2020 VIRTUAL SUMMER CAMPS

Check out what students are doing in virtual guitar lessons with James Gilmore!

OUR CAMPS

This year, Walltown is moving their summer programming online! We are offering several week-long arts camps and we encourage kids to sign up for multiple weeks! Register for daily summer camps one to four weeks!

How to Register
1. Sign up by filling out the form below.
2. Navigate to the bottom of this wepage and choose the number camps to pay for.
3. Click "Add to Cart."
4. At the top of the screen, click the cart and check out.
Finding Your Voice in Poetry (Ages 9-12)
11:00 – 11:45 am
July 27-31, August 3-7

We will be exploring different types of poetry, and working with a variety of prompts to find our poetic voices.
For timid writers, fear not: spelling and grammar woes will be creatively set aside, as this workshop focuses on content development. There will be workshop discussions among students to learn from one another, offer feedback and suggestions, and share writing with each other if desired.  There will be some collaborative work, and some solo projects.  We may be able to make a online little poetry magazine at the end, if there is interest! Multiple week discounts are available!

Instructor: Alicia Best
Alicia was raised in Durham, NC and started taking classes at Walltown Children’s Theatre the first year it opened.  She has been involved both as a student and a teacher, on and off, since she was 11 years old.  As a teenager Alicia started doing Slam Poetry competitions, winning Slams around the country, and she was briefly on the National Slam Team of MO.  However when the coaches encouraged her to conform to a ‘Slam style sound’ and discouraged individuality, she decided to take her pursuits elsewhere.  Her poetry has taken many forms since then, and she  studied Playwriting and Performing Arts at Bennington College in VT.  She has dabbled in fiction, prose, and many forms of poetry, these days her main gig is writing and performing songs in a band called ‘A Different Thread’.  She is excited to explore different forms of writing with the students of Walltown this summer.
Young Performers Camp (Ages 4-7)
2:15 – 3:00 pm
July 27-31, August 3-7
YPC is a multi-arts camp led by an extraordinary team of experienced instructors. Each day campers will explore acting, storytelling, hip hop, singing, and mindful body classes. Campers will share creative stories, learn uplifting music, and discover their abilities with new and old friends in the online Walltown Children’s Theatre Community. Multiple week discounts are available!
Instructors: Moriah Swick, Mariana and Abigail Gomez, Jurnee Freeman
Moriah Swick
Moriah is a North Carolina native who’s passions have always been art, community, and education.  She was raised just west of Chapel Hill, NC on a 20+ acre oasis of forests, streams, fruit trees, animals, and flower gardens. She spent most of her childhood outdoors, building forts in the woods, pretending to be a fairy, chasing butterflies, and painting anything she could find.  Her earliest creative influence was a book of Maurice Sendak’s “Where The Wild Things Are” which you will see as the mural backdrop for her class Acting Up A Story.  Moriah holds a PhD in Sociology and currently teaches part-time at Living Arts College where she educates students pursuing degrees in Filmmaking, Animation, Music Production, Interactive Media, and Game Design.  She also has over 15 years of experience with school-age children as a camp director, afterschool director, art instructor, and she holds seats on several non-profit boards in our community.  Moriah’ son Sidney, a five-year-old Actor, looks forward to engaging your child in imaginative play during class as well. 
TikTok Dance Camp (Ages 9+)
1:15 – 2:00 pm
​July 27-31, August 3-7
Did you know the most viral dance routine, Renegade, was created by a fourteen-year-old? Learn the Renegade, Holy Moly, Donut Shop, and more from WCT dance instructor Abigail Gomez. Bring Bull City swag to the online dance community as campers inspire a new viral dance video from Walltown. Get ready to have FUN!

Instructors: Abigail Gomez and Mariana Gomez
Mariana was born and bred in Durham, NC. She began coming to Walltown Children’s Theatre at the age of 8 beginning with Hip Hop. Not soon after, she began taking other styles of dance including ballet, contemporary, jazz and tap. She joined the Walltown Dance Company at age eleven and began her pre-professional training. She has traveled with WDC  and performed in Lynchburg, VA, Myrtle Beach, and in various statewide festivals.  Mariana has worn many hats at Walltown Children’s Theatre including stage manager for Indigo Blue, rehearsal director and choreographer for the Walltown Dance Company, instructor, as well as production coordinator for the  holiday production of the Durham Nutcracker. She has received classes from Kristin Taylor, Geo Huebla, Twitch, Fikshun, Comfort, Angel Roberts, Gev Manoukian, and Dena Rizzo where she served as Ms. Rizzo’s assistant in the WCT 2019 Dance UNIversTY.

Abigail is 15 years old and has been a part of Walltown Children’s Theater since the age of 3. She will be an intern teacher this session. She has trained in many styles, from ballet, contemporary, modern, and lyrical to jazz, tap, hip hop, african, and latin. Abigail has taken classes from Geo Huebela, Fikshun, Comfort, Angel Roberts, Dena Rizzo, Kristin Taylor, and Debbie Allen. In the summer of 2018, she attended the Debbie Allen Summer Intensive in Los Angeles. She has assisted Bernadine Fields and Dena Rizzo for summer workshops. Currently, she’s a part of the Senior Dance Company and Competition team at Walltown. Abigail has been a part of some of our productions, playing Rebecca, Amber, Raina, Sugarplum and more in the Nutcracker. She also participated in our first Indigo Blue Musical. Abby takes dance at Jordan High School. 
Improv Acting (Ages 8-12)
1:15 – 2:00 pm
​July 13-17, July 20-24,  July 27-31, August 3-7
How do actors learn their craft? What skills do they develop and hone in order to perform well during pressured situations? This interactive class introduces students to the world of acting. Through various exercises and fun activities, students will learn how to prepare for acting and learn skills such as diction and vocal projection. Students will also funnel their creativity into the writing side of the craft, creating their own monologues and short plays.

​Instructor: Eka Ebong

Eka is from Harrisburg, North Carolina. She is an Electrical Engineering major at Duke University. She has been acting since she was a young girl, and has been involved in local productions from Atlanta to Durham, including In The Heights at Duke University. Eka has played the piano for 12 years, and is excited to share her knowledge of theatre and piano with the Walltown community. 
On-Camera Acting, Level 2 (Ages 10-14)
3:15 – 4:00 pm 
​July 27-31
This class is designed for students who have had some acting experience either in theatre, camera or both.  This class is designed for actors who want to expand their skills and learn how to work in front of the camera. This online class will include:
  • Training the actor to fulfill on-camera blocking and direction while incorporating truthful moment-to-moment involvement and spontaneity
  • Improvisational exercises to provide the foundation for developing an understanding of character and relationship
  • Scenes are assigned, rehearsed, then recorded, with director adjustments, allowing students to see how their work translates on screen and how vital specific work is to the film medium

​Instructor: Angela Ray
Fresh off her New York Times critically acclaimed performance on the hit show, Atlanta on the FX Network, Angela Ray is an actress, author, spoken word artist and award-winning speaker.  A few of her other television credits include Robbie on Comedy Central, The Resident, Insatiable and Queen Sugar. She is best known as “Carol”, the shady landlord on Tyler Perry’s Love thy Neighbor.  A few of her film credits include Keeping up with the Joneses with Zach Galifianakis, and Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween.
 
Angela got her start performing in theatre.  She made her professional debut at the National Black Theatre Festival where she starred in the play Blues for two consecutive biennials.  Later she stepped behind the scenes directing and writing in theatre. Her first play, Aluta Continua, was presented to the University of North Carolina as a part of its Bicentennial Celebration and was based on actual events. She was nominated as best supporting actress in a comedy play for her role in The Dance on Widow’s Row by the Triangle Theatre Awards.  She was also named an Emerging Artist in Drama by the Durham Arts Council.
 
An education advocate, Angela has also taught acting, speaking, and writing. She began as an undergraduate teaching assistant in Public Speaking with a student at UNC. She later taught drama for the Upward Bound Program at UNC, the Southeast School of the Arts, Walltown Children’s Theatre, and Spirithouse.  She taught creative writing and acting for nine years for Duke Youth Programs as a part of the university’s continuing education program. Currently Angela coaches actors one on one.
Email us at [email protected] to learn about WCT summer scholarships offerings.
Private Lessons
Walltown Children’s Theatre offers thirty to forty minute private lessons in guitar, singing, ballet, pointe, and jazz dance to registered students. For more information please contact us at [email protected]