The Glove Theatre presents its fourth annual Glove Summer Academy, featuring an original musical adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s short story, The Necklace, written, composed, and produced by the Rising Stars of The Glove Academy.

 “We are so proud of this special program that provides a 4-week/5 day per week arts “camp” program for teens and tweens (ages 11 to 18), a group that tends to be underserved by most local day camp programs.”, said Kathleen Perrott, President of The Glove Theatre Board of Directors.

“The students learn not only theater skills but life skills they will take with them wherever they go including: an appreciation of theater, finding their voice, making new friends, speaking/singing/dancing on stage in front of an audience, learning they can do things they never thought they could do, making things happen together as a cohesive team.,” continued Perrott. “These skills will be invaluable to them wherever they go and whatever they do. Seeing the progress participants make from the first day through to the end is incredible. I am so pleased The Glove Theatre continues to make this program a priority – and that we continue to receive the community support that enables us to continue to provide this program free to participants.”

The Glove Academy

Now in its fourth consecutive year, The Glove Academy began in late 2021 as a happy accident, when the originally planned Summer Youth Mainstage production of Fiddler on the Roof, Jr. fell through.  Lead Teaching Artist, Michael Maricondi, pivoted the program and helped lead the group of 9 students to write, compose, produce, and perform their own, original musical, based on urban legends and ghost stories, called Kampfire Stories, over the course of less than two weeks.  The surprise success of that program led The Glove’s Board of Directors to install The Academy as a yearly summer staple.  Since its permanent inclusion in The Glove’s yearly programming, The Academy has grown to comprise two weeks of conservatory-style arts training in acting, singing, dance, playwriting, music composition, voice and speech, improvisation, technical theatre, and more. In addition to Maricondi, two additional teachers work with program participants; dance/movement coach and choreographer, Heather Mattioni, daughter of Carol Mattioni of Carol’s Cameos Dance Studio 184, and storytelling coach and dramaturg, Jameson “Sonny” Duross, regional performer and staple employee at the Gloversville Public Library. The program focuses on all aspects of theatre production and performance and exposes students to world literature which has included, in the past, ghost stories & urban legends, world mythologies, and world fairy tales.

This year is a banner year for The Academy, which boasts its highest student enrollment ever of 22 full-time students, and underwritings from regional organizations, including 100 Women Who Care of the Adirondack Foothills, Saratoga Arts, Stewart’s Holiday Match Fund, and local families, allowing the program to be free of cost to students from sixth grade to recently graduated high school seniors.  The teaching artists have also tweaked the rollout of the students’ production, streamlining it from three short musicals written by three groups of students to aprogram-wide adaptation of a piece of world literature in the form of Guy de Maupassant’s darkly comedic short story, The Necklace.

“This year is a step-up in many ways.” says Lead Teaching Artist, Michael Maricondi.  “Not only is this the largest class we’ve ever had, but the students are really beginning to think conceptually about theatre as both a visual and literary art form.  Having them focus all together on one story has seen their literary analysis skills grow in leaps and bounds, and they are thinking ‘past the page’, beginning to conceive choreographic and even psychological sequences like a professional Broadway-bound writing team would.  The team and I couldn’t be more impressed and proud.”

Dance coach and choreographer, Mattioni, adds “Even though most of the students have not had formal dance and movement training outside of The Academy, they are showing extreme bravery and skill in exploring how their bodies move, and how movement and dance can become a cornerstone of collective storytelling.  Dance, after all, is both artistic and athletic; we believe that combining these two facets will help continue to inspire students to study movement on their own for both their creativity as well as their physical, emotional, and mental well-being.”  This year, notably, students have been trained in contemporary as well as ballroom dance for their production, which sets itself in the late 19^th century.

Performances August 16-18

The Academy Students’ production of The Necklace will hold 4 performances: August 16^th and 17^th at 7.00pm, and 2.00pm matinées on August 17^th and 18th.  Adult beverages, including Stump City brews, will be on sale to patrons 21 and over with valid I.D. General Admission tickets are set at $5.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit their website at www.theglovetheatre.com, or direct ticketing link at ticketstripe.com/gloveacademy.