San Antonio Children’s Theatre Offers New Opportunities for Budding Performers
San Antonio Children’s Theatre, Magik Theatre, steps up opportunities for budding performers with after school classes, minicamps, and in-school performances.
Since its founding 30 years ago, Magik Theatre has inspired young audiences to dream big onstage and off. This year, in conjunction with Magik’s 2024-25 season, the San Antonio performing arts institution is adding fun new ways to reach local kids beyond their renowned children’s theatre productions. For the first time, Magik will open its doors to students for monthly after school classes that explore behind-the-scenes creativity, audition pro tips, and performing techniques. Building on their lauded summer camps, Magik is proud to offer a fall break minicamp perfect for occupying elementary-aged students. In this fun and fast-paced Devising and Design Mini-Camp, students will read The Velveteen Rabbit and participate in workshops that use the story as a springboard. Campers will learn about improvisation, characterization, devising, marketing a play, and theatrical design to include set, prop, and costume design. These expanded efforts augment the theatre company’s commitment to education, which already provides specially priced student matinees, community residencies with partners such as Haven for Hope and the Cindi Taylor Krier Juvenile Correctional Treatment Center, school touring productions with TEKS-aligned workshops and guidebooks, and educator appreciation performances.
Lissette Belmontes, Magik’s Director of Education, says, “Our vision for classes, camps, and all our educational programming really, is to create something for everyone, from young children to high schoolers,” and intentionally integrates practices such as Mindfulness, Artistry, Grit, Imagination, and Kindness in its theatre curriculum and learning environments. While classes, taught by Magik Theatre teaching artists, illuminate the pathway for professional opportunities with plenty of advice and strategies from career actors and theatre technicians, younger kids and those who are simply curious about performing benefit by boosting their confidence and public speaking abilities as well as building community through creativity. “We are making our new educational offerings accessible, inclusive, and consciously in alignment with state standards so students will be able to exercise their artistic skills,” says Belmontes.
Below is a snapshot of Magik’s new and expanded education initiatives. For more details, visit https://www.magiktheatre.org/fall-camps-and-classes/.
MAGIK MONDAY FALL CLASSES
New this year, Magik Theatre will open its doors to young theatre lovers who dream of being onstage, or backstage, on opening night. The monthly series of 90 minute-long fall classes promises a peek behind the curtain literally, as Magik Mondays take place at Magik’s theatre in iconic Hemisfair Park, and figuratively as Magik Teaching Artists offer their wealth of knowledge about different aspects of creating theatre. Classes are small, meaning more individualized attention, but interested families should register soon to ensure their spot. Each class is $35, with scholarships available.
November 18 — Dance Audition High schoolers hoping for a spot in the next school musical won’t want to miss this deep dive into the dance audition process. Members of Magik’s professional casting team will give tips on surviving the nerve-wracking process with confidence and joy, and participants will also learn strategies for quickly mastering new choreography.
December 16 — Improv Middle schoolers through high school seniors can showcase their quick wit with new techniques for creating crowd-pleasing collaborative scenes. By the end of the class, they will have an opportunity to perform their own improvised scenes with one or more partners.
MINICAMPS
November 25-27 — Fall Mini-Camp Inspired by Magik’s popular summer camps, minicamps take place during those awkward school breaks when days are long and childcare may be scarce. While elementary school students are off for fall break, Magik will host a morning camp from November 25-27. The fun and fast-paced Devising and Designing curriculum starts students off by reading The Velveteen Rabbit (Magik’s production of the beloved children’s classic opens November 23), using the story as a springboard to turn their own creative vision into a mini-masterpiece. Campers will learn about improvisation, characterization, theatrical design and theatre marketing.
WORKSHOPS
Magik in the Classroom Workshops meet students where they are to create theatrical magic with a TEKS-aligned cross-curricular creative drama workshop led by Magik Theatre Teaching Artists! Each workshop runs 45 minutes to one hour and can be scheduled as an add-on to a field trip, before or after a touring performance, or as an independent experience. This fall, the workshop is co-produced with Celebrate Dyslexia and aligns with the touring production Eddie & Vinnie (more below) and helps parents/educators understand how some students experience the frustration of dyslexia in the classroom, equipping them with tools to support students’ learning needs.
MAGIK ON THE ROAD
Magik on the Road tours provide fun, live performances of high quality to young audiences in schools and other educational settings. By seeing and participating in live performances, children learn to identify with others, build self-esteem, and develop confidence in their own abilities. For fall and early spring, Magik on the Road presents Eddie and Vinnie, about a young boy with dyslexia and his quick-witted gecko, Vinnie. In 2025, the touring production will be Tomás and the Library Lady, inspired by the touching, true story of Dr. Tomás Rivera. The bilingual production follows young Tomás as he encounters a kind librarian who introduces him to the love of reading and sets him on a path of empowerment and lifelong learning.
Outside of these special initiatives, Magik continues to support education and educators with discounted student matinees designed for field trips that reinforce classroom curriculum while fostering an understanding of, and appreciation for, the performing arts and the world around them. Magik’s digital resource guides are a handy way to provide cross-curricular, TEKS-aligned activities inspired by themes in touring shows and student matinees. And finally, school faculty and staff are always appreciated at Magik, where they can receive one FREE ticket to select Educator Appreciation Performances, discounted $20 tickets for all performances as well as Educator Open House Mixers to mix, mingle, and explore each new season’s education programming over light bites, drinks and plenty of fun. Educators and public librarians won’t want to miss the new 2024-2025 season’s open house on October 18 from 5:30 – 7:30pm. To register, click here.
MAGIK THEATRE
A professional theatre for young audiences established in 1994, Magik Theatre’s mission is to use the power of theatre to create Magikal storytelling for children that Activates imagination, Grows young minds, and Inspires creativity and a love of learning that is the Key to a more literate future for our community. For more information, visit magiktheatre.org, or Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @TheMagikTheatre.
