Each week, Adventures in Art camp kicks off with a performance and day-long workshop with a visiting artist. For the rest of the week, students will create, rehearse, and perform a theatrical piece using the artistic and performance skills they learned. Local artists and counselors work with the youth Tuesday-Friday to prepare them for the family showcase at the end of the day on Friday. Bring your lunch — we provide snacks and water.

Week One: Guest Artist Doug Berky Mask, Mime, and Comedy July 21-25 Doug will kick off the first week of camp with the performance of “No Show,” an original comic piece. The rest of the day, Doug will work with campers on workshops involving mask, physical theatre comedy, and mime. For the rest of the week, campers will create their own masks, props, and performances to showcase on Friday! Click here to see Doug Berky in action!

Week Two: Guest Artist Hobey Ford Shadow, Puppet, Story July 28-August 1 Hobey will delight the campers with a performance of his Native American story collection, “Turtle Island Tales.” Using unique storytelling techniques along with hand and shadow puppets, Hobey will share his creative skills with our students on the first day of camp this week. Students will create their own shadow and puppet characters and rehearse folk tale performances for presentation on Friday! Click here to see Hobey Ford in action!

Local Teaching Artists Gina Gambony (theatre arts, puppetry), Linda Wall Hicks (theatre arts), Fritzi Huber (paper arts, mixed media, masks), and Abby Spangel Perry (painting, mixed media, sculpture) are with the campers all week!

About the Visiting Artists

Doug Berky presents classic theatre arts in performances that transcend age, race and culture. Using the illusion of the mime, the antics of the clown, the transformation of the mask, the suspense of a good story and the excitement of improvisation, Doug inspires laughter and reflection. Doug is available for performances, workshops, master classes and residencies in mask theatre, mask design and construction, and mime and movement. Doug can also sign his performances if requested.

Doug has been performing since the mid 1970's. He has toured with groups such as "The Two Penny Circus" and the "The Montanaro Mime Theatre". As a member of "The Montanaro Mime Theatre," he appeared in the award winning children's NBC television series, "See Saw," and four television specials for Swedish National Television. In the early 1990's Doug created a video series entitled, "Jesus Stories," and "Light in the Darkness" with Ecufilm.

Since the early 1980's he has toured nationally and internationally with his one-man shows. Doug has been a featured performer at events such as the Eugene O'Neil Theater Cabaret Symposium and the fifty year celebration of the CROP walk for the National Council of Churches. He has performed and taught as Artist-in-residence at numerous schools and colleges including the Commedia School in Denmark, Roanoke College, Furman University, and the University of Wisconsin. His mask creations are in use in schools and theaters from Stockholm to Seattle.

Doug combines the classic performance arts of mime, mask theater, and physical comedy into his performance of "No Show". A performance has been scheduled, but the actor fails to show. Or does he? What will happen when a lone spectator finds himself unwittingly on stage? Doug is transformed into several characters ranging from a gorilla to a ballerina as he explores the props and masks on stage. Audiences experience a variety of theatre forms: mime, mask theater, circus arts, and storytelling in this hilarious performance for the whole family.

Hobey Ford
Winner of puppetry's highest honor, the UNIMA Citation of Excellence, and recipient of three Jim Henson Foundation grants, Hobey Ford is known for excellence in puppetry performance and craft.

Hobey's intricate shadow puppetry work and creation of the original rod puppets, the "Foamies", have earned him a place on stages across the world. Hobey's performances incorporate a variety of puppetry styles including Bunraku, rod, marionettes, "Foamies", and shadow puppetry. Hobey adapts folk tales from various cultures for many of his performances, always adding a special "Golden Rod" twist. He uses his own voice to create characters and sound effects, tell stories, and sing.

Hobey utilizes his artistic study at The State University of New York at Purchase and the University of North Carolina at Asheville to design and construct all of his Golden Rod Puppets and the beautiful sets that surround them. Hobey also draws on his early experiences growing up in coastal Connecticut or living in a Nevada Native American community in writing the scripts for some of his performances such as "Whale Walker" and "Turtle Island Tales".

Hobey is considered both an innovator in puppetry craft and a master storyteller. He has created both the "Foamies" and the clever hand puppet known as "Peepers". The "Foamies" are large animal puppets carved from blocks of foam. After studying each animal's characteristic movements, Hobey designs various control mechanisms to make the puppets themselves move in a life-like manner. The "Foamies" are presented using both stage and house performance space.