Campy theater — as in a play put on by summer campers — arrives downtown this weekend, straight from the funny pages: a production of You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.
The public is invited to watch the performances put on by the campers at the first-ever Shubert Musical Theater Camp. The plays take place at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School (a block from the Shubert) on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. The 13 talented kids in the first season of the Shubert camp strut the stuff they have been learning over the the past four weeks. Click the video to watch a sample.
Allan Appel Photo
C.J. King as Woodstock, Jesse Foss as Snoopy, and Aries Gee as another Woodstock.
Each camper had to learn the songs and lines of both a major and a minor role in You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, the 1967 Broadway hit based on the Charles Schultz comic strip that still is one of the all-time great feel-good musicals.
During a break in the campers’ technical rehearsal in the Co-Op auditorium, The Independent asked the various Snoopys, Woodstocks, Schroeders, and Lucys, who are all rising middle-schoolers from the city and the Greater New Haven area, what they are getting out of their experience.
Lily Kops said she simply has always loved the play and songs and is delighting in portraying the characters, in her case both Snoopy and Peppermint Patty.
Future stars: Lily Kops, Jessie Foss, Jennifer Cataldi, and Christeena Aaron.
Jennifer Cataldi said the best part for her has been making new friends. Christeena Aaron said of her challenge in playing both Marcie and Linus, “I had to be shy, poor, and baby-like all at the same time.”
Jesse Foss, who was wearing her Snoopy goggles but also plays the Little Red-Headed Girl, said, with a tone of maturity, that it is particularly enjoyable “to play a little kid, and we’re almost teenagers.”
Jesse hit on one of the reasons that the camp, in its first season, chose Charlie Brown as the focal point of the month’s work.
They’re kids playing kids littler than they are, said the Shubert Director of Education Kelly Wuzzardo.
“Even if they make a mistake, it’s even more endearing,” she said.
Maddie Conklin as Lucy, Jessica Lipinsky as Charlie Brown, Lexi Minutillo as Schroeder, Oscar Velarde as Pigpen, Jesse Foss as Snoopy.
All the costumes and tech in the show are done by kids, but older ones, a dozen or so high school apprentices whom Wuzzardo is teaching behind the scenes.
One of them is Infinity Jean, a rising senior at Co-Op who made all the costumes for You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown. Exercising those theater muscles this summer for the show might have changed the way she is looking at a life in the theater. “It gives me a variety of jobs to do,” she said.
The Saturday performances are free and seating is likely to be plentiful. However, those who want reservations can email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
The show’s director is Christi Sargent, who teaches at Co-Op; the music director is Jim Teti; and the choreographer is Briana Bellinger-Dawson, a recent Co-Op graduate.