BY RUTH RICE
RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM
Youth will be able to act out in a constructive way at a new workshop series.
An eight-week theater workshop for ages 16 and older will be held from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays starting March 25 and 26 and continuing through May 14 at Greater Johnstown Community YMCA, 100 Haynes St. in the Kernville section of Johnstown.
“I want to use theater as a vehicle to help at-risk youth have one voice,” said Jamal H. Campbell, theater coordinator.
“It’s my way of giving back.”
Campbell is limiting workshop size to 15, a number that ensures that everyone will get the attention they need.
The workshops, which are the first step in a new initiative of theater activities called YMCA Community Theatre, will be an introduction to theater for those who have never experienced it.
Groups will do basic theater exercises, act, dance and eventually create their own skits.
The mission of the theater program is to provide creative experiences through the use of theater as a means of educating, challenging and inspiring children, young people, adults and seniors.
Vicki Clark, YMCA sports and recreation director, said the workshops will be grouped by ages, with a younger group having classes for the first hour and two other groups taking the second and third hours of the session.
“Our goal is to have programming other than sports,” Clark said.
“We’ve wanted to bring in the arts or theater. We’re excited about it since Jamal came to Johnstown.”
Campbell, who moved to Johnstown in December, started his first children’s theater in Bronx, N.Y., in the 1980s and also ran a theater group for gang members and drug offenders.
“I’m like a troubador,” Campbell said.
“I take theater everywhere I go for those in need of a spiritual uplift.”
Campbell also started theater groups for adults and at-risk kids in Atlanta.
In Johnstown, he is teaching a spoken word program for youth at Greater Johnstown Career & Technology Center.
“It’s a program to help them get qualified for carpentry, but I thought poetry would help them feel confident, give them a spiritual base,” Campbell said.
Campbell came to Johnstown because his wife has an internship at Memorial Medical Center.
“I like the feel of the people and their attitude,” Campbell said.
Campbell, who has a strong background in acting and directing as well as children’s theater, is expecting a response from all ages for the workshops.
“This is for children of all ages,” Campbell said.
“I welcome senior citizens, too. Their voice should be heard as much as the youth. I want theater to be an empowerment.
“I want the youth of Johns-town to know that they don’t have to be in New York City or Las Vegas. They can be a star where they are. I want to give them that attitude.”
Once his students go through the eight-week workshop, Campbell wants to stage the production, “The History of Swing Dance.”
“We want to put it onstage in the community,” Campbell said.
“I’m getting offers from venues.”
Workshop students will have to audition for the production so that they get a taste of the real world of the arts.
“I want them to have the opportunity to create options for themselves and to heighten their awareness of the options,” Campbell said.
Role playing
What: Eight-week theater workshop for ages 16 and older.
When: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays starting March 25 and 26 and continuing through May 14.
Where: Greater Johnstown Community YMCA, 100 Haynes St. in the Kernville section of Johnstown.
Cost: $50.
Information: 535-8381.
