Submitted by Dic Wheeler
(August 16, 2023) — Registration is now open for Fall Classes at Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater located at 128 Washington Street in Middletown. Beginning September 16, 2023, classes in theater, dance, circus and music will be offered for everyone from toddlers to twenty-year-olds. Teenagers are invited to audition for our fall mainstage production.
Teen Repertory Company: (ages 14 – 20) will hold auditions for Coming Into Being: A Journey of Individuation on September 11 and 14, 2023 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This new work will be crafted for and with the ensemble. It will be a physical, psycho-emotional exploration into what it is to come into your Self as an individual, as a young adult.
Teens are asked to pre-register for one of the two audition evenings, to arrive on time, and plan to stay for the entire time. Everyone who auditions and commits to the rehearsal and production schedule will be cast in the show. Regular rehearsals will be Mondays and Thursdays, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Performances will be November 30 – December 2, 2023 and December 8 – 9, 2023.
Circophony Teen Circus: (ages 12 – 20) offers fall circus training in preparation for a winter mainstage production. Juggling, Object Manipulation, Unicycle, Stilting and More! will be held on Tuesday evenings 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., and Acro Focus on Wednesday evenings 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., culminating in a Fall Circus Showcase on November 15, 2023. Students may register for one or both classes. No previous experience is required. Classes run September 19 – November 15, 2023.
For Our Youngest Oddfellows: Saturday Classes feature Acrobabies (ages 15 months – 3 years with caregiver; 9:15 – 9:55 a.m.); Faerie Tale Theater (10 – 10:45 a.m.) and Circrobatics (10:55 -11:40 a.m.) are offered for ages 3 – 6; and kids ages 7 – 11 can register for Comedy and Slaprobatics (11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.) and Equilibristics (12:35 – 1:20 p.m.). Classes start September 16, 2023 and continue through a Share Day on December 16, 2023 (12 weeks total – No classes October 14 or November 25).
After-School classes for ages 6 – 14 begin September 16, 2023 and will run for nine weeks this fall, culminating in a “Share Week” November 13 – 16, 2023. Most classes run 4:50 -5:50 p.m.
Stage One classes for ages 6 – 8 include Playing With Puppetry, Musical Mentoring I, Circus I, Complete Actor I, and The Silent Clown.
Stage Two classes for ages 9 – 11 include Sign-a-Long, Circus II, Musical Mentoring II (ages 9 – 12), Complete Actor II, Street Jazz Dance and Hip Hop Dance (both open to ages 9 – 14).
Stage Three classes for ages 12 – 14 include High Stakes Acting, Complete Actor III (both of these classes meet 4:30 – 5:50 p.m.), as well as Street Jazz Dance and Hip Hop Dance (both dance classes are for ages 9 – 14).
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; CT Humanities/CT Cultural Fund; COA General Operating Support for Theaters; New England Foundation for the Arts/New England Arts Resilience Fund; George & Grace Long Foundation; and many generous individual donors.
