Registration for CCT’s 2018 summer TnT camps open

by Cristin Parker
TnT campers practiced their Grand Finale Showcase. Each troupe will present the production they worked on during camp. TnT campers practiced their Grand Finale Showcase. Each troupe will present the production they worked on during camp.

Know a young Striesand? Gotta a mini-Shakespeare in the family?

Get ‘em involved in the Cherokee Civic Theatre’s summer Thespians in Training (TnT) theater camp and you might just get to say ‘you knew them when...’.

“Through a variety of activities, campers will learn about the theater arts from all aspects – onstage, backstage and offstage – while improving the skills they may already have,” the theater’s website states. “TnT’s goals are not only to enhance stage skills, but also the cooperation, creativity and goal-setting that any theatrical production requires.”

Students in grades one through 12 are eligible to register for the two-week camp, but casts are filling up fast! The troupe for grades three and four is already full, camp organizers said, and spots in troupes for grades one and two, and grades five and six are nearly full as well. General registration ends May 31 and camp fee is $55 per camper, which includes a free camp t-shirt. Sibling discounts and camp scholarships are available. Late registration will be held June 1-20, as space allows, and camp fees will be $65 per camper.

Visit the theater’s website, www.cherokeetheatre.net for registration forms.

TnT is not able to accept phone or electronic reservations; all registration must be done via mail or in person. Send completed registration packets to the Cherokee Civic Theatre, PO Box 377, Rusk, TX 75785. Each camper will need his or her own packet.

“We have campers grouped in three troupes, by age – first through sixth graders; seventh and eight graders; and freshmen through seniors – who meet at three different times each day of camp,” TnT Director Sheliah O’Heaney said. “Each troupe works on putting on its own play, from the ground up! They do it all – build sets, make costumes, act, direct, put on makeup, sing, dance, learn lines, operate the technical effects like sound and lights – just everything. It’s a whole lot of awesome crammed in to two weeks. Come join us, because ‘all the world’s a stage!’”

First day of camp is July 16, at the Cherokee Civic Theatre, 157 E. Fifth St., just off the square in downtown Rusk. Each troupe will end the camp with a production of the one-act plays they put together during the Grand Finale Showcase

“It’s so much fun,” longtime TnT troupe director Debra Petri said with a laugh. “Theatre draws upon so many different kinds of skills and talents – sing and dance? Use power tools? Yeah, we do that. My own children have grown up in TNT, and they still look forward to it every summer.”

TnT organizers are also looking for volunteers to help with this year’s summer camp.

For more information on participating in TNT as director, counselor or aide, please contact camp officials at tnt@cherokeetheatre.net or by calling the theater at (903) 683-2131.