Utah Children's Theatre Camp | Salt Lake City

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Elle was able to attend drama camp at The Utah Children’s Theatre last week. (Be sure to check our our previous post here.)

She is both shy and in love with performing, so this was the perfect opportunity for her. She is always bouncing about singing and dancing around the house, but has the hardest time being in front of people. 

The actors and actresses at The Theater were so patient and worked to build a friendship with the kids over the course of the week so that by the end performance she was able to look out at the audience and say her lines (albeit in a much more reserved and softer voice than some of the kids!). You can just tell they must really love what they do and they were able to instill that passion and enthusiasm in my child as well.

The Theater actually hosts several week-long camps over the course of the summer, each one with a unique theme. Check out their upcoming camps here. 

Elle attended the Pirates and Fairies workshop so after checking in they took the kids on a quick tour and then gave them some basic instructions in performing.

And showing emotion with their faces.

The classes were taught by actual actors and actresses from the theater, so Elle had seen them in their roles in other plays before and recognized a few of the instructors. After the first day she told me, “I like the real actors teaching me because it makes me want to be like them and maybe be an actress when I grow up.”

Although they had professionals leading them the kids themselves were able to brainstorm and collaborate in coming up with a script on their own. I thought it was awesome that they took the kids through the entire process and taught them all aspects of theater and not just performing. 

Each child was able to put together their own unique costume and create their own character. Camp was 2 ½ hours long and started with warm-ups each morning. The kids stretched and warmed up their bodies. Then played some type of game to warm up their voices. And then got to warm up their imaginations as well.

Elle’s favorite warm up game was ‘Magic Rocks,’ where each child would pretend to be a rock and then the instructors would sprinkle some magic fairy dust on them and turn them into various objects or animals that the kids would then emulate.

The older kids went a little deeper into proper theater jargon and learned about projection, character development and stage movement. The littler ones learned more basic concepts such as creativity, storytelling, and facing the audience :)

On the last day the kids had a dress rehearsal and then were able to put on a little performance for their family and friends. Given that they created the entire thing from scratch in only a couple hours a day for one week, I was rather impressed with their abilities during the final performance!

The kids were split into groups based on their ages, this particular week was 4-7 year olds and 8-13 year olds, so we actually got to see two different plays.

My one year old and three year old sat perfectly still and quiet watching the entire 30 minute performance. They loved it!

Plus, all my kids have since been running around the house together dressed up, playing imagination games and acting out little scenes together. Anything that sparks this much creativity and imagination in children is a good thing in my book! 

For fellow parents whose children also attended this camp, if you would like to request copies of any photos please email us and we’ll look through all the original files to find any additional photos we may have taken. Thanks!

Be sure to check out their Shakespeare Festival for Kids & Adults with Short Attention Spans