Monday was the first day of Westside Player’s Drama Camp. 

“Summer Showtunes” is the theme and campers will learn and perform song and dance acts from a variety of Broadway musicals. 

At the end of the day, the kids were eager to show off what they had already learned in only one day at camp by performing a song/dance routine from “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

These talented kids love to perform, and the drama camp is a way for them to refine and improve the talents that come naturally to them.

Performing is nothing new to return camper, Tinashe McGowan. Tinashe is an accomplished pianist who has studied at the famed Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan and performed locally in plays and recitals.

“I have been looking forward to meeting new people at camp this year and having fun doing what we love to do,” Tinashe said.

It looked like the instructors, Lois Leftwich and Tim Caffee, are having fun, too. Wind down time before going home included a game of “Big Booty” and snacks.

The grand finale of the camp is the on-stage performance when the kids get to share with family, friends and the general public what they learned during the two-week session. And it is amazing!

Each time the curtain goes up on the fully-operable stage at Central, we are reminded of the late Ed Delatte, founder of Westside Players, founder and artistic director of the NorthPark-based Dallas Repertory Theater and Associate Professor of Theatre in the Department of Dance and Drama at the University of North Texas. Ed was a local pioneer in the belief that theater and the arts both express and form our feelings, beliefs and ideas. 

The end-of-camp performance will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 20 at 4711 Westside Drive.  There is no cost and it is great family entertainment.  Refreshments will be available. For more information call 214-526-7291.