Collaborate on the Stage with Fellow Campers at Pali Adventures Acting Camp

The best way to learn how to act is to do it alongside a group of friends. Pali Adventures Acting Camp gives kids a place to become the actor they’ve always wanted to be while they also make life-long friends

During each week-long session, campers will spend their mornings together learning acting techniques designed by masters of the business. They’ll get the chance to use their new skills through fun activities and acting games. There’s also things like Mimic Mania—a nighttime group activity where campers impersonate their favorite rock or pop band. It’s the perfect way to practice what they’ve learned.

Here’s some more of the exciting activities your actor will do with their new friends during Acting Camp.

Working on Dialog Skills

Actors need to be able to perform their dialog so that it doesn’t sound like they’re just reading a script. Working in groups, campers can give each other good feedback about the way they’re delivering a play’s dialog.

These are some of the skills they’ll learn in order to make sure they deliver a solid performance no matter what dialog they’re performing.

Projection – The ability to speak loudly enough, without shouting, so that your voice carries to the people sitting at the back of an audience.
Articulation – Clearly pronouncing words so that the audience can understand everything you’re saying.
Phrasing – Using the script’s punctuation to find a natural-sounding rhythm as you perform the dialog.
Pauses – Finding natural places to stop talking in order to emphasize an idea. This can include pausing during a tense bit of dialog to take a breath, taking a second for the character to “find” the word they’re looking for, or using a silent moment for the character to have a mid-sentence “ah-ha” moment.
Pacing – Using a character’s emotions to determine how quickly the actor speaks. Panicked characters will generally speak faster because they feel the urge to get the information out quickly to reach some sort of peace. In contrast, characters with information to share will speak slower to make sure they’re clearly understood.
Emphasis – Is all about finding the important parts of each sentence so the actor can use certain tricks to bring attention to them. Emphasis tricks include speaking with greater force, stretching out vowels (IE: oooookay, dude), and changing the pitch of your voice.
Memorization Skills – Probably the most important skill actors need to succeed. One of the popular methods is to use association tricks to help. They can get a bit silly. For instance, if a character’s first line is, “Does reading magazines about fences sound lame,” an actor might associate it with “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music.

Improv Games

Campers consider improv games one of the most fun activities at Acting Camp. They’re a silly way to learn how to really listen to fellow actors without the stress of memorizing dialog. It’s also good training to be able to handle any forgotten lines or missed cues during stage performances.

Here’s a few improv games campers might enjoy:

Sit, Stand, Lay Down – Three actors perform a scene based on a suggestion from the audience. The catch is, one actor has to be sitting, one standing, and the other laying down. Actors must move around, but everyone has to make sure someone is in each of the positions.
Superheroes – (Four actors) The first actor stands on stage and gets an unlikely superhero name and a crisis from the audience. They set the scene, then call for help. The second actor takes the stage and the first gives them a superhero name. As they progress the scene, the third actor joins to help and is named by the second actor. The same goes for the final actor, who is named by the third actor. Each actor must fully assume the wacky superhero identity, even if it’s something like Velcro Girl, until they act their way to a solution for the crisis.
Props – Actors are given a task from the audience. Using whatever random props are at-hand, they must act through the task. This could lead to ridiculous scenes like someone trying to make an omelette with a golf club.

Performing Original Skits and Broadway Scenes

Throughout the week, actors will write, rehearse, and perform their own skits. This gives them a chance to experience what it’s like to go through the entire process of creating a play. They will learn to really appreciate how much work goes into every production.

These original skits are also one of the highlights of the Pali Showcase. The Showcase is put on every Friday night at camp so performers can show off what they’ve learned during their session. Acting Camp participants will also help the Film Camp kids to complete short films that’ll premiere during the Showcase.

For actors who want to be triple-threats (acting, singing, and dancing), they get to flex their skills by rehearsing and performing songs from popular Broadway shows.

Learning new styles of theater, like Broadway, makes for well-rounded actors. Actors who can adjust to any style are in high demand.

Campers Having Fun Together

To make sure that your young actors don’t burn out, Pali Adventures gives them the afternoons off from classes and rehearsals.

There are over seventy different electives for them to choose from, including:

Duct tape art
Tubing
Skateboarding
Arts and crafts
Ropes courses
ATV quads
Zip lines
Laser tag
Painting
Jet skis
Trapeze
Photography

There’s Never a Dull Moment During Acting Camp

From the time they wake to the time they go to bed, campers are encouraged to have fun. That includes silly things like singing during mealtimes.

Every night there’s a new activity such as themed dances, casino night, and midnight delight—a surprise late-night dessert buffet.

Pali Adventures Acting Camp is all about making learning as fun as possible. Kids who go through the program together become good friends for years to come. Sometimes they even plan to go through the same session together the following year.