Thoughts on the Theatre Adventure Program by Jenny Rainville
Jenny Rainville is an Actor AND Teacher/Mentor at Theatre Adventure.
This movie interview was written and presented by Jenny (with support from Cathy and Billie).
Our Summer Program is coming up in June!
Find out more here.
View of Theatre Adventure During COVID-19
As the troupe members arrived at our first online rehearsal, they appeared on their screens with an aura of dignity; they had been called upon during unprecedented circumstances to keep theater rehearsals alive. Their posture and facial expressions demonstrated a clear sense of purpose. They were poised for rehearsal as though they each felt the value of their own presence.
The Theatre Adventure community is one of unconditional peer support; the inclusion in the troupe member's treatment of each other is profound. Their acceptance of each other creates an atmosphere where everyone is seen as a valued community member, emphasized by the call to continue rehearsing, to maintain their connection as a group in such an uncertain time. The supportive environment, where the students see each other for who they are, enables them to thrive amidst the current challenges, delving into this unique theater experience whole heartedly, and with great confidence.
by Julianne Kaplan, Board Member
Theatre Adventure On-Line Summer Seminar 2020
“Making Connections!”
Interactive expressive arts and nature studies
In a nurturing and creative community, Theatre Adventure summer troupe members will experience acting, sound, percussion, movement, stories, poetry, painting, and collage all in response to spending time outside in the natural world.
Our on-line summer program will encourage real connections with each other and real experiences in nature. The summer team will include Theatre Adventure teachers and visiting artists. We will utilize inventive on-line ways to share our explorations with each other.
Join us for three weeks of dynamic and multi-disciplinary theater arts designed for a mixed ages group. Creativity and inspired teamwork will rule in our inclusive and welcoming environment! We will enjoy one another’s artistry and expressions of self.
Dates: June 22– July 10; Monday- Friday
Times: 9:15- 10:30 and 11- noon
Ages: For youth and adults with developmental differences and a burning desire to express self!
Location: ON-LINE sessions (Due to Covid-19)
Tuition: $475
Part-time attendance options are available:
2 days/week (duration of camp): $300;
3 days/week: (duration of camp): $400;
1 week full-time: $300; 2 weeks full-time: $400
SPECIAL ON-LINE EVENT: Shining Stars Café
Thursday July 9 from 1- 3 pm. This optional event is a community open-mic hosted by Theatre Adventure and HCRS.
Registration for the three-week summer program is open now!
~For further information and to register, please contact one of the Directors:
Laura Lawson Tucker
Darlene Jenson
Cultivating and Growing Purpose
Reaching New Dimensions During Covid-19
An unknown entered our lives in March---a pandemic. Since then, we have all been sorting through vast amounts of ever-changing information and working hard to figure out how to navigate these new waters. There has been plenty of confusion for sure. However, at least one thing has been certain in Theatre Adventure. Our students are earnestly expressing that theater gives them purpose.
This raises the idea that creating art plays an essential role in our society. And further, that imaginative and inventive expression helps support a strong and healthy sense of self---especially if it happens in community.
We are grateful for the health of all of our actors. We are thankful for the dedicated work of our social service agencies and their Support Professionals. We appreciate the loving and caring focus of our families and home providers for keeping their households healthy. We tip our hats with admiration to our colleagues who have continued to work with passion and inspiration over the past few months since we moved all of our programming on-line.
The Wednesday Troupe has been rehearsing their production, “Charlotte’s Web”, now rescheduled to May 2021. The Thursday Troupe has been rehearsing their production, “Resilient”, rescheduled to November 2020. These school year troupes will wrap the end of May. Then, we will turn our attentions to our on-line Summer Seminar entitled, “Making Connections: Interactive Expressive Arts and Nature Studies”.
We recognize our primary role now is to keep cultivating and growing purpose for our actors. The heart of Theatre Adventure is beating with a renewed energy. Our belief in the power of the arts to create vibrant and engaged individuals and communities sustains us.
Shakespeare wrote, “If music be the food of love, play on”. In Theatre Adventure we say, “If theater be the food of life, claim the stage!”
We are heading into our fourth week of online classes and rehearsals. Virtual? What we have been experiencing is actually quite real. We are seeing a deepening of relationships and an expansion of learning. We are reaching new dimensions.
Who would have thought a mere five weeks ago that we would be engaging in a whole new language to experience our theater work in brand new ways?
Silver Linings? Yes. Challenges? Sure.
Theater invites improvisation, thinking on one’s feet, thinking outside of the box, welcoming challenges, and accepting all offers.
And we have!
Our students are engaged, expressing self, working in small groups, working in pairs, developing characterization, carrying out homework assignments, identifying backstories for their characters, practicing their lines from their scripts, and more.
Everyone is experiencing in the flesh and in the moment what it means to be resilient! Put simply, our students are demonstrating flexibility and compassion during this Covid-19 period of time.
We live, we learn, we love, we laugh. Yes, together we are stronger…and together we are changed. We are learning to adapt in new ways, we are learning to listen with new ears. We all have something in common that transcends differences in learning and in abilities.
Are we distant from each other? Absolutely NOT!
We are probably closer in some ways with this microscopic view of one another during our online classes. Students and teachers alike are benefitting from the mirroring we are given during our classes. Students are receiving tremendous feedback in seeing their own faces during face warm ups, seeing their own bodies during our Charlotte spider dances, and seeing himself or herself partner with others while leading warm up exercises.
Learning in a new dimension couldn’t be more real. We used to think inclusive theater required thinking beyond ramps. Now we are learning that inclusive theatre is what you do when you are thrown a curve ball such as a pandemic.
Once we decided to move Theatre Adventure online, we knew that we had to ensure that each and every one of our students would have access to getting online as well as have a device of some kind. Everyone needed to be able to connect. After many phone conversations, e-mails and online video practice sessions we achieved 100 percent participation from both of our theater troupes.
Now we are connecting with voice, connecting with eyes, connecting with sound, and connecting with the depth of love for one another that we feel within our community.
Does this new experience replace what we have lost by not being together in person for classes and rehearsals? Absolutely not! However, we have been offered an opportunity to learn in a new dimension…literally.
And learn we are!
Laura Lawson Tucker,
Co-Founder and Co-Director
Thank you everyone for your continued interest and financial support! Tax deductible donations are greatly appreciated during this time of change to help us adapt and persevere.