The Mad River Theater Works Youth Camp stopped by the WYSO studios to sing a few songs from their upcoming show and chat with host Evan Miller. 'Everyone Wants to Change the World,' the theme of the camp and title of their new show, will be happening at The Foundry Theater on June 13 at 7pm.
"This is a new thing for the Mad River Theater Works Children's Camp this year- adding in musical theater songs in addition to the scenes that they all devise. When I worked on this camp last year, I thought that was very, very special, that they always devise their own scenes. I didn't want to lose that, but a lot of the kids last year also had a big interest in musical theater and we would see them at lunch all the time singing with each other and coming up with little dances. So I thought it would be really interesting to see how the kids would bring in songs from the tradition of musical theater, and interpret them themselves." said camp director AJ Breslin.
One of the songs is from Shrek the Musical, but the kids have written their own verses to better fit the theme of the show.
"So we had our theme 'Everybody Wants to Change the World' and then we just asked a lot of questions about what that meant for us. 'How do we wanna change the word as individuals, and then as a community, how do we bring all of that together?' And these were a lot of the stories they came up with. They all kind of separately came up with stories that had to do with school in some way or another. They were bringing that sort of element in, which was really cool. We didn't necessarily lead them down that path. They all came up with it themselves and it gave the show this cool overall arc." said Breslin.
"We are really grateful to the Ohio Arts Council for their continued support," said Mad River Theater Works' Chris Westhoff. "And right here in the village, the Yellow Springs Community Foundation is helping make this possible and accessible for families. A shout out should always be given to Yellow Springs Kids Playhouse, which did such meaningful work here for so many years. Thanks to John [Fleming] and Louise [Smith] and their team for all their work behind this. There's a long history and legacy and this support that extends outside of this room that we're really grateful for."
'Everyone Wants to Change the World' a production of The Mad River Theater Works Youth Camp is on stage at The Foundry Theater June 13 at 7PM.
