In just the span of three weeks, 26 students at Basin Theatre Works’ Summer Camp will be learning and putting on a new musical.
This week, Basin Theatre Works began its second summer camp of the season with the production of “Finding Nemo Jr.”
The theater camp is made up of students from grades 6-12 who are all involved with putting on the show which will take place at the end of the summer camp.
Show dates are 7 p.m. July 28, 7 p.m. July 29 and 2 p.m. July 30 at Permian Playhouse.
“This is a super-exciting camp for us because it’s older children, sixth through seventh graders, that often get forgotten at camp,” Basin Theatre Works Executive Director Jon Montgomery said. “We’re excited to have them with us here and we’re doing ‘Finding Nemo Jr.: The Musical,’ so they’re producing this whole musical in three weeks and that’s super- exciting for us.”
The theater camp began this week on Monday and takes place from 8 a.m.-5 pm. Monday-Friday at Permian Playhouse.
Throughout the day, students will take part in different activities, from working on singing to working on choreography and acting.
“We start our mornings with warm-ups, both physical and vocal,” Montgomery said. “Up until about noon, they’re working with Emily Hatch, our education director, and they’re singing all kinds of stuff. They’re singing solos and duets and group numbers. Then we take a lunch break from noon to 1 p.m. and from 1-5, they work with me on the show and choreography. Sometimes, we’ll break out into smaller groups and have them work on different things. There’s something always happening.”
“Finding Nemo Jr.” is a 60-minute musical adaptation of the beloved 2003 Disney Pixar film “Finding Nemo.”
The rights to it were just recently released.
“We’re super-excited,” Montgomery said. “We’re the first place in the area that’s producing this title. This title was released last month. We got the rights to it and we’re super-excited about it. Everything is student-led, so all the building of the sets, all the acting and the singing, it’s all children.”
The musical follows the familiar adventure of Marlin, an anxious and over-protective clownfish, who sets out to find his child Nemo who is captured and taken to Sydney.
There are the same lovable characters that help Marlin along the way from the movie such as the optimistic Dory, Crush and the supportive Tank Gang.
However, Montgomery added there are a few differences between the musical and the film, but nothing too big.
“’Finding Nemo Jr.’ is a slight deviation from the movie, but just a slight one because we’re producing it live on stage. Other than that, it pretty closely follows the story,” Montgomery said. “The Tank Gang is not in a dentist’s office, but an aquarium so there are subtle differences like that, but it’s a ton of fun.”
One of the biggest challenges about putting together a new musical is that there’s no precedent for what other shows have done.
“Because it is so new, not many people have done it,” Hatch said. With some musicals, you can take inspiration from other shows and from how other directors and show designers have done it, but with this one, we don’t have much to go off of so honestly, it can be a bit challenging but it’s also a fun opportunity for us to try new things and use our creativity.”
Playing the role of Marlin is DJ Dangerfield.
Dangerfield is entering his senior year at George H.W. New Tech Odessa and has been a part of Basin Theatre Works for six years.
“The theater camp has been an eye-opening opportunity for me,” Dangerfield said. “I’ve been doing theater for a few years now, but this is my first role that’s been one of the feature roles and it’s been fun navigating how I can do that and how I can navigate my way on stage and bring Marlin to life.”
For him, this week has been an enjoyable learning experience.
“It’s been fun learning the new music and learning all the new scenes and everything,” Dangerfield said.
Playing the role of Nemo is eighth-grader Isabella Price.
“I really enjoy how everyone is so kind and everyone is so supportive,” Price said of the summer camp. “It’s so much fun. We get to do different outfits every day. It’s so much fun.”
Hope Joyce, a senior at Permian High School, has been doing the summer theater camps for about nine years.
“I love being able to grow with people who love the same things as me and being able to be surrounded by people who are like-minded and have nothing but support for everyone else,” Joyce said. “It’s a fun and encouraging environment.”
For more information about Basin Theatre Works and for tickets, go to https://basintheatreworks.org/.
If You Go
- What: “Finding Nemo Jr.”
- When: 7 p.m. July 28, 7 p.m. July 29, 2 p.m. July 30.
- Where: Permian Playhouse.
- Where to purchase tickets: https://basintheatreworks.org/
