Theater Playshop
This is an opportunity for young people to gain art and life skills through the creation of a piece of scripted theater. Participants will continue to develop their abilities in physical movement, public speaking, music, acting, listening, collaborating, focused imagination and playing.
Playshop meets 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. There will be one performance at 5 p.m., on July 13.
Any young person who has completed 4th through 12th grades is invited. All levels of experience welcome.
This year we will have three original plays written by three playwrights (Taous Khazem, Nora Montañez & Eric Sharp) based on three Abrahamic stories – Jewish, Christian and Muslim.
The cost is $300 (scholarships are available).
Playshop is directed and taught by professional theater artists.
Original music created in collaboration with the participants by Peter Vitale and Jenny LeDoux.
Questions? Please contact Seth Patterson via email or phone (612/977-1277).
Meet the theater professionals who will teach Playshop.
Ashawnti Sakina Ford is an actress, teaching artist, poet, playwright and improviser born and raised in the Twin Cities. Her work mainly focuses on arts accessibility and social justice. When she creates she strives to create for change. She has a BFA in theatre from Viterbo University in our neighboring Wisconsin and has unofficial social justice theatre training from local practitioners. Ashawnti has conducted research in South Africa that explores theatre and identity from pre-colonial to present day and has performed across Twin Cities stages with companies such as Combustible Company, Sandbox Theatre and the History Theatre. Theatre is her passion and to share her passion with young minds fills her heart!
Actor/director Nicholas Freeman is the head of Theatre and FIlm Studies at Minnehaha Academy, where he has directed and produced over 20 play and musicals. He also works as a freelance director for collegiate programs across the Twin Cities. Acting credits include The Guthrie, Children’s Theatre Co., Minnesota Jewish Theatre and Mu Performing Arts. Audiences may know him best as the title role for four productions of Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story at The History Theater. Film and TV credits include Iron Will, F-Stops (Cannes Film Festival), Reba, Family Law and All In (Starring Ed Asner). Education: BFA Theater UMD, MFA Theater Performance UCLA.
Jennifer LeDoux is a soprano with five leading operatic and musical theater roles at the college level or above, three professional productions in the Twin Cities and an interview on Classical MPR with John Birge. LeDoux also performed on the Renée Fleming Master class held at the MacPhail Center for Music. A graduate of Luther College, LeDoux is pursuing her Master’s degree in Music with a vocal emphasis at the University of Minnesota, where she studies with Prof. John De Haan and coaches with Lara Bolton. An alum of the Plymouth Theater Playshop, LeDoux has been working regularly for the camp since 2011, specializing in voice work, diction and scene work, and theater games.
Nora Montañez is a Peruvian actress, singer, playwright and community organizer. Nora was raised in Paterson, N.J., and holds a BFA from Florida Atlantic University. Nora has had the privilege in working with Congo Square, Chicago Dramatist, The Revival, Something Marvelous, Teatro Vista and Court Theatre. Nora’s Minneapolis credits include The Guthrie Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Jungle Theater, Park Square Theater, The Playwrights’ Center, Mu Performing Arts, Mixed Blood Theatre and many others. Nora is also the Founder of Alliance of Latinx Minnesota Artists (ALMA), which is committed to achieving equity by empowering and unifying Latinx Artists in Minnesota.
Seth Patterson is the Director of Children and Youth Ministry at Plymouth Congregational Church and a professional theater artist. He has an MFA from Florida Atlantic University and an MDiv from the University of Chicago. He has worked professionally in southwest Florida, Milwaukee, Chicago and the Twin Cities. Seth likes to think that theater can be a spiritual exercise where we experience stories that show people wrestling with what it means to be human in the face of the unknown
Peter Vitale is the resident Music Director and Composer for Ten Thousand Things Theater in Minneapolis, where he has created and performed live sound and music for over 40 productions. Peter is also a member of AEA and has appeared at the Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater, Park Square Theater, Theater LatteDa, Frank Theater, Minnesota Opera and the Minnesota Orchestra. He received his Bachelor’s degree in music from Duke University, and a Master’s degree from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He is the recipient of a Meet the Composers grant from the American Composers Forum for his work on Raskol, by Kira Obolensky.