Taking place across two weeks from June 9-20, Monsignor Edward Pace High School’s annual summer acting camp featured a mix of current and incoming Pace students along with students from middle school and other private schools. The camp instructed students, including those new to acting, on what they needed to be a part of any theatre program. Students took part in acting and musical theatre workshops, including workshops on improv, pantomime, singing, stagecraft, and theatrical makeup.
Classes took place at the Spartan Center, where students trained and practiced for their final performances to be given in front of their parents and friends. As students practiced on the Spartan Center stage, lead teacher of Pace’s Academy for Performing Arts, Cristina Pla-Guzman, gave feedback on how to act out certain scenes.
For one scene that involved two students acting as kid sisters fighting over a sand castle competition, Pla-Guzman not only gave feedback on character motivation, but even began mimicking how students should emote on stage.
Students also received feedback from their fellow camp members and five Pace alumni who each taught a workshop revolving around a specific skill. One of those alumni teachers was Jessica Gorwky, who graduated from Pace in 2009 and now attends the New World School of the Arts in downtown Miami where she is majoring in musical theater.
“Mrs. Pla-Guzman is the one who inspired me to become an actor, so I wanted to do the same and inspire the youth of today,” said Gorwky. “Once the students learn that all the power is within, they will be successful.”
For information concerning Pace High School’s other academies and class enrollment, call 305-623-7223 or visit www.pacehs.com.