Synetic Youth Ensemble
Year-Round Theater Training for grades 4 – 8!
The Synetic Youth Ensemble (SYE) gives upper elementary and middle schools students an opportunity to learn, create and perform an original play with a professional theater company. Participants will learn theatrical techniques such as: pantomime, singing, gymnastics, and stage combat, to create an original performance that will be showcased on Synetic’s main stage. This is a no audition/ no experience required theatrical program that will get students exploring the magic of the stage!
Performance:
Students will be supported by a team of professional actors, directors, stage lighting, sound and set design as they work to produce the original play, The Mystery of Infinity Falls.
On their way to the National Dance Competition, the students of Caesar Middle School find themselves hopelessly lost in the most mysterious place on earth – Infinity Falls, Idaho. In Infinity Falls, nothing is as it seems and paranormal is just …normal. Unable to leave, the students start uncovering the mystery of this irregular town’s past and must learn the hard way that ‘not everything is as it seems’.
The play is written exclusively for the SYE and will include wordless sequences, movement and pantomime and a whole lot of laughs.
Commitment:
The program will meet on Wednesday evenings (6pm – 8pm) and Saturday mornings (9am – 11am) for ten weeks, leading up to a final public performance on March 22nd. This is a fast moving and ensemble oriented program. Students must have consistent attendance or risk falling behind and not being included in parts of the final performance.
Email Ashton@Synetictheater.org for more information or to request a scholarship application.
Meet Your Instructor
Ashton Schaffer is a Washington DC based singer, actor, director and theater educator. Ashton holds a Bachelor of Music in Musical Theater from The Catholic University’s Rome School of Music, Drama and Art. After graduating Ashton took on the role of Education Manager and Summer Camps Director with Synetic Theater in Arlington VA where he directs the summer camp program as well as trains students in pantomime, physical theater and ensemble based theater creation. Ashton leads residencies, professional development and theater workshops around the DMV for students of all ages. He has studied and taken classes with Synetic Theater since second grade where he began in the summer camp program. He believes that everyone should have access to arts education and be able to share their stories and talents.
When not teaching Ashton has worked with notable theater companies such as: Synetic Theater, NextStop Theater Company, Monumental Theater Company, InterAct Story Theater, Little Theater of Alexandria, Upper Room Theater and more.