Little Lake Theatre Actors and Instructors Close Camp with Pride

Little Lake Theatre’s second session of its two-week summer camp ended Saturday with its showcase performance.

Camp-goers welcomed friends and family to participate as audience members, as they adeptly performed scenes from classic plays and movies.

Thirty-seven students ranging in ages 8-18 attended the camp to receive training in character and scene study, the rehearsal process, vocal projection, and movement to build stage presence and confidence.

Young actors beginning their quest into theater world, along with those already well-versed and looking to enrich their skills, united to act out scenes from such classic plays as "Little Women," "Summer and Smoke," "Cyrano," "The Importance of Being Ernest" and "Antigone," as well as modern movie scenes from "The Princess Bride" and "The Princess Diaries."

Camp teachers, who are also well-known and respected actors and directors in Pittsburgh, included Jena Oberg (camp director), Sara Barbisch, Scott Nunnally and Stephen Santa.

“Even the students who won’t go into theater as a career, take away very important life skills such as public speaking and self-confidence from this experience,” noted Santa, who is currently also directing "A New Brain" for the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, and is in his fourth year as a camp teacher. 

Oberg, who has successfully directed many plays for Little Lake Theatre’s mainstage, opened the showcase remarking on the preparedness of the kids.

“On the first day of camp a student from this session told us ‘we respect you and are ready to work hard’ and that really set the tone for the other students,” she said. 

10-year-old Jarrod Chermely, of South Park, was one of those ready to work hard.

“I had a lot of lines and was really tempted to write them down on a piece of paper and put them in the book I use as a prop," he said. "But, I decided to work a little harder and memorize them.”

“I really enjoy watching the scenes come together over the two weeks,” said Nunnally, a Little Lake camp teacher for 9 years at Little Lake and acting instructor at The Center For Theatre Arts in Mt. Lebanon.

Nunnally’s daughter, Aviana, attended the camp and performed the role of Tracy, an overprotective teenage sister in a scene entitled, "Our New Baby Brother."

“It’s exciting and fulfilling watching the change that happens to the kids over the two weeks,” said Barbisch, who acts on many stages in the Pittsburgh area, including at Little Lake. “Their confidence grows and that makes us so proud.”