Kids On Stage Means Fun

After they’ve spent a year in a classroom, let your child or teen’s creative side soar with camp at Kids On Stage, an award-winning Santa Monica-based performing-arts program that was founded in 1987.
Children ages four to seven can participate in Imagination Theater camps, with each week offering a different focus such as “Storming the Castle,” “Shipwrecked with Mermaids and Pirates,” “Safari in Africa” and “Super Heroes and Beyond.” Children may also choose Creative Dramatics camps: acting, singing, dancing, dress-up/costumes, creative exploration and performance.
Teens can let loose with the Vaudeville-Comedy camp, where silly is encouraged, and they can express individuality by doing comedy improv, innovative skits, slapstick and stand-up routines.
Other camp options for those eight to 17 include Youth and Teen Musical Theater, Create-A-Musical, Musical Theater Revue and Glee, based on the popular television show that includes singing, choreography and creating scenes that reflect the theme of the song.
Kids on Stage (KOS) camps are located in Santa Monica at St. Augustine’s on Fourth Street and at the Morgan-Wixson Theater at 2627 Pico. Sessions start on June 17 and run through August 30. Early registration is encouraged because spaces are limited.
Camps are under the guidance of writer/director Debbie Gaughan, who holds a bachelor’s degree in theater education and a master’s in children’s theater, and is a professional screenplay writer.
Cari Derbise, the creative director, was a founding member of The Actors Gang and an enrichment director at the Theatricum Botanicum. “Our core curriculum is based on children working together as an ensemble group, sharing responsibility, collaborating and inspiring each other to create and express themselves freely,” Derbise said.
Program director Eve Keller, a PBS Network celebrity and child therapist, leads a team of professional theater educators in the early-childhood division of KOS. “When a child has a part in a play, they begin to realize that their contribution is necessary for the success of the team,” Keller said. “This valuable experience builds confidence they carry with them for the rest of their life.”
“Our philosophy is everyone is a star,” said business director Beth Galanty-Blaney. “Developing a creative mind and learning valuable skills can have a profound effect beyond the walls of a theater.”
Galanty-Blaney, who grew up in Pacific Palisades and remembers acting and singing in “Wizard of Oz” and “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Palisades Recreation Center, said “We feel theater is important for every child. It helps build self-confidence and helps him/her find a voice.”
Members of the entertainment industry have used KOS staff as acting coaches and also for casting suggestions. Students have been hired as young actors for various national and international radio and television commercials.
“Our programs and staff has been featured on CNN and in numerous publications, and we have been awarded ‘Best of the Best’ in L.A. Parent magazine,” Galanty-Blaney said.
Visit: kidsonstage.com or call (310) 314-0035.