The Mid Ohio Valley Players will host a special installment of WMOVP Radio Theatre this Friday, July 10 at 7:00 p.m. MOVP invites you to join them on Zoom as the MOVP Youth Theatre Camp participants present a classic family-friendly radio program, “Archie Andrews, Christmas Shopping.” There’s nothing like a little Christmas in July to help us deal with the recent 90-degree temperatures. Mack McHale, one of the camp directors, explained, “One of the nice things as being ‘a rather mature’ member of this team is the simple, and innocent humor the play presents. Ah, the good old days when you didn’t need to be crude or have explosions to tell a story.”

Due to COVID-19, MOVP decided to host their summer theatre camp virtually. The camp was open to students 9 years of age and in 3rd grade up to 12th grade. The students have been working and having fun for the past two weeks to learn more about theater and to prepare for the production of the classic radio show. “The MOVP Summer Virtual camp in connection with Switzerland of Ohio Local School District has brought together students from all over Mid Ohio Valley that would have never had a chance to do work together in the theater,” said Director JR Wells. “This virtual environment has allowed these nine students to able to work together and use their creativity to bring this radio show of Archie Andrews titled ‘Christmas Shopping’ to life.”

During the past two weeks, students have learned the ins and outs of acting on camera from home. They attended daily workshops on many topics including facial acting, characterization, enunciation, pronunciation, scriptwriting, and much more. You may already know the famous characters of Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper, and Veronica Lodge, all from Archie Comic and The CW hit, Riverdale. This is a chance to see the Mid-Ohio Valley youth bring these characters to life in a new and technologically advanced way.

Becca Buck, one of the directors and appearing as Mrs. Mary Andrews, explains, “This has been such a wildly positive experience. I had no clue what to expect going into this with kids, especially since their entire education system had gone online for the last 3 or 4 months of school. However, the students and directors I am working with have made this summer camp such a blast that I am not ready for it to end!”

“It’s amazing to see how the kids are growing, not only in their acting talents, but also in their technological repertoire, the costuming skills, and creative writing abilities,” she said. “This is a wonderful group of students and they are putting all they have into this family-friendly performance of Archie Andrews. To say I am proud of their progress is an understatement, they are have accomplished so much in a short amount of time!”

Tim Tuten, most recently seen as Superman in WMOVP Radio Theatres production of the same name agreed. “It’s always a reward to teach the kids and work with them on all aspects of theatre. They are a joy and proud to say every time they perform it keeps getting better and better. This is new to them especially since it’s online when they are all used to the stage. I’m excited for the viewers to see for these kids performances to be seen online for the first time.”

To view the live performances, join on the webinar link this Friday, July 10 at 7:00 p.m. or call in to hear the audio at 301-715-8592 or 312-626-6799, Webinar ID: 936 2677 9110.

The Mid Ohio Valley Players have been able to hold the virtual theatre camp and present the final production to the public thanks to Switzerland of Ohio Local School District which allowed the use of faculty Zoom meeting rooms to host the camp and Marietta College for use of its Zoom webinar space for the public performance.

WMOVP Radio Theatre will resume its regular Friday, 7:00 p.m. broadcast in two weeks on July 24, at 7:00 p.m. For those who missed the previous live broadcasts, the episodes are now available to view on the theatre’s Facebook page, under the video tab.

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