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All IU's A Stage At The Midsummer Theater Program

All IU's A Stage... And Some Of It's A Screen

In early June, 16 teens from around the country came together for Indiana University’s Midsummer Theater Program, where they take lessons from IU faculty and graduate students in acting, voice and speech, movement, musical theatre, and drama.

“This gives students the opportunity to get their interest in theater to the next level," program director Dale McFadden says, adding that it "enhances their experience in high school by taking some training back to their schools that they can use. It also starts to put on the table for them the question, 'do I want to be a theater major when I go to college?'"

Students also get to perform on-camera in the Telecommunications department. Each student receives a DVD of his or her monologue at the end of the program to use for future auditions.

Going Classic

Voice professor Nancy Lipschultz teaches Shakespeare to the students.

"I think you have to be open to the fact that these are teenage kids," she says. "It's different from teaching a college-level class. The fundamentals are the same, though, so that part of it is great. And actually, the outcome is pretty awesome. Students might start out thinking, 'oh, I can't do anything,' and in the end they do a whole bunch. That's a really nice thing to see."

Movement and stage combat professor Adam Noble trains the students in safe on-stage combat and physical acting techniques.

“You get whole families: grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, all the little brothers and sister, cousins. We had a girl from California last year; our youngest student, she was 13. [The members of her family] were holding up a sign like it was a baseball game! It's very celebratory, and lots of fun."

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