Submitted by Dic Wheeler
(November 21, 2023) — Registration is now open for Winter Programs at Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater located at 128 Washington Street in Middletown. Beginning January 6, 2024, weekly classes in theater, dance, circus, capoeira and music will be offered for toddlers to 20-year- olds, plus auditions for two upcoming mainstage productions.
On December 6, 2023 teens ages 12 – 20 may audition for Circophony Teen Circus’s winter mainstage production, “Enjoy the Silence.” Auditions will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and circus experience is not required (although some background in theater, dance, gymnastics, sports, comedy or parkour can be helpful). Auditioners should prepare a short solo highlighting their personality, dress to move, and plan to stay for the entire two hours. Rehearsals begin January 2, 2024 and will be held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Performances will be February 29, – March 2, 2024.
Young actors ages 12 – 14 are welcome to join the Junior Repertory Company December 18, 2023 or December 19, 2023 for auditions for “Lord of the Flies.” Students may audition from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on either day. Rehearsals begin January 8, 2024 and will be held on Mondays and Thursdays, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:20 p.m., with performances March 14 – 17, 2024. Everyone who auditions and commits to the rehearsal and performance schedule will be cast in this original production of the powerful literary classic. Register for one of the two auditions at https://forms.gle/qXS7jPxgzxG838PEA.
Saturday Classes with Meg Berritta begin on January 6, 2024 and serve ages one through eleven. Classes include Acrobabies (ages 15 months – 3 years with caregiver; 9:15 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.); for ages 3 -6 there are three classes – Circrobatics (10:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.); Mixed Up Faerie Tales (10:55 a.m. – 11:40 a.m.) and Circrobatics (11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.); kids ages 7 – 11 can register for Slaprobatics & Equilibristics (12:35 p.m. – 1:35 p.m.). Weekly classes continue through a Share Day on March 9, 2024 (10 weeks total).
The Teen Repertory Company at Oddfellows provides training and performance opportunities for young people ages 14 -20, and this winter two six-week classes will be offered. Voice, Text and Shakespeare, taught by Sarah Jo Provost, will meet Mondays, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 pm, January 8 through February 12, 2024. Theater Improvisation, taught by Carmine Lavieri, will meet Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., January 11 through February 15, 2024. Students may sign up for one or both classes. Auditions for the Spring Teen Rep mainstage production will be March 4, and 7, 2024.
After-School classes for ages 6 – 14 begin January 8, 2024 and will run for eight weeks this winter, culminating in a “Share Week” March 4 – 7, 2024. Most classes run from 4:50 p.m. to 5:50 p.m.
Stage One classes for ages 6 – 8 include Complete Actor I, Circus I, Intro to Musical Theater, Creative Movement and Musical Mentoring.
Stage Two classes for ages 9 – 11 include Intro to Watercolors, Circus II, Intro to Scene Study, Capoeira and Hip Hop Dance (both open to ages 9 – 14), and Musical Mentoring (up to age 12).
Stage Three classes for ages 12 – 14 include Theater Improvisation (meets 4:30 p.m. – 5:50 p.m.), as well as Capoeira and Hip Hop Dance (again, both dance classes are for ages 9 – 14). Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial arts form that combines aspects of dance, acrobatics and music.
For more details on times, tuition and class descriptions, please go to www.oddfellows.org. If you have specific questions, email info@oddfellows.org or call (860) 347-6143. Financial Aid is available for all programs. It is Playhouse policy that the arts should be available to every young person regardless of ability to pay. No one is turned away for lack of funds.
Oddfellows Playhouse, founded in 1975, is Connecticut’s oldest and largest performing arts program for young people. Oddfellows programs are made possible with support from the Middletown Commission on the Arts; Connecticut Office of the Arts/DECD; City of Middletown; The Fund for Greater Hartford; American Savings Foundation; State of Connecticut Judicial Branch (Youth Violence Prevention); Middletown Youth Services Bureau; Community Foundation of Middlesex County; Liberty Bank Foundation; Middletown Health Department; Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation; Thomas J. Atkins Memorial Trust Fund; Middlesex United Way; George & Grace Long Foundation; and many generous individual donors.
Photo by Bill DeKine from 2023 production of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”
