Summer camp for show biz hopefuls

Summertime, and many theater companies defray their fixed costs by conducting training camps for aspiring performers. But they're not all alike, as a recent exhilarating week-long program in Verizon Hall— more intense and more professionally-focused than the summer training schools run by several of Philadelphia's theater companies— reminded me.

The Broadway Dreams Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that started in Atlanta five years ago. It has conducted weeklong intensive programs in such cities as Boston, Chicago and San Diego, but this was its first foray into Philadelphia. Admission is by audition; 95 students were admitted to this workshop, more than half of whom received partial or full scholarships. Their ages ranged from eight to 41 (by contrast, summer programs run by regional theaters aim at grades K through 12.)

I attended its opening day and sat in on some of the training sessions. First was an ensemble-singing course led by Billy Porter, the Broadway performer and recording artist. Porter guided the kids through the ensemble first act finale of Sondheim's Sunday In the Park With George. Porter used the religious fervor of a soul singer to bring color and expressivity to the students' voices, and from the first, the notes were there and the voices sounded almost professional. Porter emphasized the importance of the words, and it was good to see how quickly the class began to enunciate better and to put expression into the lines.

How a dancer stands out

Then I sat through a dance class led by Nikki Snelson, who had impressed me in Broadway's Legally Blonde as the rope-skipping aerobics instructor on trial for killing her millionaire husband. Snelson told the kids: "I'm going to show you what it's like to attend a dance audition, and what you need to do to get picked."

Snelson offered tips about how to move and how to pose during moments of stillness, encouraging each dancer to try an unusual and personal bearing. For the first time, I perceived that what sets one dancer apart from another often is facial expression and attitude, more than how steps are executed. Snelson confirmed my impression: "The steps will come, through rehearsal," she told her charges. She added that she herself was hired for many jobs because of how she expressed a unique personality.

Scripts without titles

One acting class that I audited included cold readings. The teacher (Billy Porter again) handed students pages from scripts without title or character names. The students then took turns playing the pages and, after each scene, their peers were asked: "Who are these people? Where are they? What's the issue?" Then they were asked what they could do, without changing any words, to make the characters and the scene more specific and meaningful. To his credit, Porter never told the students what to do; instead he pushed them to find their own answers.

Other classes were led by familiar names like Eden Espinosa, who has appeared as Elphaba in Wicked; Lilli Cooper, from the original cast of Spring Awakening; the foundation's music director Jeremy Schonfeld; and Dave Barrus, from Les Misérables (as well as a founder of the foundation). Broadway Dreams director Annette Tanner, who has been a theatrical photographer, told her class how to pose for head shots and taught some phrases to use in the covering letters when distributing their photos.

The advice I heard was practical and specific, and should be useful as the hopefuls try out for jobs in this most competitive business.

Cause for complaint

The climactic Saturday night performance, alas, wasn't all it could have been. Instead of spotlighting the students, the production mostly provided a showcase for faculty members, with the students in supporting roles and as backup chorus. Some of the kids seemed thrilled to appear alongside celebrities. But if I were in their shoes, I would have wanted more opportunity to strut my stuff, especially since casting directors and talent agents from New York attend such performances.

The closing Sunday brought an unusual and impressive touch: a meeting at which the teachers critiqued the students' performances and gave them notes to guide them during their future work. I couldn't help wondering whether I would have given up my own performing dreams so quickly if I'd had such a demanding summer theater camp back in the day.