We’re all walking around with PTSD. Playhouse Players Summer Camp from Pasadena Playhouse offers an antidote, whether you’re a kid onstage, a proud parent kvelling in the audience or just someone who bursts into show tunes at inappropriate times (guilty!).
Call it “collective effervescence.” For the second consecutive year, Pasadena Playhouse announces Summer Theater Camp, beginning June 16, offering a two-week grief-shedding experience which may be the mental health equivalent of running through the sprinklers at twilight, flashlight tag and spitting watermelon seeds at your brother.
Which brings us to summer. The seasons continue to change with or without our consent. Life goes on with us or without us, and if there was ever an opportunity to make a summer memorable, especially as compensation for terrible loss, summer 2025 would be it.
“Collective effervescence” or CE is defined by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as “…a state of intense shared emotional activation and sense of unison that emerges during instances of collective behavior, like demonstrations, rituals, ceremonies, celebrations.”
The term was first coined more than a century ago by French sociologist Émile Durkheim, a concept that describes group singing and dancing as well as more formally organized communities. Stadium-fulls of thousands of sports fans erupting into a common chant or “The Wave” are familiar examples.
We just caught up with the delightfully carbonated Ariel Levin, Educational Director for the Pasadena Playhouse and the upcoming theater camp series. Levine says, “The bubbling up of joy and abundance in the camp kids is so deeply human, that feeling of everyone’s heart beating in unison as they breathe and move together. It’s powerful.”
This summer, three theater camps will serve more than 250 students of varying age groups.
For the youngest participants, ages 7 through 12, Playhouse Players: Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr. gives this well-weathered fairy tale a timeless freshness.
Playhouse Players: 13 Jr. is offered for young performers ages 11-15, with no restriction on experience or ability. The program selected for this group is a poignant/hilarious glimpse of adolescence, tracking a NYC pre-teen named Evan Goldman to a sleepy Indiana town following his parents’ divorce in a musical change of venue as disorienting as Alice’s tumble down the rabbit-hole.
Musical Theater Boot Camp for ages 14 through 18, requiring at least one year of high school, begins with an audition, since audition skills are a critical aspect of this more intensive two-week session for teens who are serious about performance and entertainment careers. This module places more focus on the building of repertoire skills than on a specific production.
Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman says, “Bringing the highest quality theater classes to the young people in our community is one of our top priorities at the Playhouse. These unique musical theater camps will delight and spark creativity while building a sense of community and provide an opportunity for growth for all.”
A celebration of educational theater is one of the Playhouse’s hallmarks as the Tony award-winning official State Theater of California approaches its 100th-birthday gala in April, 2025. Oh, for the historians in the group, yes, the company’s actually older than that, forming in 1917 and later moving into its current location in 1925.
Levine adds that the Pasadena Playhouse engages with youth throughout the year, with teaching artists visiting PUSD schools offering 50 workshops for elementary grade students as one example.
“Our productions and programming are centered on the founding idea that theater is for everyone,” says Levine. She adds that many Playhouse productions including the current run of Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: The Musical in collaboration with Pasadena Child Development Associates (PCDA), offer “relaxed” performances suitable for individuals who are on the neuro-atypical spectrum, featuring modified light and sound, and allowing for the potential need among audience members to move and vocalize.
There’s also the acknowledgment that not every child is destined to become the next Michael Rainey, Jr. or Taylor Swift. That’s absolutely fine, because these two weeks of theater camp aren’t just for show biz kids.
Levine says, “Participants are often transformed. Stage fright can melt away when you’re up there with a bunch of friends who’ve got your back. And singing in front of people is just the beginning. The real message of the experience is to be yourself, become brave, step into that metaphorical spotlight and speak your truth.”
Levine estimates that approximately 20 percent of camp participants attend as recipients of partial scholarships. The deadline for camp scholarship applications is March 24, using this link.
“Summers are hard enough for families,” says Levine. This summer in particular will be exceptionally hard for many families in our region, but as Levine says, “…at the Playhouse, we are part of the Pasadena ecosystem, and we consider it part of our mission to bring light into dark places like those being experienced by so many right now.”
DEETS
- Playhouse Players (ages 7 – 12): Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr.
- June 16-27 – through August 4 – 15
- Playhouse Players (ages 11 -15): 13 Jr.
- June 30 through July 11
- Musical Theater Boot Camp (ages 14 – 18)
- July 14 through 25
- Additional details including cost and scholarship informant for all camps may be found at www.pasadenaplayhouse.org
- Pasadena Playhouse
- 39 S. El Molino Avenue, Pasadena 91101
- 626-356-7529
