Amishplumber
Active Member
Hey all,
I've recently been hired to be the tech guy for a theater summer camp. 3 weeks to put up a musical with 50 kids ages 7-16, take a week off, repeat. Woohoo! Thing is, not only am I going to be supervising all the tech (lights, set, sound effects (if any), costumes, props) but I'm also expected to teach about 10, short, lessons on various general aspects of technical theater, not necessarily connected to the show going up. For these sessions the kids get broken into four groups by age, so I can do more advanced stuff with the high school kids, while keeping it simple with the young'uns. Each lesson should run 40 minutes.
The only two ideas I've really come up myself are to get a whole bunch of swatch books and do a lesson on color. Have the kids pick out colors they think are relevant to the show. With the older kids talk about color theory and RGB vs. CMY, keep it simpler with the younger kids. Also, I saw on another thread a cool idea on how to explain the inner workings of a stage fixture. Start with a bare bulb, add a reflector, add a lens, then open up the real thing.
So, I'm hoping all you fine folks on the internet here could help me by shooting out cool, short activities/demonstrations/lessons that you think the kids would really benefit from and enjoy. Particularly in areas other than lighting, since thats my person strength.
I've got a whole theater with 64 channels of dimming, a decent sound setup including wireless mics, a scene shop, a costume loft and a props loft to work with. Very little, if any, money though.
I feel confident about working with the kids and figuring out the details myself, I really just need some raw ideas to get the creative juices flowing.
Thanks in advance!
I've recently been hired to be the tech guy for a theater summer camp. 3 weeks to put up a musical with 50 kids ages 7-16, take a week off, repeat. Woohoo! Thing is, not only am I going to be supervising all the tech (lights, set, sound effects (if any), costumes, props) but I'm also expected to teach about 10, short, lessons on various general aspects of technical theater, not necessarily connected to the show going up. For these sessions the kids get broken into four groups by age, so I can do more advanced stuff with the high school kids, while keeping it simple with the young'uns. Each lesson should run 40 minutes.
The only two ideas I've really come up myself are to get a whole bunch of swatch books and do a lesson on color. Have the kids pick out colors they think are relevant to the show. With the older kids talk about color theory and RGB vs. CMY, keep it simpler with the younger kids. Also, I saw on another thread a cool idea on how to explain the inner workings of a stage fixture. Start with a bare bulb, add a reflector, add a lens, then open up the real thing.
So, I'm hoping all you fine folks on the internet here could help me by shooting out cool, short activities/demonstrations/lessons that you think the kids would really benefit from and enjoy. Particularly in areas other than lighting, since thats my person strength.
I've got a whole theater with 64 channels of dimming, a decent sound setup including wireless mics, a scene shop, a costume loft and a props loft to work with. Very little, if any, money though.
I feel confident about working with the kids and figuring out the details myself, I really just need some raw ideas to get the creative juices flowing.
Thanks in advance!