The Glove Theatre announces productions for the YoungArts Program

Summer Musical & Theatre Institute and an Open House on May 3rd for students and parents

GLOVERSVILLE, NEW YORK – April 2, 2025 – The Glove Theatre announces the YoungArts Program, a children-focused arts program designed for grade school, junior, and senior high school students. The Summer Musical program will provide a two-week program for children in first through twelfth grade culminating with public performances of Disney’s The Jungle Book KIDS from July 11-13.

The Glove’s Theatre Institute, a four-week full-day summer camp for middle and high school students, will give participants the opportunity to create and perform their own original adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance with public performances from August 15-17.

Since being saved from the wrecking ball in the 1990s, The Glove Theatre has always been home to children’s theatrical productions. Since then, many young community members, including a number of our current Board members, Board members’ children and grandchildren, and volunteers, were first introduced to the stage and theatre at The Glove. The Glove Theatre is thrilled to continue this rich tradition again this year.

Board President, Kathleen Perrott, indicated, “We are so pleased to once again offer two very special summer programs providing theatrical experiences to the youth of Fulton and Montgomery counties and beyond. Both programs are FREE and open to all – no one is turned away. The Glove’s YoungArts Children’s Musical provides a fun two-week introduction to the stage for our youngest aspiring thespians (first through twelfth grade). The Glove’s YoungArts Theatre Institute provides a free 4-week theatrical arts program for teens and tweens (ages 11 to 18) – an age group that tends to be underserved by most local day camp programs. We love creating new experiences, memories, and a love of theatre – right here in the heart of downtown Gloversville at The Glove Theatre!”

This summer, The Glove welcomes back Jennifer Flynn to our YoungArts Program. Jennifer Flynn returns as Lead Teaching Artist of the Children’s Musical for first through twelfth grade school students. The Glove also welcomes two new teaching artists to the YoungArts team! Kristoph DiMaria will serve as Lead Teaching Artist of the Theatre Institute – The Glove’s middle through high school theatrical summer day camp program. Jamie Eacker Jennings will serve as an Educator for both summer programs.

The Glove’s YoungArts program has a dedicated team of volunteer educators/subject matter experts

In addition to the educator staff, The Glove’s YoungArts program has a dedicated team of volunteer educators/subject matter experts – including Holly St. Andrews, Aaron Enfield (Glove Board Member), and Chris Ihasz (Glove Board Member). All three volunteers have previously worked in the theatre world of sound, lighting, costume design, technical design, construction, special effects, and arts administration. They look forward to lending their skills and knowledge to The Glove’s YoungArts program this summer.

Interested students, parents, and community members are invited to an Open House at The Glove on Saturday, May 3, 2025, from 10:00 am – 12:30 pm to meet the educator team and to learn more about this year’s YoungArts program.

Meet The Glove’s YoungArts Teaching Artists

Jennifer Flynn

Jennifer Flynn is a lifelong resident of Fulton County and works as an English teacher at Gloversville Middle School. There, she directs shows for both the middle and high schools. Each year, she directs between two and four shows for the school district and community theaters. Flynn has performed with the Colonial Little Theatre and with Foothills Family Productions. She has been directing the summer children’s musicals at The Glove since 2017.“I always enjoy my time at The Glove Theatre working with kids from various schools and age groups during the summer. We have a lot of fun working together, not only on a show, but in developing lifelong friendships.”

Kristoph “Rags” DiMaria

DiMaria is a lifelong resident of the Capital Region and a Co-Founder of Will Kempe’s Players, a regional theater cooperative from Troy, NY that produces a wide range of theatrical performances using the methods used by William Shakespeare and his contemporaries. He has worked with Troy Foundry Theatre, Theatre Voices, Saratoga Shakespeare, Creative Action Unlimited, SUNY Schenectady, Sand Lake Center for the Arts, and Make-A-Wish Northeast New York. He is currently a Teaching Artist at the Castle Island Bilingual Montessori School in Albany. For more than seven (7) years, Kristoph has performed as “Ragliacci” the clown (“Rags”, for short), inspired by the Pochinko clowning tradition. He has previously performed in Gloversville, the first time with the SUNY Schenectady Vocal Chamber Ensemble at The Glove Theatre in 2017. In 2019 and 2021, he performed a one-clown adaptation of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to family audiences at the Fulton County Historical Society.

“I am delighted to be serving the communities of Fulton and Montgomery counties as the Lead Teaching Artist for the Summer Institute. Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic, Pirates of Penzance, is a comic or “light” opera that bridges the gap between Europe and America’s 19th-century “grand opera” and the birth of contemporary musical theatre on NYC’s Broadway and beyond. My background as a trained musician, clown, and theatre maker will braid together this satirical storytelling of pirates, maidens, and generals. I look forward to engaging the students and elevating their learning experience by devising with them to explore new musical stylings, hints of circus, and their own perspectives on these art forms.”

Jamie Eacker Jennings

© 2015 | Kristina Sherk Photography | www.Kristinasherk.com

Jennings is a Gloversville native and a veteran of the Glove Theatre’s summer shows dating back to the 2000s. She is a graduate of the American Musical & Dance Academy (AMDA) in New York City and has had a successful career as an Equity Actress in the MD/DC/VA area, where she has performed in over 30shows. She performed in two National Tours with the Kennedy Center and joined Marvin Hamlisch as a Soloist in NSO Pops. Jamie has also performed at Ford’s Theatre in A Christmas Carol, Studio Theatre Grey Gardens, and Signature Theatre in Titanic, just to name a few. She regularly performed at the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre in VA most notably, she was in the original cast and performed as Dance Captain/Swing, understudying for Heidi Blickenstaff (Katherine) in Freaky Friday.

“I am excited to be back in Gloversville after a 20-year hiatus. As an Educator to both shows, I cannot wait to instill my knowledge, experience, and expertise that I have gained in the professional theatre world with the students of The Glove Theatre, a theatre I have so many fond memories of.”

The Glove welcomes the community to join them at the theatre for the May 3rd Open House from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm to meet the team and to learn more about this year’s program.

The Glove thanks all their donors and sponsors who enable The Glove to offer these special programs to participants free of charge – with special gratitude to 100 Women Who Care of the Adirondack Foothills.

In addition, The Glove Theatre is proud to acknowledge that their programs are also made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.