The Southern Highland Reader

The Bascom, Highlands

Who can resist the charm and unrestricted creativity of children’s art? The Bascom will be exhibiting all manner of delightful art projects – a culmination of the 2008/09 Young Artist Program – from June 19 to July 11 on the ground floor of the main building at The Bascom. Following will be the exhibition Summer Camp Projects, which will be on view July 18 to Sept. 26.

It will be a new experience for children to have their classes in the beautifully appointed studio of The Bascom’s new main building. The north side of the classroom opens to the outdoors.

The Young Artist Program Summer Camp for children ages 5 to 13 is from June 23 to July 28. The camp includes crafts, clay, painting and mixed media with Bascom art teacher Susan Nastasic. Camp is offered Tuesdays at The Bascom: ages 5-8 from 10 to 11 a.m. and ages 9 to 13 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Camp is offered on Thursdays at the Highlands Recreation Park: ages 5 to 8 from 1 to 2 p.m. and ages 9-12 from 2 to 3 p.m. Drop in for one class or take them all: cost is $30 for a 6-class session or $5 per class.

This season at The Bascom, several intergenerational classes have been added that can accommodate young children and their families. Knitting, mask-making, card-making and rubber stamping are among the subjects that will be explored. A full lineup of classes is available at www.thebascom.org. Registration is now open for the summer programs. Prices range from $5 to $95.

Youth programming continues into the fall and winter. For more information, contact The Bascom at (828) 526-4949 or www.thebascom.org.

Western Carolina University, Cullowhee

CULLOWHEE – Children can explore the world of theater this summer during a weeklong summer camp hosted by Western Carolina University’s College of Fine and Performing Arts.

The Theatre Summer Camp will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, July 13, through Friday, July 17. The camp is for children ages 8 to 13 years old. The cost is $125 per child, with additional children from the same family receiving a rate of $100 for the week. Camp is limited to 40 participants, with campers providing their own lunches, snacks and beverages.

Camp participants will perform a show of their own creation at 7 p.m. Friday, July 17, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center.

The camp requires no previous theater experience, although children with a theater background are welcome, said Paul Lormand, director of WCU’s Fine and Performing Arts Center. “The camp is an opportunity for children to develop an interest in theater and to develop an appreciation for live theater,” Lormand said. “It’s really about creativity and using your imagination.”

Professional actors with Bright Star Children’s Theatre, an Asheville theater company, will run the camp. Activities will include games, improvisation, basic directing, learning stage direction, tours of the WCU theater facilities and more. The campers’ performance will grow from an activity where the children play characters based on a selection of hats – such as a top hat, sailor’s hat or nurse’s cap – they are given to wear.

Lormand decided to host the camp as a service to the community’s younger children, who have limited opportunities to engage in theater. He would like the camp to become an annual event for younger children in the tradition of the Triple Arts Broadway Series, held each year on campus for high school and college students and led by Terrence Mann, a Broadway actor and WCU’s Phillips Distinguished Professor of Musical Theatre.

David Ostergaard, a native of Sylva, launched Bright Star Theatre in August 2003. Each year, the theater group’s 12 actors perform hundreds of children’s shows in 14 states. Bright Star’s summer theater camps are led by professional actors with teaching experience. Because the camp offers a variety of theater-related activities, it allows campers to find a niche, Ostergaard said. “The camps also inspire team-building skills, trust, confidence and friendships,” he said. “And by the end of the week, the students have the accomplishment of putting on a play.”

The camp registration deadline is Friday, July 10. For more information, go online to www.wcu.edu/fapac, or contact Lormand at (828) 227-2505 or lormand@wcu.edu. If e-mailing to register a camper, include the name of the child and parent or legal guardian, a telephone number and address. Payment is due the first day of camp.

CULLOWHEE – The classic musical “Fiddler on the Roof” will show at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, March 26-28, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 29, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center on the campus of Western Carolina University.

Set in 1905 in a small Jewish village in czarist Russia, “Fiddler on the Roof’ tells the story of one family amid the backdrop of changing social customs and growing anti-Semitism. Tevye, a milkman, tries to teach his five daughters the traditions of his tight-knit Jewish community. The daughters, on the other hand, resist their father, most notably in their choices of husbands.

Western Carolina University student William Ritter plays the role of the fiddler in the classic musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” showing March 26-29 at the Fine and Performing Arts Center on the WCU campus.

“Fiddler on the Roof,” loosely based on an 1894 short story by Sholom Aleichem, made its Broadway debut in 1964 and has remained beloved for its humor, warmth and honesty. The show features some of the most memorable songs in musical history, including “Tradition,” “Matchmaker,” “Sunrise, Sunset” and “If I Were a Rich Man.” The play’s title refers to a painting by Marc Chagall, with the fiddle serving as a metaphor for stability – through tradition – during uncertain times.

“The show’s themes of disappearing traditions resonate with audiences worldwide and explain its enduring quality and popularity,” said Bradley Martin, who directs the show’s music and is director of Western Carolina’s musical theater program. He said audiences especially sympathize with parents whose children appear determined to flout their values.

The play stars junior Greg Kennedy in the role of Tevye, the milkman; senior Christy Waymouth as his wife; junior Christina DeSoto and sophomores Emily Gill and Abby Gonzales as their three oldest daughters; and junior Jon Cowart and sophomores Terry Evans and Jay Raines as the daughters’ suitors.

Broadway veteran Terrence Mann, the Carolyn Plemmons Phillips and Ben R. Phillips Distinguished Professor in Musical Theatre, directs the play. Department of stage and screen faculty involved in the production include Claire Eye, assistant director; Jennifer Lent, assistant choreographer; Glenda Hensley, costuming; and Thomas Salzman, lighting director. Christopher d’Amboise, part of the WCU Broadway Guest Artist Series, serves as choreographer. Dennis Maulden of the Flat Rock Playhouse is the guest set designer.

The musical theater program is producing the play, which is part of the stage and screen department’s Mainstage Theatre lineup for 2008-09. Saturday’s show of “Fiddler on the Roof” also is part of the Fine and Performing Art Center’s Galaxy of Stars Series.

Tickets cost $5 for students; $20 for seniors, faculty and staff; and $25 for the general public. To purchase tickets, visit the FAPAC box office or call the box office at (828) 227-2479 for Visa and MasterCard orders. To order online, go to www.ticketreturn.com, select “need tickets” on the left-hand side, select the “arts & entertainment” tab, and then find the “Western Carolina University” heading. Select “Mainstage” for the Thursday, Friday and Sunday shows and “FAPAC events” for the Saturday show.