Popular Arts Camp Offers Full-Time Classes

Pint-sized hand prints adorn the mirrors in Coeur d’Alene’s Theatre for Youth.

Cheryl-Ann Rossi gave her students one chance to mess the mirrors before she cleans them for their debut.

On Aug. 26, the Theatre for Youth will open to the public as a year-round school. It will offer afternoon and evening classes in drama, dance, guitar and singing.

“There’s nothing here for children to do,” said Rossi, owner and director of the school. “Research shows that keeping youth occupied decreases gang-related violence and things like drug and alcohol abuse.”

Rossi isn’t opening her school only to save Coeur d’Alene’s wayward youth. A professional performer since age 10, Rossi wants children to learn from professionals who live in town or pass through.

She began with workshops for children a year ago and expanded those this summer into a drama day camp. The classes were so popular that Rossi decided to expand her theater production company to include a school.

She leased two rooms in the back of the old Washington Water Power Co. building on Fifth Street and Lakeside Avenue. Friends are painting a mural on the walls of the room that will serve as her office.

Rossi is putting a dance floor over the carpeted floor of her rehearsal room and has covered one wall with floor-to-ceiling mirrors.

Classes will start Sept. 6 and run monthly. She’ll take children as young as 4 for creative dramatics and also will offer classes to adults.

Matt Smith, the director of guitar studies at Spokane’s Whitworth College, will teach the group guitar classes.

Laura Dickinson, an actress, musician and singer, will direct the school’s North Idaho Children’s Choir. Dickinson, a soprano who teaches voice lessons, will focus on classical training. Children will be required to audition for spots in the choir.

In addition, Rossi expects to offer workshops. She said a makeup artist from Los Angeles and a special effects artist who worked on the Star Wars and Star Trek movies plan to teach one-day workshops.

Rossi has the connections to link her students with the professional performing world. She has danced with the Joffrey Ballet, portrayed Morales in “A Chorus Line” on Broadway and acted in television soaps “All My Children” and “Ryan’s Hope.”

Already, 70 of the 125 spots available in Rossi’s school are taken. She is limiting enrollment to 12 in the class for 4- to 7-year-olds. The other classes will take up to 15 children, she said.

Class prices range from $35 to $40 a month.

The school’s open house, 4-8 p.m. Aug. 26, will feature performances by soprano Kay Damiano, guitarist Matt Smith and Rossi’s intermediate mime class. For information, call 667-3530.