it won't be long before the girls start writing new plays, build new sets and costumes and planning their summer camp for next year.
Copyright Statesman-Journal
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100818/COMMUNITIES/108160019
The girls got creative and decided to put on a camp of their own: a theater camp in their backyard. One set of campers would help pay the way for another.
The innovative solution worked. It was so successful, in fact, that the camp has continued to grow and become a ongoing staple summer activity during the years in the Sprague neighborhood where the girls live.
The experience has led now-18-year-old Erin, a Sprague High School graduate, to choose to study English at Willamette University.
Erin has written or modified every play the campers have performed during the three summers.
The play for this year's first installment of the camp was a kid-friendly version of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The play for the second session was "Robin Hood."
"I simplified them a lot. I like writing. I took AP English last year. I want to major in English. I really like it," Erin said.
She has branched out from plays to video scripts. Last year, she took the money she earned from the camp and bought a video camera, which she uses to shoot movie shorts with her siblings. Then she edits them on her computer.
"We make the videos for our friends and stuff," Erin said.
Twice each summer, the two sisters host a four-day camp for kids ages 5 to 12 that teaches improvisation and acting.
Their approach is very effective; they teach through play. The younger children especially love the Kahn sisters.
According to Erin, many of the children return for the second session.
"Some of the kids were in it twice they like it so much."
During the first summer session of camp this year, the girls had 17 children on their hands. Most of them were young ones.
"It was really hard. We had to keep them focused. It was really challenging," Erin said.
The second session was much easier. The kids were a bit older, and there were 11 of them. Most of the children are from the neighborhood, but some come from church or by word of mouth.
The first day is spent playing acting and improv games with the children to relax them and get them ready to act. At the end of the day the campers try out for parts in that sessions play.
The next three days are spent rehearsing. The girls provide sets and costumes in addition to snacks and games, and they do this all by themselves.
Their mother, Joy, steps in from time to time but really lets the girls run the show.
The evening of the last day, the budding thespians' parents attend the big performance.
Although Anna still is young enough to attend the church camp that got them started three years ago, Erin has long outgrown it.
But she still participates in the theater lessons.
"I like doing it," she said.
Anna will be starting her sophomore year at the high school. The girls got their start acting at home. They would often put on short plays and skits for their mother, father, Ben, younger brother, Keaton, 14 and younger sister, Leah, 10.
This year, Erin is holding on to her earnings and saving them for college.
Though summer is over and the backyard theater sets and costumes are being stored away, it won't be long before the girls start writing new plays, build new sets and costumes and planning their summer camp for next year.
Copyright Statesman-Journal
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100818/COMMUNITIES/108160019
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