Joshua Evans (’03 Theatre Arts) founded Act One Theatre Camp in Glendale, California, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Evans and his team “replaced the stage with the camera,” he says, transitioning the program online with a focus on movies and music videos. Children in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, and other countries were able to participate in a safe outlet for creativity and socializing.
The program was online again in summer 2021, but Evans plans to transition back to in-person activities for summer 2022. Evans has taught theater summer camp for 16 years and teaches after-school theater programs in the Los Angeles area. Before the pandemic, online theater programs “really hadn’t been done at this scale,” Evans says. “It was kind of amazing how fun the summer went.”
