Summer Drama Days is back at the McColl Playhouse after a two year hiatus.

Organized by the Terrace Little Theatre, kids between the ages of six and 13 play theatre games, improve their improv skills and memorize lines for a play that they perform at the end of the three week program. 

There’s been an increase in the number of kids participating this year. Lead Instructor Marielle Ingenhut says this is probably due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of programs out there for children. 

“This is the first session we’ve had since 2019, so I think maybe some of the parents and kids have been waiting for it,” Ingenhut says.

In order to accommodate the sixteen kids involved in the July session, two plays were held. One was titled “Roll For Initiative”, which saw kids playing a round of Dungeons and Dragons while the game came to life around them. 

“Little Things in Nature” was the second play which demonstrated an exterminator realizing that the bugs they are hunting are not all bad. 

Before 2020, the program had run uninterrupted since its creation in 1977 by Molly Natress, who was the president of the Terrace Little Theatre at the time.

There’s been an absence of youth programs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, so having a place where kids could explore their creativity again was very important to the instructors. Ingenhut talked about watching the kids become more confident throughout the weeks and how this program differs from a theatre class in school. 

“Maybe you’re around a different group of people than you’re normally used to, so it gives you that opportunity to open up and explore new things.” 

Support for the program has been strong, and the theatre has seen recent upgrades. Board Director for Terrace Little Theatre Nancy Stone-Archer said that thanks to grants from the Northern Development Initiative Trust, the Terrace Community Foundation and the Northern Savings Credit Union, the tech booth at McColl has been fully upgraded.

Currently, the second group of kids are in session from Aug. 8-26. 

You can hear the full radio story below: