By Kai-Lou Yue
Business Manager

With WA’s strong theater arts foundation, it’s no wonder that there is also a summer theater camp that occurs at WA. Called the Summer School for the Performing Arts, SSPA, the camp introduces new participants to the art of acting, or in the case of returnees, furthering their knowledge.

SSPA has been in existence for nine years, and students entering 3rd grade through 11th grade can participate. Last year, there were nearly 250 participants. The program originally started with the aim to reach out to younger students who would potentially later become part of the WA acting community.

“Everybody starts out as an artist. Everybody starts out … loving their music programs and loving their hands on art programs, but by the time they get to high school, they’ve developed other interests, as well they should. But we like to hold on; we like to develop artists and get them excited about what they can do at a young age so that they can realize their own capacity,” said Michael Towers, the Artistic Director of SSPA and WA Theater Arts Director.

Renee Craig, a senior who has been part of SSPA for about three years, feels similarly.

“SSPA is basically a place for kids to come and be involved in the theater in whatever capacity they want to be. The goal is to create a safe place for kids to come and grow and make friends and experience being a part of something bigger than ourselves. We try to create Disney World everyday,” she said.

In addition to connecting with younger students, this summer program provides the financial backing that sustains the entirety of the WA Theater Arts department. All of the large scale productions, musical or otherwise, produced by WATA are funded by the tuition fees of SSPA.

“Les Miserables ultimately cost about 85, 000 dollars. That included some capital […] improvement projects, for example, a new lighting board […] all of that was possible because of SSPA. Otherwise, our budget for Les Miserables would have been 5,000 dollars,” said Towers.

SSPA conducts three different three week programs; Dramatic Acting, Musical Theater, and Technical Theater, and there are two sessions of each program per summer. Each three week session costs $1,100 per student. At the cost of $700 per student, there is also a six weeks program called Shakespeare in the Park for students entering 10th and 11th grade.

For each three week session, two musicals will be fully produced.

“[This year], we’re going to produce Into the Woods on the main stage, and we’re going to produce the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown for the younger kids, in our new venue, which is going to be housed in the flag lobby,” said Towers.

Last year, SSPA produced the musical Parade, and a show called Summer Reading. The year before, they did the school edition of Rent.

Because the program is only for students entering 3rd through 11th grade, students entering 12th grade can apply for an unpaid internship, which allows them to continue to be involved in SSPA, and gives them advantages.

“My students are walking out of here with 25 to 30 credits. A credit can be anything from a principal role as an actor on stage to a lighting designer to set designer … So they know that and they realize that being in SSPA as a staff member has its advantages,” said Towers. “In addition to that, we offer to pay for half of the New York City trip, which is a small token of appreciation.”

However, senior Nick Nudler who has been a part of SSPA for about three years, feels that the program is rewarding in ways other than credits.

“I think that I’ve grown a lot from being part of SSPA … The [productions’] quality obviously isn’t the same as a high school production, or a college production, but the effect that it has on the kids is exponentially higher, and it’s incredible. It’s really wonderful to see the effect that art has on people,”said Nudler.