Teaneck,NJ—When Black Box Studios’ spring semester performances conclude, the Bergen County-based theater company starts up what many members look forward to all year: Black Box Drama Camp. Black Box Studios has two individual sessions, one for drama and one for musical theater. For two four-week sessions each summer, the campers and staff develop a work of theater to perform, such as in the past year where they performed Our Town and Les Miserables.

This summer the drama camp is putting on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the musical theater camp is performing Two Gentlemen of Verona. The cast of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is made up of 17 kids entering 6th grade through high school recent graduates. While there are 25 students already signed up for Two Gentlemen of Verona, there are a few spots left for interested participants.

Black Box Studios was founded in 2007 by Matt Okin, who spent the previous 10 years working in Jewish entertainment. For the majority of the year, the studio works on drama, musicals, and improv in its assorted workshops, which are located at Congregation Beth Shalom and Bergen PAC, and are open to both Jews and non-Jews from surrounding communities.

At camp, the day starts at 9:30 a.m. with morning warm-ups to music with senior counselor Leora Hyman. Next, they do assorted improv exercises with Okin. After a short break, they begin doing table work (analyzing the script as a group) or character development in small groups. After lunch, they begin blocking (deciding the movements of each scene) the show. After another break, the campers play a game or do a group activity. The day ends at 4:30 p.m. with more blocking and announcements for the following day.

The improv exercises, table work, and character development sessions are all part of Black Box Studios’s unique way of teaching. For example, the improv exercises teach students to develop genuine actions and reactions and to understand non-verbal communication so as to aim the scene in the right direction. Table work and character development help individual actors perfect their characters and decide how the characters should react in a scene.

Several campers gave their opinions on the ways Black Box Studios teaches acting skills. Ruthie Yudelson, a middle school student and veteran of previous Black Box summer camps said, “We learn true acting and reacting, with infusions from things in our everyday lives, things that are simple.”

“We combine all these different aspects, all these of things we can understand, and then we infuse them, which creates a three dimensional person, with a complete body and mind,” she said.

Maya Wasserman, a newcomer experiencing her first summer at Black Box Studios, stated, “We use its [the characters’] backstory to infuse the characters into ourselves so we can portray them better. We also do improvs as the characters, so we can get more practice being the characters and play around with them, to be them.”

Even though Black Box Studios take their shows seriously and the campers put in a lot of work, it is still a place where the campers have fun and create friendships. “At Black Box, we don’t only put on a show, we form friendships and bonds that help us to work together and have a closer bond as actors to put together a great performance,” said Hyman, the senior counselor.

“Even though our characters are sometimes conflicting and enemies, those conflicts help us to become closer friends and help us form great relationships,” Hyman added.

One Flew Over\the Cuckoo’s Nest is a classic show which has been adapted from the book and then adapted into a movie. The action takes place in a mental hospital, which is ruled over by a dictatorial head nurse, but things start to change when a new patient who doesn’t follow the rules is transferred to the hospital.

Odelia (Cece) Fried, a veteran Black Box student and rising high school freshman, gave her insight on the messages of the play. “This play touches on many themes, including the reality and expectations of reality in a controlled, insular environment. It includes the gray seas of good and bad and how these two forces interact in an environment of powerful figures of authority.”

Black Box Drama Camp will be performing One Flew Over\the Cuckoo’s Nest at Congregation Beth Shalom on Sunday July 20th, at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Two Gentlemen of Verona will be performed later in the summer on Aug 12th, 13th, and 14th. Tickets are $10 each, and are for sale on their website.

For more information about Black Box Studios workshops, camps and events, visit their website: www.blackboxnynj.com.

Benjy Kleiner is a JLBC intern, an incoming junior at TABC, and a longtime volunteer for Black Box Studios.

By Benjy Kleiner