It was an INCREDIBLE summer! We had 5 fantastic camps! Congratulations to our One Acts, Kids on Broadway, Mulan Jr, All Shook Up, and Oz! Thank you to EVERYONE who helped make the magic happen for so many kids all summer! Thank you, thank you!
Our Last Camp Day!Friday was an excellent day filled with games, rehearsals, laughs, and high-fives. It was amazing to open our audience to the MCC Day Camp for our afternoon dress rehearsal. It's always fun to hear laughs and applause from new people. One spectacular tradition at Ashland is for the campers to come together in the audience on our last day of camp to watch a slideshow of all the photos from our two weeks together. (The Oz slideshow was shared on the Ashland Facebook page, if you want to see it again!) The slideshow is a wonderful time to sit with our new friends and remember each and every awesome moment of camp. At the end of the camp day, we said "See you later!" to our campers, because later that night Oz performed for the first time to an amazing opening night audience! Smiles and Sillies from all the Small Groups!PerformancesOz performed for nearly full audiences every show! The audiences were full of applause and cheers. They LOVED the performances. Nice work, campers! At the end of the performances, the campers were joined on stage by the counselors and everyone danced a celebratory dance together to show the audience how much fun we had. Friday we danced to a song from All Shook Up, Saturday we danced the Tiki Room, and Sunday we proudly showed off the Hamster Dance. The audiences roared with applause to see everyone together having such a great time. The directors are bursting with pride over what the campers have accomplished in 2 weeks. Congratulations, all involved! Thank you for your hard work! Dear Campers,
Thank you for a magnificent two weeks of camp and three magical performances. Ashland LOVES having you here, and we're always sad to see camp end. We can't wait to see you next summer! Love, Ashland Staff and Counselors Some tips from our counselors on how to prepare for the shows this weekendTake a moment to relax if you're nervous! Encourage each other! Practice your dances! Eat a good breakfast! Get a good night of sleep! Practice your songs and lines! And last but NOT least, drink plenty of water! Break Legs, Campers! We know you will be awesome!Our show opens tomorrow. WE CAN'T WAIT!Here's a recap of our dayOur small groups this morning learned a tricky new circle game called Ah So Gih. Then we came together as a large group to play Vampire and wake ourselves up on this rainy Thursday. Our warm ups included the Hokey Pokey and some stretches and a funny chant called Flea Fly! Our morning became especially exciting when we all got costumed and mic'd for a dress rehearsal! We were able to get through the first act, and then picked it up for the second act after lunch. For our afternoon game, we revisited the campers' favorite game, Night Guard. At the end of our Act 2 run, we went over some notes of the show and got ourselves excited for tomorrow! We can hardly believe the 2 weeks have flown so quickly! The end of our day was ushered in with a show-stopping final awards ceremony and counselor showcase. The campers sat in the audience as the counselors performed with microphones and lights Camp T Shirts!We sent campers home with their green camp Tshirts today! Wear them to camp tomorrow with your show jeans and tennis shoes. Also, gentlemen should bring/wear a white undershirt and ladies should wear a cami under their camp T. Jeanne Berget Photography NewsDue to a personal family emergency, we will not be selling Berget Photography photo CDs for the show. If you already sent in money we will be returning what you gave. There will be limited professional photos of the show and a cast photo that will be available. We will have more information to come. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Emily Tinawi or Rob Sutherland. What's ahead at Ashland?With the end of the Ashland summer approaching, we can't help but look ahead at what's coming up next!
Our fall show (October/November performances) is Music Man! Music Man auditions are this upcoming Monday and Tuesday. Click the button below to learn more or register for an audition. It's Wacky Wednesday!Campers dressed in mismatched mixed-up outfits today! Check it out! Here's a recap of our dayHappy Wacky Wednesday! This morning our small groups created machines! We came together after small group time to present our machines to each other. Then we played a championship game of Giant, Wizard, Elf! After a fun story warm up, we began practicing the show. First we ran act 2, then we ran act 1! Things are really coming together. Campers with lines can practice at home if they're feeling a little nervous. At lunch time, many campers spent tim outside in the beautiful weather and played games when they ate all their lunch. Our afternoon began with a mirror exercise. We loved the calm moment before hopping back into business. In our afternoon game, we made each other laugh in a giggly game called Honey If You Love Me. Once we were back in rehearsal mode, we revisited some dances that needed cleaning up, and ran our dances while singing! At the end of our day, we had an awesomely fancy awards ceremony! Then the counselors hosted a showcase filled with beautiful music, funny skits, and a whole lot of Ashland talent. Volunteer NeededWe still need just one more volunteers for our show this Sunday. Click on the link below to sign up!
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0b4fa9a62aa75-ozparent1 Terrific Tuesday!Did you see the hand-out we sent home today? Here's the info we want you to have: -This Wednesday (Tomorrow) is Mismatch Day! Dress up silly, mismatched, and mixed up! -Campers' Oz costumes can be purchased if you want to keep them after the show. The order form can be turned in any time this week to counselors or camp coordinators! (The form can also be found on the Forms tab of this website) -This weekend, campers should arrive one hour prior to showtime! That's 6:30 on Fri/Sat and 1:00 on Sun Here's a recap of our daySmall groups this morning played a thinking game called Pass the Chicken. When we all came together for a large group game, campers played SPLAT. To warm up, two counselors who performed in All Shook Up taught our Oz campers an awesome All Shook Up dance! The campers picked it up quickly and had a blast grooving! Our rehearsal sessions were very important today as we ran the whole show in order for the first time. We appreciate the campers' patience and focus as they all ran the show! The more we practice, the faster and smoother our show will go! In the afternoon we played Frogger, and some campers went outside to enjoy the weather while playing Joe and Indy 500. It was a day full of games!! Finally, two funny counselors hosted our awards ceremony and all the counselors performed a classic skit, "Where are my Papers?" To end our day on an exciting and active note, campers ran 4 big song and dance numbers. It was amazing! We can't wait to pick up again tomorrow! Look below for a peek into the Oz campers performing an All Shook Up number! Awards from the Circus, the Old West, Pirates, and More!We asked some campers, "What's your favorite part of camp so far?" And they said...
Super cool perspective from our campers!Week 2 Begins!We're so happy to be back at camp! Week two is so great for us all because we get to start seeing a real show come together. Good work to those campers who listened to their CD, practiced a dance, or worked on lines this weekend. It's awesome to see campers come back just as fresh as when they left on Friday! Here's a recap of our day Campers found their new small groups this morning! Getting new small groups for week 2 gives everyone a chance to make more close friends here at camp. Small groups got to know each other this morning by creating human knots and working together to untangle! After grooving to our good morning song, we all came up on stage to play Bunny Bunny. Then we jumped into our rehearsals with a little time spent blocking, and a full cast singing rehearsal. The campers are now practicing their songs to our accompaniment track without the help of the CD voices! We love to see this progress! After lunch we rejuvenated ourselves with a game that tested our minds and our bodies! The counselors led some tricky commands for campers where stop meant walk, and walk meant stop, and then clap meant jump and jump meant stop! There was a lot of laughter, and we all had fun! Our afternoon rehearsals included some more dancing and singing… we nearly know the entire show now! Campers should be familiar with almost all of the songs on their CDs! At the end of our day, some creative counselors hosted our awards ceremony. Each camper who was recognized in the awards ceremony today had the opportunity to add an ingredient to make a time-telling robot! It was super cool! Finally, our counselor showcase featured some party quirks and a tune from past counselors. It was a spectacular Monday at Oz Camp!!! Watch this short clip of the new dance campers learned today! Important Information:Theme Dress Up Day - Remember to still wear clothes and shoes you can dance in!
*Wednesday, August 20th, Mismatch Mix-Up Day! Campers can choose to wear the craziest, mismatched, most mixed-up outfit on this day. Performance Information: Oz performances are August 22, 23, and 24. Campers should arrive one hour prior to showtime. We will open our doors for them at 6:30 on Friday/Saturday and 1:00 on Sunday! Links to the tickets are available on the Ashland website and blog. Set Strike on Sunday After the show closes on Sunday, we will be striking the set and costumes. We would love to have parent volunteers help us out! Feel free to talk to (or email) our camp coordinators Abby and Emily to volunteer. Happy Friday from Ashland!Here's a recap of our day Small groups played a guessing game this morning called What Are You Doing, a very easy and fun game to play anytime, anywhere! Then everyone came together to play Bibbity Bibbity Bop and then joined in a fun warm up set to a variety of Disney songs. Campers stretched, moved, and grooved to Lion King, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid and more! We had some music and dance rehearsals in the morning, and took a break from our heavy acting sessions to play an improv game! The campers and counselors worked together to create funny scenes while picking up mystery lines and incorporating them into the plot! After lunch we played a clever thinking game involving an imaginary story. Then we returned to a day of great rehearsals. The groups split up so that some campers could learn a new dance while the others had time to learn and practice the music! After a short break to play Patutoi, we started our second afternoon session with a run of the first act. It's hard to believe that in one short week we already know so much of the show! We had a spectacular awards ceremony and counselor showcase Have you met our awesome counselors? You can learn a little about them in the Staff tab of this website! You can also peek below for some awesome counselor and camper photos! Coming UpOur awesome costumer Deb has been fitting our campers for their costumes this week! Almost every camper will have two costumes for this show and by next week we'll have all the costume tshirts painted and the character hats made. Campers will have the opportunity to buy their shirts and hats! Order forms will be sent home early next week! The End of Week 1!It was an exceptional first week of Oz. Our counselors and staff can barely wait to come back and work with these talented campers on Monday.
Practice Practice Practice this weekend! Go over your lines, songs, dances, and scenes! We want the show to come back just as great, if not BETTER, than we left it on Friday. Thanks for all your hard work, campers. We'll see you Monday! Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room!Campers learned this Tiki Room dance today in less than 15 minutes! It was our morning warm up. Look how much they rocked it!! Here's a recap of our day Right away our small groups got our brains working this morning! Each small group drew two secret words out of a hat, and then created a skit inspired by the two secret words. The campers were incredibly creative, involving bizarre secret words like Suspicious Security Guard, Really Hot Chocolate, Magical Briefcase, and more! When we came together as a large group, small groups presented our secret word skits to the rest of the camp! The skits were clever and hilarious, and the campers were brave performers and respectful supportive audience members. Nice work, campers. After warming up our brains with the skits, campers warmed up their bodies with another Ashland classic dance, the Tiki Room. You can watch the Tiki Room in the above video! Feel free to jam out at home, too! Rehearsals included blocking more scenes in the show, and the munchkins learned the scarecrow dance. After lunch we played Mystery Kingdom, a game of suspicion and banishment. The campers and counselors had a blast! Then we jumped right back into rehearsals by splitting up and learning more songs and dances with Jaclyn and Deane. The end of our day arrived with a circus awards ceremony and a wonderful counselor showcase. We had a spectacular day! Check out the slideshow below for photos from skits this morning! Super Special Friday InvitationAs always, parents are invited into the theater for the last 15 minutes of our day. This Friday it is especially encouraged because the campers will have a mini preview and showcase! Campers have been learning so much, we don't want to wait until performances to show it all off! We will likely show parents the dances we know best. Hope to see you there!
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