Learning Stage

Camp 56

Learning Stages in cooperation with Festival 56 has a mission to bring educationally sound professional theatre experiences to young actors ages 8-14. This intensive experience is designed to allow our campers the opportunity to develop their acting, singing, movement, and dancing skills while creating alongside industry professionals assembled from across the country. Over the course of one month, campers will participate in a series of theatrical experiences including auditioning, improvisation, design, make-up, prop making, technical theatre, management, and musical theatre. Campers will be cast in, rehearse and perform with experienced professionals from the Festival 56 company in this summer’s mainstage production of The Little Mermaid as part of the company. Campers will be offered a unique perspective behind the scenes and backstage while gaining knowledge by participating in professional dress and tech rehearsals and seeing a show through from its opening until closing night. This summer opportunity allows campers the chance to gain a better understanding of a career in theatre as they meet and interact with seasoned professional artists.

Camp 56 will be held weekdays from July 7– July 18 at St. Matthews Lutheran Church with camp Co Directors and assistants. The culmination of the camp experience will be an onstage appearance – as part of the chorus ensemble in five to ten performances (July 25-August 3) of the Festival 56 production of The Little Mermaid.

The camp fee is $125 per child. Need-based scholarships are available, as are family discounts. Registration forms can be picked up at the theater, or accessed below. Camp forms along with the registration fees, should be mailed to the Festival box office at 316 S. Main St., Princeton, IL 61356 or scanned and returned to LearningStage@Festival56.com. If you choose to pay for your registration online, please go to our ticketing site and click on Camp 56. Service fees apply when purchasing online. Registration deadline is June 30, 2025.

Camp 56 Forms

• Registration Form
• Medical Information Form
• Risk & Liability Release Form
• Scholarship Form
• Camper Release Form
• Performance Schedule for Camp 56 The Little Mermaid