S4E9: Wicked Good, Super Cute - Summer Theatre School 2026!

Ensemble Members, Amy Rene Byne, Abby Leffler, and Aaron White unwrap what's in store for this Summer’s Theatre School offerings and ask a few Theatre School alums what’s your favorite thing about playing and learning at BTE.

Transcripts of all Season 2-4 episodes are available on our Buzzsprout website.

Check out our current season: http://www.bte.org
Ensemble Driven. Professional Theatre. Arts Education. Rural Pennsylvania. For Everyone. With Everyone.

Transcript

S4E9: Wicked Good, Super Cute - Summer Theatre School 2026

Intro

[00:00:00] 

Aaron: Welcome to Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble Down Center. A podcast where we play, learn, and grow with our company, our people, our art, and our town, and have as much fun as possible, front and down center. Hello there. I'm Aaron White, resident artist here at BTE, and I am joined by my fellow ensemble members, Amy Renee Byrne and Abby Leffler, the educational engines behind our upcoming summer theater school 2026. Registrations are open right now. There's also a special treat for your ears when I ask some current BTE kids, "What's your favorite thing about theater school?" It may be too much cuteness for one podcast! 

Greetings

Aaron: Hi there. Amy Rene Byrne. How you doing? 

Amy: Hi, I am good. How are y'all? 

Abby: Good, 

Aaron: good. A little sleepy. On the adrenaline dip from TIC. 

Abby: Yeah. 

Aaron: So today we're talking about summer Theater School.

'cause it's that time of year already, 

Abby: already. 

Aaron: And this summer's kind of special [00:01:00] because Amy, you're, on summer theater school, all and long. Yeah, yeah, Which we haven't done in a long time. Having a Resident artist, be a teacher all summer. But it's not your first time doing that 'cause you were an education director for a big chunk of time.

You've been planning this for a while. What's exciting about, being a, a team all summer long? 'cause that is a difference, in the way that we've been doing it for a couple years.

Abby: I can speak for myself. I feel like this is an opportunity to kind of get the band back together. You know what I, from when Amy had her candidacy year and I was learning the job. We've taught before together, and it's always a very smooth process.

She and I, ideologically are the same kind of educator and fosterer of children. it's a pretty smooth process whenever we get together.

Amy: I will echo all of what Abby said. I do know, particularly when I was education director the summers that I [00:02:00] got to have a dedicated ensemble member.

Like I got Richie for one summer. Those were the best because. Not that there's major shifting that happens when you have a rotating second in your classes, it's just nice 'cause you're on the same wavelength all summer long. Abby's got several years under her belt now, so, I feel. Like we could just be in the trenches together. 

Abby: Yeah. And it's more than several. It's seven years this August.

Abby: I know how, uh,

Amy: nope. 

Nope. You joined BTE yesterday, so 

Abby: I did. 

Amy: I don't know what you're talking about. 

Abby: I'm a real quick learner. Uh, 

oh my God. In my mind, that was like three. Four years ago, max.

The Prompt & Gianna

Aaron: Hi, how are you? 

Griffin: Good. 

Aaron: Good.

Abby: Remember we're gonna say what our favorite thing about theater class. Right?

Gio: Haven't thought of it yet. 

Aaron: No. What's up? 

Gio: I haven't thought of, but I need 

Aaron: to see it. Oh, I got you. So, uh, Gianna, you wanna go first?

Do you, have you thought of one? Okay, cool. So what, uh, can you swap spots?

Why don't you tell me your name and [00:03:00] how old you are and then what your favorite thing about, theater school is.

Okay. 

Gianna: Um, my name's Gianna, eight years old. And

i'm speechless. 

Aaron: And you're speechless. Are you speechless about Abby or about Violet? 

Gianna: About theater. 

Aaron: About theater. Okay. It's so good that you're speechless. 

Gianna: Maybe. 

Aaron: Maybe. Okay, great.

Gio: That micro microphone 

Gianna: is broken. 

Aaron: Uh, this microphone is a little dented. It's true.

Showtune Shenanigans

Aaron: Well, that's cool. We have a different sort of model of, classes as well Yeah. This year. That you have been developing over the last couple months. What do you have in store that excites you and what do you think will excite other people?

Abby: This is the first time in a lot of years, more than seven, where we are gonna have a two week all day camp.

First two weeks, right out the gate, and, it's called Showtune Shenanigans. We are taking famous songs from musical theater and making [00:04:00] fun of them. Or making fun of a specific theme. I haven't quite finished it, but I had an epiphany earlier this week that my goal is that it will be a selection of songs and interspersed between those sections of songs will be scenes to tie the whole thing together. Kids who sign up have a show to present!

Aaron: Yeah. 

Abby: There's that We are digging into the Play Crafters model where we will be the ones creating the sets, the costumes. They will be helping with all that stuff. Gonna be a full, encompassing education opportunity, but with the added fun of musical theater and scene work!

Amy: Yeah, and it'll be on the AKT stage, which is really exciting. they get to do their sharing at the end of the two weeks, it'll feel a lot more like a performance than it does when we're just in a rehearsal space or in a classroom setting.

Aaron: You've mentioned Play Crafters, Amy, you had, were you the one that started Play [00:05:00] Crafters? , No. In your tenure? That was there before. Okay. 

Amy: Yeah. I, I inherited Play Crafters and Laurie and Elizabeth, I believe got it from former ensemble members that had gone on to, create, another theater, maybe it was either Laurie or Elizabeth had gone up and, and done a summer with them and was like, this is great, and brought it back to BTE. So, I inherited the integrated arts model, which was stolen from another company. 

Aaron: Uh, good artist, borrow great artist steal, as they say. It's certainly a shift to have a, a full day camp. Speaking as a, a parent in the summer, knowing, how grateful I was for those kind of camps where, where the kids could have a full day, parents can have a full day and everybody comes back having been very productive. Yeah, which is a nice opportunity. That sounds like a lot of fun. So after those first two weeks, then we're back to business as usual of morning camps and afternoon camps, is that the idea? 

Abby: Yeah. A younger age group in the morning. 

Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

Abby: Older age group in the [00:06:00] afternoon with a lunch in between. And a breath that Amy and I will be able to take,

uh, together holding each other's hands ourselves in the afternoon to come.

Yeah. But one of the most exciting things that. We have is the third week, the Wicked camp? 

Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

Abby: Another one that's on our stage. Mm. And in our theater... 

Amy: i'm excited about this Wicked Camp. It's a combination of two prior camps that we held in the past. Our super singing camps, and then also we did this camp. One time, no, two times. And it was amazing. We did a Hamilton appreciation camp where we just got together and played the soundtrack and everybody in the room just collectively sang all the songs together. So we're kind of taking those two models and jamming them together. So we're gonna actually learn songs from Wicked since it has really had its moment in the spotlight lately. 'Cause, Fabulous man, those kids love it.

Abby: Uh, it will not be a full scale thing that will [00:07:00] be more of a sharing. Mm-hmm. But it will more than likely happen on the stage, maybe we'll have the sharing with the parents on the stage with us. You know, who knows? I like to meet the kids that sign up for the camp first.

Amy: Mm-hmm. 

Abby: And make sure that they are prepared emotionally and mentally to share whatever we do. 

Amy: Yes. 

Abby: So where Showtune Shenanigans, there will be. Some sort of product at the end, guaranteed come heck or high water. 

Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

Abby: The rest of the camps, I like to meet the kids and meet them where they're at.

Yeah. So if a sharing is not fruitful mm-hmm. And more of like a stressor to their creative learning, then nope. Sorry. I'll record it. Maybe if there's a strong urge for it and share it digitally, but I, uh, adjust accordingly.

Gio

Aaron: Tell me your name and your age and what your favorite thing about theater school is.

Not cool. Light that close. There you go. 

Gio: Yeah. 

Aaron: Huh? Say it again. 

Gio: This microphone doesn't work. 

Aaron: Yes it does. It's [00:08:00] making noise right here. 

Gianna: Are we gonna listen 

Gio: to 

Aaron: it back? You can if you want. Yeah. We'll listen to it back after we're done. 

Gio: My name's Gio and I'm Five. My favorite thing about feed class that I'm gonna be with her, 

Aaron: that you get to be with Gianna.

Gio: I like being in class with Gianna. 

Theatre School: a Great Place to Grow

Aaron: A quick anecdote from last summer, I, I, I have taught a couple of those musical theater classes and last summer we did Hercules. It's interesting you talking about meeting kids where they're at, because we had a group of girls, I think it was maybe 14 people in that class. We had a big group of girls that were just so stoked for performing in front of people. They were ready to go. They were very skilled singers.

Uh, singing and dancing. Varied, uh, from person to person. And we had one, a male student. And he was incredibly bashful. But I was very proud of him because he, once he understood what a thing was in the rehearsals, he'd dive at it. And it was, it was very [00:09:00] charming. And then all the parents made their way in and they sat down in their chairs and.

The girls , were so excited. And the boy, who was playing Hercules, and we built a whole dance around, just froze. 

Amy: Aw, poor, sweet baby. 

Aaron: But his mom was so proud of him because he didn't run away like he went on stage. He put himself in front of people and made a big step from where she thought he would be.

Right. And that's one of the really great things and the difference between theater camp and when kids come to play in our summer show Elephant and Piggy right, Elephant and Piggy is running at full speed. We expect the kids to sprint along with professionals and there's growth that happens there.

What's great about theater school is that it doesn't matter where your skillset lies. Everyone has an opportunity to play. , We get the dabblers in, we get the people who are excited to learn new things. Right. And it's an opportunity 

Amy: and kids that just need to build up their confidence, the number [00:10:00] of. Students that we've seen start out in theater school because they have low confidence, but a high desire and a high interest. But then we've watched them grow incrementally from class to class to class. Yeah. A lot of those kids make their way onto our main stage once they've achieved that, that level of confidence.

I think one of our most notable, uh, recent theater school to main stage transfers was our Charlie Brown, one of our Charlie Browns. Started out very, very shy and mm-hmm. Really in need of those building blocks. And man, once he found that confidence. Off he went. 

Aaron: And it was really cool. Because you introduced the crew position in the summer show... two summers ago or is it just one summer? 

Amy: Yeah, two summers ago now. Two summers ago. Wait, wait, 

no. One summer, one summer ago. 

Aaron: Way wayside was only one summer ago. Was wayside the first one?

Amy: Yeah. Time isn't real.

Aaron: The kid in questions started at theater school. 

Abby: Yeah. 

Aaron: Did crew at [00:11:00] Wayside 'cause he was curious and then 

Amy: They did do a, a walk on as a Tiny Tim. 

Aaron: That is very true. In Christmas Carol. Yeah. And then really showed up for Charlie Brown this Christmas.

It's fun to see that progression and it's something that if you have a young person in your life who either is already dying to be on the stage and just wants an outlet, theater school's a great place for that. And, if they're just very curious about it or a very creative kid, but you see them shy away from those opportunities when it comes to putting it in front of people, theater school's another great place for that kid to come and grow.

Abby: Yeah, I agree.

 Griffin 

Aaron: What's your name, friend? What's your name? 

Griffin: Me. Griffin. 

Aaron: Say it again? 

Gio: I'm Griffin and I'm 6. And my favorite thing about theater class is um, just playing the different games. 

Aaron: Playing different games. Yeah. Cool. Thank you Griffin. 

Sliding Scale Priceing 

Amy: In addition to some new content this summer, we also have a very exciting new pricing model that [00:12:00] we for our summer.

Let's about it theater school. Yeah. So, we haven't raised our summer theater school prices in a very long time because we really, really strive to keep our summer theater school classes affordable for everybody. But as I'm sure everybody knows the cost of everything. I'm using the word every, a lot of everything, um, has.

Has gone up. So this year we need to institute, a rise in theater school prices. But what we've done is that we have started a sliding scale model for those theater school classes. So there are five different tiers that you can choose from. No matter what tier you choose to pay, you get the exact same experience for your child, so people are better able to pick a price that suits their pocketbook. Their kids still gets the same wonderful experience.

And if you're able to pay a little bit more, that enables us to provide the lower cost tiers to the people that really need it. And I think that it's a really exciting model [00:13:00] that we're introducing Abby would are help, help me. 

Abby: Well, I think it's another example of theater school trying to meet the individual where they're at. This opportunity for summer, which, you know. It is an all week, even if it's half day or all day, it's an all week thing, so the price point is automatically going to be a little higher, right? Mm-hmm. 

Amy: Right. 

Abby: Just because of the hours and the personnel and supplies. And so being able to recognize that, but also recognize our need as a company, meeting the families where they're at just goes further along in that mantra I, I carry with me as a teacher. So I'm very excited about it and if you have questions about it, you can reach out to me about it. There's information about it on the website directly about the explanation of it all and the different tiered price points. And, this is a new thing. So we are [00:14:00] eager to help in ways we can to make sure you get into these camps that you wanna get into.

Aaron: If someone were interested in, helping in creating scholarships or, or donating to scholarships, that's a great way to help our community along with taking the higher price point when you sign your own kid up. For camp we are always accepting donations if you'd like to pass a camp along to another kid. So you can feel free to contact Abby for that as well. 

Abby: Yeah, please.

Amy: And those tier have no guilt attached to them. You get to pick your tier nobody but your computer sees that, so That's right.

Aaron: We're grateful that people wanna come out and wanna play with us and get to learn from some pros like Abby and Amy. They'll get a quality education and, and a and a real good time. I, I'm, I kind of wanna take that Wicked class just to sing along with the wicked soundtrack that does like a lot of fun.

Amy: And you get to experience, Abby and Amy's comradery all summer long. Yeah. Yeah. Which, I mean, I'm a little biased, but I think our [00:15:00] in-classroom dynamic is a lot of fun. 

Abby: It is.

Violet

Aaron: Violet, do you want to go? 

Violet: My name is Violet and I'm 30 years old and uh, my favorite thing about theater class is. That you can always learn more. 

Aaron: Cool, 

Violet: no matter how old you are. 

Aaron: Thank you. Mm-hmm.

Awesome. Thank you guys. Do you wanna listen back to it now? 

Gianna: Yes, please. 

Aaron: Yes, please.

 anything, Anything you'd like to say that you haven't gotten a chance to say?

Auditorial Line Up

Abby: Yeah. , If you are interested in the lineup, but you are reticent to look online first and you wanna hear it auditorially, I will tell you our lineup for summer camps!

Showtune S henanigans is our musical theater parody cabaret first two weeks of summer camp, which begin June 8th. Then the third week of camp will be the Wickedly Good camp, I think is what we titled it, and then we will break [00:16:00] for the 4th of July because everyone just loves to go on vacations.

And then we are back after the 4th of July weekend with a full docket of preschool players, storytelling and improv. Preschool players is in the morning, and then storytellers is directly after that, before lunch, and then improv is in the afternoon. Next week is Christmas in July, an audition prep.

So if you are interested in auditioning for our holiday show, 

Amy: A Christmas Story. 

Aaron: It's a 

Abby: Christmas story.

 SCCU. Right? 

Aaron: Good. 

Abby: Yeah, that's 

Amy: the part I would wanna play, 

man. 

Abby: I know. I 

Amy: wanna becu, 

Abby: I'm gonna go out for scut. So if you wanna prepare for the holiday show and your audition process and learn some good productive ways to audition, that'll be the one for you. 

Amy: Just so people know, if you take that audition class, you'll be taking that audition class with the director of the Christmas show.

Yeah. So that's a [00:17:00] really great way to get a little bit of a preview of how we would work together and see if that's a good fit for you. 

Abby: For sure. And then the week after that, we have young actors in the morning and junior actors in the afternoon. And then as tradition dictates at Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble, we will be presenting our final week of summer camps.

With stage makeup, the first three days will be focused on fantasy makeup. So learning how to create scales on your skin or make your face into an animal. And then the final two days will be the gore, the gross stuff, the blood. 

Amy: You gotta go out with a bloody bang. 

Abby: You do. You gotta, you gotta make a mess.

So that's our plan for the summer and I'm very excited about it. 

Amy: There's a little bit of something for everybody in there. For the younger kids. The older kids. If you're super interested in theater, there's something for you.

If you're just, you know, mildly curious, there's something for you as [00:18:00] well. It's a really great opportunity to either dip your toe in or do a full on plunge, whichever you so desire. 

Abby: And as parents, if you need guidance on what will best facilitate whatever interest level your children have, I am happy to chat it out with you. So don't feel like you have to go into this blindly. I am here to support and facilitate. 

Aaron: Do you guys have, uh, can you sing us out with one of your parodies?

Do you know what one of the parodies are? 

Abby: Um, uh, I can, on my own pretending he's beside me, like 

Aaron: here, 

Amy: I wanna do a version, I wanna rewrite popular and make it mediocre.

Aaron: Mediocre. I wanna be mediocre. 

So make sure that you come to those first two weeks of camp and you get to sing these songs. 

Abby: Yeah. Yeah. You don't wanna hear us sing them. You wanna sing them and your parents don't wanna hear us. They wanna hear your beautiful voices. Yeah. So come on by.

Goodbye

Aaron: Awesome. Well, I'm excited for the kids, for them to get to play with the two of you. Um, thanks [00:19:00] for, for chatting with me today.

Amy: Absolutely. Thanks for 

Aaron: having 

Amy: us. 

Outro

Aaron: This has been Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble Down Center. Ensemble driven, professional theater, arts education in rural Pennsylvania for everyone with everyone. Summer theater school classes run June 8th through July 31st, and we have offerings for ages three and up. Register online today.

Bloomsburg Backyard Beats and Eats Festival, a BTE fundraising event will be making a ruckus down at the Farm and Bloom on May 23rd from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, featuring live music, lawn games, raffle drawings, a 21 plus winery and distillery tasting room, more than 20 vendors, and one amazing cornhole tournament. The Beats & Eats Festival is fun for the whole family.

BTE and the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce as a slated presented events coming up in May. These are special events presented at our [00:20:00] venue that offer unique programming outside of our regular ensemble productions.

Don't miss Late Night Catechism on May 2nd and Student Spotlight, a musical theater event featuring 20 local talents from 12 local high schools with special guest Broadway star Carrie Butler on May 14th and 15th.

Register for classes. Sign up for Cornhole and get your tickets at BTE.org.

Coda

Aaron: Is this where we plug the Abby and Amy Know Nothing podcast 

Abby: if 

Amy: still is still out there, still available anywhere?

Yeah. 

Amy: We stopped making new episodes, so paying to continue to keep them online felt silly. 

Aaron: Gotcha. Yes. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. I enjoyed them. 

Amy: We enjoyed, we enjoyed making them. We had a, we had a really, really good time. And then, you know, life, 

Aaron: life,

I wonder if that would be a fun if you all wanted to have the BT. Yeah. You know, we, we can have [00:21:00] an Abby and a, you know, that, that would be fun. That'd be a fun little, that 

Amy: would be fun.

Aaron: A little 

Amy: side quest, aquest 

Aaron: side quest. Yeah, absolutely. I love that.

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