Creekview PEAK program’s trip to USU Eastern

USU Eastern PR
Fifty-six budding Shakespearean scholars from the Creekview Elementary School PEAK (Providing Experiences and Activities for KIDS) program visited Utah State University-College of Eastern Utah.  Their purpose was to get some behind the scenes education about Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the upcoming production of the USU Eastern’s Theatre Department.  
 The students were treated to backstage tours of sets and lighting, a lecture on the history of the Geary Theatre, a workshop on Shakespearian language interpretation and another on theatrical sword fighting choreography.  The workshops were provided by the faculty and students of the USU Eastern Theatre Department.
 The group was accompanied by PEAK teacher Tami King and 11 parent chaperones.  The chaperones were surprised by the depth of knowledge demonstrated by the children and the expertise of the theatre majors providing the instruction.
 Corey Ewan, Ph.D., of the USU Eastern Theatre Department stated, “This was a great opportunity for me and the USU Eastern Theatre students to meet with a very sharp and enthusiastic group of students from Creekview Elementary.”
“We were able to share our knowledge and skills with them and they were very receptive, polite and taught us a little bit about what they expect of us and our production of Romeo and Juliet.  I was extremely impressed with how much they actually knew about Shakespeare, Elizabethan Theatre and theatre in general.  They were a great group of students.”
This experience for public school students follows a long line of public school/USU Eastern joint activities including physics/engineering department’s pumpkin chuckin’ contest, the biology department’s Cadaver Days with local high schools, the automotive technology department’s Odyssey (alternative fuels) Day, the business department’s Future Business Leader’s Competition and the criminal justice department’s CSI: Price Experience.