The Ossining Community Learning Center (OCLC) in Partnership with Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) Launches BOW! (Building Our World) – Summer Theater Camp Program on July 14

Ossining, NY – On Monday, July 14, Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) will launch BOW! – Building Our World – a six-week summer theater camp program for local Ossining students  entering grades 5-8 in the fall. An outreach of Westchester Collaborative Theater, BOW!, which is dedicated to exploring community and creating new plays, will be run under the aegis of the Ossining Community Learning Center.

The camp, located in the Ossining High School Theater auditorium, will run Monday through Friday from 2pm to 5pm to enable students enrolled in the Ossining Summer Day Camp to participate. Tuition is $600 for six week. Parents who want to register their children for the theater camp should contact: Alita Zuber, Assistant Superintendent for Business at:

azuber@ossining.k12.ny.us or call at 914-941-7700 ext. 1338.

The WCT website www.wctheater.org also has information about the program.

Ossining residents and WCT actor/directors Jessica Davis-Irons and Aisling Dono-Mulhern will lead a team of experienced theater educators.  Davis-Irons directed WCT’s recent production of Forget About Me, an original play by Ward Riley that starred Dono-Mulhern.

Says Davis-Irons, “Theater artists must make discoveries about who they are and what role they play in their world before they can step into the world of a character.  BOW! campers will embark on a creative journey to discover their strengths and their capacities to positively impact the world as an individual and as a community.” 

The first three weeks of the program will focus on individual exploration and growth.  Each camper will participate in theater games and exercises designed to nurture creative and critical thinking, promote confidence in self-expression, and aid in the development of physical awareness and oral communication skills. Campers will be asked to create a picture that expresses their relationship to their immediate community and the world, and the role they play in those realms.

The second half of the summer will be dedicated to creating plays as a group. WCT playwrights will drop in to mentor groups and help them devise new plays that evolve from the interaction of the different worlds they inhabit. Playwriting, improvisation and performance studies will help inspire imagination and deepen understanding of team building, relationships, and the roles participants play locally and globally.    

At the end of the six week program, BOW! students will present a showcase of original works written and performed by campers.

The Ossining Community Learning Center (OCLC) is a component of the Ossining Union Free School District. The purpose of the OCLC is to create a perpetual learning environment for all Ossining School District residents and community members. The OCLC model leverages partnership with local businesses, other municipalities, not-for-profit organizations and availability of School District facilities to provide a financially self-sustaining learning center isolated from school budget & tax levy implications.

Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) is a multicultural, cooperative theater company located in Ossining, N.Y., solely dedicated to the development of new plays by its member playwrights, actors and directors.

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