Freelance Players Summer Program is a three week summer arts program for youth ages 8-16. At the end of the session, campers will produce and perform an original musical. In addition to learning their part in the musical and honing their acting, singing and dancing skills, there are opportunities throughout the session to learn about and engage in the entire theatre process – from designing and painting sets, building 3D props, learning an acoustic guitar part to play in one of the numbers, taking photos to later project onto the set and more!
Everyone is cast in the show and no experience is necessary to attend. We hold auditions on the first day to help us find the best place in the cast for your child. Please prepare 16 measures of a song of your choice as well as a spoken piece. Please contact Mary Torpey or Cooper Evello if you have any questions.
July 15 – August 2, Monday-Friday, 9:00-3:45pm @ The Unitarian Universalist Church in Medfield, MA
$1500 per three week session, sliding scale price options available
Daily Sample Schedule
8:45-9 Carpool + Check in
9-9:10 Announcements
9:15-10:10 Period 1 (music, choreography, blocking or production)
10:15-10:30 SNACK
10:35-11:25 Period 2 (music, choreography, blocking or production)
11:30-12:20 Period 3 (music, choreography, blocking or production)
12:25-12:55 Lunch
1:00 -1:30 NOON TIME SHOW / FESTIVAL PERIOD (campers perform for each other or play improv games, work on sets, help with costumes, etc)
1:35-2:30 Period 5 (music, choreography, blocking or production)
2:35-3:30 Period 6 (music, choreography, blocking or production)
3:35-3:45 Check-out & Carpool
What to bring
- A labeled refillable water bottle
- Nut free lunch
- Extra snacks
- Weather appropriate clothes
- Shoes you can dance in
Camp Staff
Mary Torpey
Camp Director
Mary has been a director, teaching artist and creative collaborator in the Boston area for many years. She joined Rehearsal for Life in 2003 as assistant director with Freelance Players and teaching artist with Urban Improv and has been directing Freelance Players troupes since 2011. She is endlessly motivated by the collaborative, inclusive and expressive work she sees in the young artists and her colleagues. Originally from Maine, Mary graduated from Indiana University with a B.A in Theater and Drama and studied movement, voice and acting at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.
Cooper Evello
Camp Director
Cooper studied music production and composition at the Cambridge School of Weston, Hampshire College, and the Berklee School of Music, and joined Rehearsal for Life with a background in music production, performance, arranging and composition. His work with Rehearsal for Life, allows him the opportunity to create music that helps make Boston youth’s time in school a little better and helps them process their feelings and struggles. Outside of work, Cooper can be found composing and recording music in his home studio, and performing around New England in his bands (ADDIE, Bog Berries, Hush Club, and Naomi Westwater).
Elle Jansen
Movement Director
Elle has worked as a professional dancer and choreographer since the age of 17. In 2017, Elle graduated from the University of San Francisco (USF) with a BA in Performing Arts & Social Justice and International Studies. She has worked as an instructor at USF for collaborative artistic courses bringing together USF students and incarcerated peoples in the San Francisco County jails, and as a teacher of theater, dance and musical theater within San Francisco public schools and early childhood education centers. She has developed a variety of classroom curricula from an early childhood arts-integrated program for Building Kidz Worldwide to college level syllabi.
*This camp complies with regulations of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and is licensed by the local board of health.*