This year marks 20 years of Chapel Hill’s Summer Youth Conservatory. Offered through PlayMakers Repertory Company, the six-week theatre intensive gives local high school students the opportunity to work with local theatre professionals and put together a high-end production for the Triangle.
SYC’s annual musical is returning to the 500-seat Paul Green Theatre on UNC’s campus after two years of renovations. According to Chelsea James, the program’s Associate Producer and the director of the milestone show, being back in the space means audiences can expect a large, theatrical production from its rendition of ‘Hello, Dolly!’
Featuring classic dance numbers like Put On Your Sunday Clothes and Elegance — as well as the titular Hello, Dolly! — the comedy set in turn-of-the-century New York follows a bold matchmaker meddling in love following the death of her husband.
“And as a woman in society in the late 1800s, that meant she didn’t have a reliable source of income,” James said. “So she was having to grind and have all these side hustles just to stay afloat. So she’s tired and she just wants to find what is the next thing for her life.”
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James said looking at how society has evolved made the golden-age musical an intriguing pick for the conservatory’s 20th production, as it has done more contemporary stories for the last few years.
“Matchmaking is still very much a part of our society. It’s just very different how we do it now,” she said. “Now it’s an app on our phone, and we’re swiping, and that’s making the match for us. Versus in 1894 when the show is set, you had a person that was bringing people together and making those connections.”
Another universal truth in the show is dreaming big dreams and wanting a bigger life for yourself, and the story highlights what people do in order to achieve them. For many of the high school students involved in the performance, James said that dream is the arts.
An alumni of UNC’s drama program, James has served in various roles at PlayMakers and SYC over the years, but this year is her first time directing the annual show. She called it a full circle moment to “helm” the very program she attributes to helping launch her own career in theatre.
“My first experience with PlayMakers was actually the very first Summer Youth Conservatory 20 years ago,” James said. “I was in high school and I was cast in that very first production.”
SYC kicked off in 2006 with ‘Oliver’ and a cast of both middle and high school actors. Since then, the program has evolved to become a six-week high school practicum offering training with professional directors, choreographers, musical directors, and theatre technicians at PlayMakers. The repertory company also offers Theatre Quest camps for grades 6-12, which act as a “training-ground” for the audition-only conservatory.
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Particularly because arts programs in schools are largely underfunded, ‘Hello, Dolly!’ Assistant Director Ali Patalano said it is special how students have access to the repertory theater by way of SYC. Not only are the actors and tech crews working with a larger budget, but they said the students are being treated as professionals themselves, with rehearsals operating at union standards.
They are also gaining mentors along the way, Patalano added.
“They’re getting confident in their work,” they said. “And it’s really cool to see the community that is built among all the students because these are — for the most part — aspiring actors or performers or tech students who want to pursue this long term. So it’s cool to see them making these connections in this space and to really be learning.”
Since its first production 20 years ago, James said the level of professionalism and talent within the program has grown in a way that is “mind-blowing.” She said many of the students train year-round, travel to New York, and are part of other fine arts conservatories, which was not necessarily the case for her fellow SYC alumni.
“We laugh [at how] back in the day, 20 years ago, when we were doing this, we were just here to have fun and do theater because we loved it,” James said. “But these students are just very serious about it.”
At SYC’s core are lifelong bonds, so James said it is a sentimental experience to direct this year’s group.
“I see myself in them,” James said. “Especially with the relationships. You see friendships forming. I’m still friends with the people that I did the first very first SYC show with. I see those relationships forming, and I know that those are going to be friendships that they’re going to have throughout their adult life.”
To learn more about the Summer Youth Conservatory and this year’s production of ‘Hello, Dolly!’, click here.
Featured image via UNC Chapel Hill.
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PlayMaker’s Summer Youth Conservatory Celebrates 20 Years with Run of ‘Hello, Dolly!’ Chapelboro.com.
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