Picture this.
Coffee House on Fifth is booming with business on a Friday afternoon. A glance to the left gives a grand view of the street traffic. A glance to the right provides a shocking surprise.
In the corner, cryptic monsters sit around a few tables for their weekly support group meeting and discuss their feelings about being misunderstood.
Summer Scholars camp members, such as 16-year-old Anthony Kirkland, dream of scenarios like this and make them real during camp.
Originally a Starkville native, Kirkland has attended Summer Scholars camp since 2019. After recently moving to Carrollton, Texas, his attachment to the camp was so strong that he came back this year.
“It has been a way for me to stay in touch with the friends I had to leave,” Kirkland said. “I also love theater, so it is something I enjoy doing and benefit from. This camp provides me with long-lasting friendships and more theater experience and ways to learn about something I love doing.”
Officially founded in 1978, the Summer Scholars camp has been a refuge and learning experience for kids in 7-12 grade who have a knack for theater, music and creative writing.
At camp, the kids will write, produce, compose music and act out musical comedies of their choosing under a given theme. Attendees are offered the choice between a two-week long experience at $1,350 or a three-week long camp experience for $1,950. The camp starts either June 19 or June 25 and ends July 9.
In the first week of camp, the kids brainstorm ideas, learn about the play and different characters, begin writing the acts, compose music and audition for parts.
“They just throw stuff on the board and it can be a character, setting or plot because you can get your play from any of those directions. We just sort of throw ideas against the wall until something hits,” Script Coordinator Eric Fritzius said.
Week two includes dance classes, learning lines and tech rehearsals. Week three is a time for fine tuning before the big production at the end of camp.
“In the final week, we integrate everything and combine music with dance and drama. We finally get to put it all together,” said Joe Underwood, camp director.
This year, the camp has a total of 37 campers working to produce three one-act musical comedies. The general theme of the summer is Myth. Hence, the support-group meeting full of cryptic monsters.
Under Fritzius’ direction, the campers have written three comedies dedicated to mythology. Act One is titled “Cryptids & Coffee” and is dedicated to Kirkland’s original idea of “Therapy with a Scottish Lake Monster.” Act Two is entitled “Dawn Of The Sun” and is about mythical deities that tell the tale of the sun falling from earth, their quest to restore it and how everything is affected by the sun’s absence.
Act Three is called “Keeping Up With The Olympians” and is a parody of the popular reality show “Keeping up with the Kardashians.”
“It is basically like if you took the gods of Olympus and put them in a reality show. You know, if they were on a reality show this is how they would act,” Fritzius said.
For kids who attend Summer Scholars camp, the opportunity is much more than a chance to test their skills. It is a way for them to connect with other people who share their passion and allow them to step into their own skin.
“It is about producing the play, but it is also about helping the kids be more confident in themselves,” Underwood said.
Clara Williams, a 17-year old camper from Morehead, Kentucky, seized the opportunity to immerse herself in the camp’s familial environment.
“There is nothing like this where I am from in Kentucky and there is no way to do theater. I like to write and that is what my major is going into my freshman year of college. So, it was an all around very good experience to be able to write and then perform which is not something I really have a chance to do in Kentucky,” Williams said.
Not only do the kids that attend this camp leave with life-long experiences, staff members like Fritzius do as well.
“I began as a camper in 1989 and was only a camper for two years, but it was one of these life changing things where I found my tribe, and everyone has that experience, it could be sports, it could be cheerleading or it could be theater,” Fritzius said “I found my tribe and something that spoke to me.”
The camp will host its final production at 6 p.m. Friday, July 8, and noon Saturday, July 9, in the McComas Hall at Mississippi State University. Admission is free to the public.
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