Story by the Forney Messenger

Several students from the area will perform Friday, July 24, in a series of shows to cap off their two weeks at Tal Lostracco’s Summer Theatre Camp at Southwestern University in Georgetown.

The students have worked with award-winning high school, college and professional directors from around the state to hone their theatrical skills and to work on one of the following productions: “A Lie of the Mind”, written by Sam Shepard and directed by Billy Dragoo; “The Comedy of Errors”, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Craig Hertel; “The Memorandum”, written by Václav Havel and directed by Rod Sheffield; “Moby Dick Rehearsed”, written by Orson Welles and directed by Gloria McLuckie and Scott Tipton; and “Spring’s Awakening”, written by Frank Wedekind and directed by Travis Poe.

In addition to approximately 6 hours of rehearsal every day, students have also attended classes on voice, acting, theatre for social change, basic makeup, and movement. They each also attended one of six workshops on advanced makeup, special effects, theatre careers, stage combat, dance or musical theatre.

Four Forney students are participating: Darien Armani, Shae Goldston, Olivia Hughs, and Haelee Taylor.

A Freeport native, Lostracco was an influential teacher and mentor in Texas educational theatre and an alumnus of Katy High School and of Southwestern University. The camp was founded by Lostracco in the summer of 2001 at Lon Morris College and has become regarded as one of the premiere theatre training summer programs in the state of Texas. In 2004 the camp moved to Trinity Valley Community College where Lostracco served as chair of the theatre department. In 2006 after Lostracco’s death, the collective of artists and educators that have been a part of the camp since its inception, started discussing with Southwestern University the possibility of moving the camp there permanently. This is its first summer at its new home.

The shows will be performed as part of a festival of plays beginning at 1 p.m. in the Jones Theatre in the Sarofim School of Fine Arts Center at Southwestern University. There is a charge for admission. For more information, contact Camp Director John Ore at (512) 863-1364 or go online to www.talscamp.com.

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This story and any accompanying photo(s) were originally published in the Forney Messenger and are Copyright © 2009, Forney Messenger, Inc. and have been used by permission. The Forney Messenger is the publisher of Kaufman County’s oldest newspaper and may be found online at www.ForneyMessengerInc.com

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