This past summer students all around Verrado had the opportunity to be a part of the theater performance of Matilda Jr! This is was the fourth time Verrado’s lovely Mrs. Farrington hosted this theatre camp for kids in 3rd-12th grade. In previous years they performed Sherek Jr, Beauty and the Beast Jr, and Moana Jr.

The kids had two weeks of the summer to make this play happen. The students had to memorize the lines, songs, and choreography of the musical they were working on in that timeline.

The average day of a student attending the camp was weekdays from 6:15 pm- 8:15 pm. The group started with singing practice for around an hour and a half, then took a ten-minute break. Then dance practice followed. A middle school student who attended the camp said, “This camp is incredibly fun, you get to meet new friends and the teachers here are super nice, however, there were a lot of experienced people so it was hard to keep up with their pace.”

Once they memorized some of the lines they had auditions for the roles. To name the head roles, the genius Matilda role was given to Vada Sorby, the sweet Miss Honey was played by Brooklyn Wadesworth, and the intimidating Trunchbull was presented to Brizah Griffin!

The kids had help at the camp from the camp counselors; Rosaa Pina, Leo Barker, Blaze Bravo, and other high schoolers who had participated. Other helpers included the backstage crew, this includes director Tennyson Makay-Byrd, Technical Director Abigail Gayles, Choreographer Genesis Sandoval Agulia, Lighting Designer Alivia Neely, and Backstage helper Colin Abraham.

On June 13th the camp performed in front of a big crowd in Verrado High School’s auditorium! Right at 6 pm they started the show performing for an entire hour. They young performers showed great passion and it was apparent that all the kids had a love for acting which is the point of the camp in the first place.

Mrs Farrington stated “The goal of the camp is to give 3rd-12th grade students positive theatre experience…A Lot of our feeder schools do not have theatre programs so it is a good way to give younger students a fun taste of theatre and what it takes to put on a show.”

This experience hopes to benefit the community around it, which is why it will return for a fifth year next summer!