Laughter is the best medicine, no matter how old you are. That’s why Stand Up for Student Well-Being is spreading the laughs by bringing a summer comedy camp for youth to downtown Peterborough this summer.
Under the guidance of trained comedy coaches Marc Hallworth and Christel Bartelse, campers will engage in fun activities and exercises to develop their own stand-up comedy routines.
At the end of the camp, parents and guests will be invited to see the projects the kids have been working on with a stand-up comedy show hosted by the coaches.
The camp will take place at Peterborough’s The Theatre On King from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from Tuesday, August 22nd until Friday, August 25th.
The camp is open to youth aged 10 to 16, with registration costing $175. A limited number of subsidized spaces are available for low-income families.
A registered charity, Stand Up for Student Well-Being offers “Laugh More! Worry Less!” programs at local schools designed to help young people develop techniques for coping with stress and anxiety through humour.
The summer comedy camp is meant to enhance skills in creative writing, public speaking, and performance, while building confidence in the classroom.
A founding coach for the kids’ camp, Marc Hallworth is a stand-up and improv and sketch comedian who regular teaches and coaches comedy in post-secondary classes. He has done stand up at a number of festivals, including NXNE, and was a semi-finalist in the Toronto Comedy Ball.
Joining him is Christel Bartelse, an actor, storyteller, writer and teacher. She teaches improv and physical comedy and movement at Humber College, the Toronto Film School, and George Brown College. She is the co-founder and operator of “Comedy Coop,” Canada’s first online comedy school for women.
To introduce the youth to various comedic styles, local drag performer Betty Baker will be making an appearance to talk about drag as an art form and to give tips on stage performance and improv.
Although Stand Up for Student Well-Being’s summer comedy camp is new to Peterborough this year, there were two camps last year in Cobourg and Toronto. There are also two camps in Cobourg again this year at the Firehall Theatre, with a sold-out July camp for youth ages 10 to 13 and another camp for youth ages 13 to 16 from August 14 to 18.
To register for the summer comedy camp, visit suswb.ca/programs/summercamps/.
VIDEO: Stand Up for Student Well-Being’s Summer Comedy Camp
