In the Fall of 2005 Yes! And… and the simple way joined forces officially, for the first time, to host an after-school program in conjunction with Public/Private Ventures and their YET Centers at 3200 Potter Street.  This collaborative arts literacy program was a wonderful space for children from Kensington to learn reading and writing skills while making and playing together. 

The 2006 summer camp season was as full as ever… With a 6 week afternoon program at UrbanPromise, we had Tiki gods for a second year and Rolanyi Galan jumped in at the last second with her character Dimondz, hosting the talk show that revealed the intricately woven stories of the Gwillys and the Anamatonic Fierce Chisels.

Our high school program SHADOW Camp kicked off in the beginning of July bringing kids together from Camden, North Philadelphia, Fishtown and even Virginia.  This diverse group of young people worked hard in the mornings building a company of actors training in stage combat, Viewpoints, yoga and hip-hop; in the afternoon each company member was off to the camp that Yes! And… was running in their own neighborhood to work as Junior Staff.  Playing and working all summer, these young adults far exceeded our expectations and not only created an interesting, engaging, mature and entertaining piece of theatre – called “Port-Air Back-Flash”, but they also participated with Yes! And… teachers and staff, modeling and mentoring younger children from their own neighborhoods.

At Trinity Baptist Church for a third year, the complexity of the stories and the clarity and joy with which each tribes stories were delivered was staggering.  And to be honest most of us have never laughed so hard as we did at the Marate Dance (in video on right) or the Salsa Showdown – it was a blast!

On the first day of the two-week camp at Atonement Lutheran Church in Fishtown, the staff gave each tribe something locked to ‘guard’.  They had to imagine what was inside and make sure that it was kept safe.  I have never seen a group of kids buy into their imaginations with such commitment and consistency (and, I must say, I’ve never seen a battered old suitcase and rusty toolbox with a more complex security matrix).  The celebration on that last Friday was without a doubt our most unique and non-traditional presentation to date (which is saying a lot)…a museum opening where the audience moved through the space learning along the way about two mysterious groups of people, whose only remaining artifacts had found their way into a suitcase and toolbox…imagine that…

There is so much that we could say about our two, one-week camps for 5-10 year olds at Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church this year but it is all summed up in one word…FUN!   There were black holes, cannibal life-size Barbie’s and a universal fear of teddy bears – not to mention some really amazing kids!  We played and we played hard.  Any staff who visited the program insisted that, next year, they get to come work at this program designed for our youngest campers.