(LITTLE ROCK, AR) – The Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre will hold Summer Theatre Academy June 22 through July 31, 2009.  Summer Theatre Academy is a theatre training program for student actors ages 10 – 18.

Summer Theatre Academy will be offered in two sessions with different curriculums: Improvisation School & Festival and Musical Theatre School & Festival.  Both sessions are taught by theatre professionals actively working in the field.    

Improvisation School & Festival will be held June 22 – July 10.  In this session, students will receive training on comic and dramatic acting, voice and diction, movement, classical interpretation, dance styles and improve.

Theatre professionals who will be instructors for the Improvisation School & Festival include Jennifer Maddox, Josh Rice and A.J. Spiridigliozzi.   Jennifer Maddox studied dance in New York City and is currently the dance program director at Henderson State University. Josh Rice is an Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre company member, studied theatre at Shakespeare Globe Theatre in London and will lead the youth improv troupe Armadillo Rodeo in the 2009 Teen Comedy Fest in Chicago.  A.J. Spiridigliozzi is a member of ImprovLittleRock and teaches drama and music at Conway High School East Campus.

Musical Theatre School & Festival will be held July 13 – 31.  This session will include instruction on singing, voice and diction, choreography, dance styles and acting.

Theatre professionals who will be instructors for the Musical Theatre School & Festival include Case Dillard, Brian Fretté and Kristi Schultz.  Case Dillard was cast in the Original Broadway Company of Mary Poppins: The Musical and the workshop production of Crybaby.  Brian Fretté is trained in classical ballet and has performed with various companies including the New York Theater Ballet.  He has choreographed for many dance, theatre and opera companies including Chicago Opera Theater.  For the past 10 years, Fretté has been the resident choreographer for Zoo District, a Los Angeles based company.  Kristi Schultz is the artistic director of the award-winning and critically acclaimed physical theatre company Zoo District in Los Angeles.  She earned degrees in musical theatre from Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and the British American Drama Academy.  Schultz has worked as a choreographer and performed in several productions including SPUN, which won the Fringe NYC Best Dance Award.

Tuition for Summer Theatre Academy is $450 per session.  Students can attend both sessions for $750.  Scholarships are available.  Enrollment in Summer Theatre Academy is by audition only.  Auditions will be held Sunday, May 3, at 5 p.m.  All auditions take place in the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre Lobby.  Audition participants should arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the audition.  Participants need to wear comfortable clothes that allow freedom of movement.  No prepared materials are required.

For more information, call 501-372-4000 or visit http://www.arkarts.com

(LITTLE ROCK, AR) – The Arkansas Arts Center Museum School is offering a variety of classes and workshops held at Wildwood Park for the Arts and Maumelle Arts Council.  These programs are created to increase the art educational opportunities for children and adults who live inconveniently far from the Arkansas Arts Center.             Museum School Satellite Classes are sponsored by the Dorothea Lawrence Gilbert Fund for Art Enrichment and Outreach.

Workshops and classes offered at Wildwood Park for the Arts include  A Blast of Color!, Sunprint Making, Making Nature with Nature and The Experience of Pastel Painting.   A Blast of Color! will introduce children ages 6-9 to color mixing and painting techniques.  This workshop will be held Saturdays, April 4 and 11, and tuition is $42. 

Sunprint Making with photographer John Bridges will teach children ages 6-9 how to develop prints using UV light and water.  This workshop will be held, Saturday, May 4, and tuition is $35. 

(LITTLE ROCK, AR) – Children ages 6-9 will discover the “World of Tomorrow” at the Arkansas Arts Center Museum School’s Junior Arts Academy.  Junior Arts Academy will be held June 8- 19, 2009, Monday- Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

This annual two- week summer camp combines fun theatre instruction with creative art projects.  Children will exercise their imaginations by making collages, working with clay, wood working, mask making, painting and more.  They will also learn basic theatre concepts including pantomime, improvisation and movement.