Pine Tree Camp’s music and drama programs are fully accessible for all
On performance night, excitement is always high at Pine Tree Camp. This summer, the excitement was greater than ever as campers got to step into the spotlight in a brand new theatre space.
“The new theatre was so awesome,” said Pine Tree Camp Director, Dawn Willard-Robinson. “Campers were up on stage with professional lighting and incredible costumes that brought the experience to a completely new level.”
Last year, the Maine Cabin Masters totally reimagined and revamped the theatre space with fully-accessible props, costume racks, backstage rehearsal areas and forest-inspired details including intricate wood carvings and camper artwork.
“When I saw the space, my creativity was immediately ignited and I enjoyed planning the programming for summer on the stage,” said Music and Drama Program Leader, Emily Markwart.
Emily is a board certified music therapist and envisioned new programming for campers to tap into their creativity. Thanks to a grant from Maine CITE, Pine Tree Camp was able to provide a wide variety of adaptive musical instruments for campers to try. Adaptive drums, keyboards and percussion instruments allowed campers to tap, touch or step on switches so they could try their hand at playing music, no matter their mobility level.
“We even created a full bell choir with adaptive hand bells,” Dawn continued. “The bells were color coded so when Emily held up a colored card, the musicians knew which bell to ring. They didn’t even need to hold the bell to ring it. You could set it down and tap it to produce the same sound.”
For Emily, making music and theatre accessible focuses not on the performance itself, but on the fun people have expressing themselves.
“It was so lovely seeing people performing for the very first time and all the campers sharing songs and poems with their friends,” she said. “Mad Libs of well-known songs was very fun and campers were able to participate with just one word, sometimes signing it to us with ASL.”
Whether playing music, performing a skit or singing a song, campers embraced the chance to step into the spotlight and draw on their creativity.
“It’s a chance to be the star, practice new skills and get to show them off,” said Dawn. “I’ve seen again and again how campers who fall in love with drama at camp go home and have the confidence they need to join the cast of a play or sign up for the music program at their school. It’s a huge confidence boost.“
