Sprinkler Factory Building Home to Innovative Summer Camp Program

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

GoLocalWorcester Lifestyle Team

Students can learn to shoot and edit video at the Think Tank.

The Worcester Area Think Tank will offer area students the unique opportunity to explore several different fields as part of their summer camp offerings.

"Just about everything we do is experiential, multi-disciplinary and hands on," Think Tank founder Lauren Monroe said.

Open for children ages nine to 18, the Think Tank's summer offerings include acting and screen writing, directing, filming and editing, and digital audio production.

Monroe said she believes these classes will give students a unique chance to explore some new fields, and will also link the Think Tank to the community by bringing in local teachers for the workshops.

"Talented local teachers can come here and teach what they are passionate about," Monroe said. "Because we're still such a young organization, the teachers who come here will shape what we become."

Monroe said that she is working to collaborate with graduate students from WPI and the Mass. College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and build a bridge to the Worcester community.

"We're creating more and more community links, and we're trying to build that bridge," she said.

Located in the Sprinkler Factory Building on Harlow Street, the four year old school offers a variety of classes during the school year, which serve as a resource for for homeschooled children, as well as enrichment options for children after school. Monroe said that students take between one and six classes a week.

Summer workshops start July 16. The first workshop, Hot Set!, is split up into two separate one-week programs. The first, Acting and Screen Writing, will be held from July 16th through the 20th. This workshop will run from 10 am to 4:30 pm each day, and is run in collaboration with Worcester State University professor Mark Wagner. Students will be encouraged to find their own unique voices with acting and writing from the movies, while also being given the chance to write their own screen play.

The second week of Hot Set! is entitled Directing, Filming and Video Editing. This week of the program will allow students to take the screen play they created the previous week and prepare it for full production. Students will learn techniques in casting, rehearsing, directing, filming and video editing as they produce a full length piece to be completed by the end of the week.

The Think Tank offers acting and screen writing classes.

For those more interested in the musical side of production, the workshop Audio Production and Composition runs from July 30th through August 3rd. Students will be provided with an iMac computer, a 25-key piano style USB controlled, a microphone and headphones as they are introduced to the modern Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).

The fourth workshop is AliveWire Theatrics Playwriting Collaborative. As the name suggests, the program is run in conjunction with AliveWire Theatrics, an artistic organization based in Manhattan. Playwright Chana Porter and director/actor Scott Rodrigue will lead the workshop and share with students their knowledge of the fundamentals of performance and playwriting.

The final workshop will end with an open performance for family and friends. For more information and course prices, head to the Think Tank's course list here.