BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) – Like most outdoor and group activities, a lot summer camps will be put on hold this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But as they say, the show must go on.
Thanks to two Boston-area natives, young aspiring actors and performers across the world will have the chance to learn from Broadway's best this summer, despite statewide stay-at-home orders.
Among his entrepreneurial endeavors after college, Wayland-native actor Harley Harrison Yanoff founded Spotlight Productions in western Massachusetts, a three-week summer theater workshop for kids. It has been running every summer since, and Yanoff said it's something a lot of people look forward to.
"We were planning on opening 'business as usual' this summer, then obviously in mid-March the virus took over, and shut everything down," Yanoff told WBZ NewsRadio. "I thought back to how connecting theater was, and I thought, 'Is there a way to run Spotlight online?' The way I designed the program could work for an online market."
Yanoff decided to get in touch with a Broadway actor he knew from back home, Newton-native Tess Primack, to see what they could figure out. Together, the pair founded Broadway At Home, an online theater summer camp program for kids taught by professional Broadway actors.
"We offer a ton of different options," Primack told WBZ NewsRadio. "We offer a six-session musical, where the kids will rehearse with coaches who have all been on Broadway, and they perform scenes and songs live for the 6th show."
There are also commercial and animation voiceover classes, dance classes, group singing classes, and master classes with Broadway actors from shows like Hamilton and Mean Girls.
"It has been an amazing way for kids to feel connected and creative in this time," said Primack.
WBZ NewsRadio's Ben Parker reports:
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