Apollinaire Play Lab
Creative expression is at the core of the human spirit, and the opportunity for children to nurture their creativity is essential. Apollinaire Play Lab empowers children and supports their development—strong dancers, empathetic actors, thoughtful creators that draw on personal experiences.
The Apollinaire Play Lab offers a variety of classes including: acting, dance, and visual art, as well as opportunities to perform in youth plays. Our scholarship program ensures that all can participate regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
We hold two multi-week sessions a year, one in the fall and one in the spring, in addition to summer classes, workshops, and production opportunities.
We focus on designing experiences that young people will find unique, exciting, and relevant to their own lives. Our goal is to provide a strong foundation in a variety of arts disciplines and to give our students the skills and confidence to express themselves and to continue creating.
Many of our students have gone on to intern with Apollinaire Theatre Company and to work professionally with us and with other Boston theatre companies.
In 2016, we opened the Riseman Family Theatre, a facility dedicated to youth arts engagement and community connection. The Riseman Family Theatre features a lobby/reception area that showcases our students’ artwork, a large class studio, and a professionally-outfitted black box theatre.
Ballet Play
Ages 3-5: Ballet Play combines dancing, story-telling, and imagining. Children gain practice with movement skills derived from ballet, as well as locomotor skills such as skip, slide, leap, and gallop. Children gain practice working together and following directions as they develop strength, flexibility, rhythm, and coordination. Story-telling through movement and music, enhances the development of self-expression and musicality.
ACTING
Ages 5-7: In this fun-filled course, children will learn a variety of creative acting skills through games, exercises and group collaboration.
Ages 8-11 During this class, the students will explore important foundations of acting such as voice and movement work, character creation and improvisation.
PLAY PRODUCTION
Ages 6-8 & 9+ APL is excited to offer a full-scale performance opportunity for youth. Students will rehearse a script, memorize lines, and learn blocking. Students will also have an opportunity to show off their design skills by assisting in the creation of the set and costumes. Play production will culminate in a final show complete with costumes, props, lighting, sound and set!
Play production is an amazing opportunity to gain well rounded theatrical training and experience.
BALLET
Ages 5-7 & 8-11 Students develop a strong understanding of ballet technique, concepts, and vocabulary through age-appropriate exercises that emphasize body awareness. Explorations with imagery, music, and movement nurture self-expression, discovery, and making choices. The main elements of the class are building skills, exploring movement and music, and learning dances. For the end-of-session open class, students perform a choreographed dance.
Please note that anyone who has taken this course before will have opportunities for skill level growth and development.
AUDITIONING
Ages 10+ This class is a must for those looking to hone their skills and build their repertoire. Students will focus on building an audition book, resume and skillset that will assist them in the professional theatre world. Using real casting calls, this class will culminate in an acting and singing cut. Students may choose to focus on one area of interest.
ART
Ages 5-7 Young artists are encouraged to create freely and follow their inspiration as they explore shape, color, line, texture, space and movement.
ART
Ages 8-11 Artists are encouraged to create freely and follow their inspiration as they explore more advanced visual art skills, techniques and mediums.
Instructors
Brooks Reeves
Brooks is an actor, director, playwright, and visual artist. He has taught acting and art with the Apollinaire Play Lab. You can see his mural work in the window of the Riseman Family Theatre and in the Riseman's classroom studio! Brooks recently directed The Antelope Party and wrote and appeared in And Your Little Dog Too • Y Tu Perrito Tambien both with Apollinaire Theatre. He also played multiple roles in The Importance of Being Earnest (Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Ensemble). Other Apollinaire shows include The Suppliant Women, Lunch Bunch, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Ensemble), Romeo & Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Three Sisters, The Visit, Hamlet (as Hamlet and as Claudius), Brilliant Adventures, Midsummer, From White Plains, and Blood Wedding. Brooks has worked with the Golddust Orphans (Legally Blind: The Hellen Keller musical), with Bridge Rep (Julius Caesar, The Libertine), Stoneham Theater (Neville's Island), Company One (An Octaroon, Shockheaded Peter), Central Square Theater (Arabian Nights), Zeitgeist Stage (Love! Valour! Compassion!, Bent, Boys in the Band), Hub Theatre of Boston, Brown Box, Happy Medium, and Bad Habit Productions. He made his Boston area directing debut at Apollinaire with Winter Solstice by Roland Schimmelpfennig, and directed The Christians by Lucas Hnath, Hir by Taylor Mac, and co-directed Wild Swimming by Marek Horn. Brooks' artwork has been featured in the Apollinaire gallery.
Susan Paino
Susan brings a unique combination of experience, training, and passion to her work. A classically trained ballet dancer, her teaching practice is rooted in story-telling through movement. She is an advocate for arts in education and has led creative movement story time programs at public libraries throughout Greater Boston. Susan holds a Massachusetts Teacher Certificate in Early Childhood Education and is a Massachusetts Certified Lead Preschool Teacher.
Carmen Serrato
Carmen is a Mexican-American actress and singer based in Boston. She recently performed in he first production with Apollinaire Theatre, The Suppliant Women. She recently graduated from Salem State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Performance. Her acting credits include: In the Heights (Camila), ROE (Connie), Antigone (Chorus), The Burn (Mercedes), Blood Wedding (Neighbor), The Skin of Our Teeth (Gladys).