We offer year-round classes for all ages

Below is our core mission when it comes to teaching classes:
Shaking the Tree Studio is a laboratory for tomorrow's theatre makers. By using the same principles we hold dear for play-making, we seek to provide students with rich and varied literature, allow them to explore it through immersion, and witness them experience a deeper connection of thought, feeling, and action, as a result.

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SPRING CLASSES 2019
​April 1st - May 22nd

Shaking the Tree classes are story based. We work our way through a story, or story collection, by acting it out each week. In addition to this, students play skill building warm-up games at the start of each class. Two or three weeks before our last class (depending on the age group), we vote on our favorite story, rehearse, and act it out for family and friends at our final class.

CLASS FULL

$195.00

Tuesdays

4:00 - 5:30pm

April 2nd - May 21st

(There will be a performance at 5pm at the final class)

"Ming-Li looked up and tried to imagine the sky silent, empty of birds. It was a terrible thought. Her country's leader had called sparrows the enemy of the farmers--they were eating too much grain, he said. He announced a great "Sparrow War" to banish them from China, but Ming-Li did not want to chase the birds away."

Meet characters like Ming-Li and others who feel a calling to protect and help the Earth. Find out how having the courage to stand up for others, helps everyone.

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CLASS FULL

$195.00

Wednesdays

4:00 - 5:30pm

April 2nd - May 22nd

(There will be a performance at 5pm at the final class)

"The first time I heard about Planet Choom, we'd been on Mars for almost a year. But life on the Mars station was grim, and since Earth was no longer an option (we may have blown it up), it was time to find a new home.

That's how we ended up on Choom with the Zhuri. They're very smart. They also look like giant mosquitos. But that's not why it's so hard to live here. There's a lot that the Zhuri don't like: singing (just ask my sister, Ila), comedy (one joke got me sent to the principal's office), or any kind of emotion. The biggest problem, though? The Zhuri don't like us. And if humankind is going to survive, it's up to my family to change their minds. No pressure."

Each week, we will work on a new scene from the story, we will eventually pick our favorite scene/s to perform for family and friends at our final class.

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Ages 11-14)

$195.00

Mondays

4:30 - 6:00pm

April 1st - May 20th

(There will be a performance at 5:30pm at the final class)

A New Year’s feast at King Arthur’s court is interrupted by the appearance of a gigantic Green Knight, resplendent on horseback. He challenges any one of Arthur’s men to behead him, provided that if he survives he can return the blow a year later. Sir Gawain accepts the challenge and decapitates the knight – but the mysterious warrior cheats death and vanishes, bearing his head with him. The following winter Gawain sets out to find the Knight in the wild Northern lands and to keep his side of the bargain. One of the great masterpieces of Middle English poetry, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight magically combines elements of fairy tale and heroic sagas with the pageantry, chivalry and courtly love of medieval Romance.

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SUMMER CAMPS 2019
June 17th - August 16th

The books for this year's summer camps are curated by long time student and star of three Shaking the Tree Productions, A Doll's House, Orpheus and Eurydice, and We're All Mad Here, Daeja Paschoal-Thiem.
Daeja met Artistic Director, Samantha Van Der Merwe, when she taught weekly classes at Daeja's preschool, Heartwood.

Daeja has a great passion for reading, storytelling, and all things creative, and recently shared her favorite books with Samantha.
She hopes you will enjoy acting them out as much as she enjoyed reading them.

About Shaking the Tree's Summer camps
​Summer camps run from Monday - Friday from 9:30am - 12:30pm.
We focus on one book during our week together.
We read and act out scenes from the book each day, until the end of Wednesday’s class, when we vote on our three (or four) favorite scenes.
On Thursday we paint the set and make props.
​On Friday, we perform the show for family and friends. 

Please pack a nutritious snack for your child.
Email us here with any questions

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Classes listed in order of Dates offered

The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander M. Smith (Ages 5-8)

$195.00

June 17th -21st

Monday - Friday

9:30am-12:30pm

Please pack a nutritious snack for your child

There will be a performance of our story on Friday at noon.

Have you ever said to yourself, Wouldn’t it be nice to be a detective?

This is the story of a girl who says just that. Her name is Precious.

When a piece of cake goes missing from her classroom, a traditionally built young boy is tagged as the culprit. Precious, however, is not convinced. She sets out to find the real thief. Along the way she learns that your first guess isn’t always right. She also learns how to be a detective.

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The House above the Trees by Ethel Cook Eliot (Ages 5-8)

$195.00

June 24th - 28th

Monday - Friday

9:30am - 12:30pm

Please pack a nutritious snack for your child

There will be a performance of our story on Friday at noon.

"Tree Mother put her hand on the trunk, "This is the stair to my house," she said, "we must climb." The branches were very close together and the climb was rather like going up difficult stairs. As they ascended The House Above the Trees, the moonlight grew brighter and brighter."

The House Above the Trees is a magical tale of childhood and the natural world. An orphan girl child is rejected by the human world and undertakes a journey through a magical forest. A wonderful fantasy written by Ethel Cook Eliot, first published in 1921. 

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The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau (Ages 8-11)

$195.00

July 8 - 12

Monday - Friday

9:30am - 12:30pm

Please pack a nutritious snack for your child

There will be a performance of our story on Friday at noon.

Nothing exciting happens on the Hill of Dust, in the remote mountains of Mexico in the 1950s. There's no electricity, no plumbing, no cars, just day after day of pasturing goats. And now, without his sister and mother, eleven-year-old Teo's life feels even more barren. And then one day, the mysterious young Esma, who calls herself the Gypsy Queen of Lightning, rolls into town like a fresh burst of color. Against all odds, her caravan's Mistress of Destiny predicts that Teo and Esma will be longtime friends. Suddenly, life brims with possibility. With the help of a rescued duck, a three-legged skunk, a blind goat, and other allies, Teo and Esma must overcome obstacles-even death-to fulfill their impossible destiny. Inspired by true stories derived from rural Mexico, The Lightning Queen offers a glimpse of the encounter between two fascinating but marginalized cultures--the Rom and the Mixtec Indians--while telling the heart-warming story of an unlikely friendship that spans generations.

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The Conch Bearer by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (CLASS FULL)

$195.00

July 15th - 19th

Monday - Friday

9:30am - 12:30pm

Please pack a nutritious snack for your child

There will be a performance of our story on Friday at noon.

In a dingy shack in the less-than-desirable Indian neighborhood he calls home, twelve-year-old Anand is entrusted with a conch shell that possesses mystical powers. His task is to return the shell to its rightful home many hundreds of miles away. Accompanying him are Nisha, a headstrong but resourceful child of the streets, and a mysterious man of indeterminate age and surprising resources named Abadhyatta. His quest will take him farther from home than he's ever been and will teach him more than he ever imagined -- and it will force him to make a poignant decision that will change him forever.

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Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (Ages 11-14)

$195.00

July 22nd - 26th

Monday - Friday

9:30am - 12:30pm

Please pack a nutritious snack for your child

There will be a performance of our story on Friday at noon.

In her own singularly beautiful style, Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion.

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and the "Indian-ness in her blood," travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a "potential lunatic," and whose mother disappeared.

As Sal entertains her grandparents with Phoebe's outrageous story, her own story begins to unfold—the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose only wish is to be reunited with her missing mother.

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The Ancient One by Tom Barron (Ages 11-14)

$195.00

July 29th - August 2nd

Monday - Friday

9:30am - 12:30pm

Please pack a nutritious snack for your child

There will be a performance of our story on Friday at noon.

A powerful story exploring the interconnectedness of all things. 13-year-old Kate travels to Oregon for a quiet week at Aunt Melanie’s cottage, her plans are dashed by the discovery of a grove of giant redwood trees in nearby Lost Crater. While helping try to protect the redwood forest from loggers, Kate goes back five centuries through a time tunnel and finds herself facing the evil creature Gashra, who is bent on destroying the same forest. In this extraordinary quest from The Adventures of Kate series, a girl discovers that all living things are connected in ways she never expected, and that true friendship can reach across cultures, and even across centuries.

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Beginning Improv with Emma Stewart (Ages 8-11)

$195.00

August 12th - 16th

Monday - Friday

9:30am - 12:30pm

Please pack a nutritious snack for your child

There will be a showcase performance at noon on Friday

Have a blast learning the basics of Improvisation through tons of fun games and group activities! Discuss the fundamentals of what makes a scene fun and learn to apply it to your own acting, while learning skills that are crucial in theatre and life. There will be five sessions over five days culminating in a showcase at noon on Friday, to show off your new skills to loved ones.

The class will be run by Emma Stewart.

Emma is a student and PSU getting her bachelors in english, on the pre-elementary eduction track. She loves that theatre teaches empathy and collaboration in a way that nothing else can.

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Ages 14 & up

Welcome to our new Teen program at Shaking the Tree! Our goal is to have our students go through the process of rehearsing and performing a play, by working alongside theatrical professionals. Not only will students perform in the play, they will also have opportunities to learn all aspects of technical production. At Shaking the Tree we believe that students learn best by doing, and we know that intermediate students crave opportunities to have "hands on" learning experiences.

If you are yearning to sink your teeth into a rich and intensive experience, working with the best instructors in the field, then this class is for you! We have four scholarships available.
Please EMAIL us if you would like to apply for a partial or full scholarship for the class.
Sign up before April 30th and receive an early-bird discount.

• Do you have questions about the camp? EMAIL us and we'll get back to you with answers.
• Would you prefer to split the payment into two or three installments? EMAIL us here to help set up a payment plan.

The Girl Who was a Hundred Girls by Finegan Kruckemeyer,  Directed by Pat Moran

$585.00

July 8th - 26th

(Three week camp)

Monday - Friday 1-4pm

Tech day: Sat 7/13 from 10-4pm

Performances: Tues 7/23 & Wed 7/24 at 7:30

Teens (aged 14 & up)

• Are you ready for an intensive summer experience, resulting in a production?
• Have you been looking for an opportunity to act in a play directed and designed by theatre professionals who also excellent teachers?
• Have you been yearning to learn about all of the aspects of play production, like Set Design, Lighting Design, Sound Design, and Costume Design?
• Do you want to learn what it takes to direct a show?
• Do you want to try your hand at all of the above?

If so, then this three-week camp is for you.

The play

What company can solitude offer? A girl is kidnapped. She is kept in a room. She sees no one. She hears nothing. She has only her shadow as companion. After a time, she tells it her stories. After some more, it lends her its own.

The girl who was a hundred girls is the story of eight women, over different generations, borne from one woman. Each has a task that seems too great for an individual – liberation, victory, to conquer, to love. But each has hope.

Guys: Don't let the title and description fool you. There are incredible parts for boys too!

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