A local dance studio recently offered a weeklong Broadway Bound camp to teach youth about the joys of singing, dancing, musical theatre, Broadway history and audition prep. About halfway through the week, the camp instructors taught the students how to prepare for an audition; of course, you cannot audition for a role without the all important headshot. This is where I come in.
I setup in one of the practice rooms at the studio and took headshots of all the kids over the course of an hour or so. Some kids were ready to smile, some needed a bit of encouragement and others did not want to walk away after they were done. They were an exceedingly excellent bunch of kids, all fun to work and joke with.
After all the photos were taken, I sat with the instructors and picked out the best shot of each of the kids. That night, I edited each of the headshots and sent them to a lab to get an 8×10 printed for each image. On the last day of the camp two days later, the students put on a small show featuring musicals throughout history. In the lobby, each headshot was presented next to the student’s Broadway-bio that they had written during the week. It was in essence a very large playbill.
The reactions of the parents were priceless. One mother stopped from across the room as soon as she saw her daughter’s headshot, with a small gasp and a hand to her mouth. She then approached slowly for a closer look. I was lucky to be able to witness that moment.
The performance was great and the kids were adorable. I’m hoping for a repeat next summer and hope to be part of it.