Some familiar faces are seen on the Idyllwild Arts campus this week. They’re not former teachers or alumni, but regular Idyllwild Arts Academy students who are taking summer classes. They’re bored watching TV at home, or just want to hone in on some dance, acting, or music skills, before classes resume in the fall.

Jacob, who will be a senior, is a teacher’s assistant for the Costume Shop, and his first assignment is to outfit the play, William Shakespeare’s “MacBeth.”

“I’m really excited to be here,” Jacob said. “I was at home (in Utah) for a few weeks, but I really missed this place!”

Naturally, all of Jacob’s classmates won’t be back on campus until early September, but for many who attend Idyllwild Arts, this full-time boarding school is considered “home.”

As a theater student last year, Jacob became enamored with costumes. So much that he now wants to switch majors and focus on the Costume Shop, instead of acting onstage.

For the “Student Choreography” dance sessions held at the end of the year, Jacob helped out Ariann, a dance student, with her costumes. (See “Student Dance Choreography,” post from May 11, 2010).

“I saw her struggling with shedding the costumes, and I offered to help,” he said. “She was grateful because she needed to get back to the choreography.”

Jacob simply cut the short dresses in strips and pulled and worked with the material.

“It’s all about the material. The cuts needed to move freely when the girls were dancing,” he said.

The most notable part of the costumes was the “straight jacket effect,” in which the dancers arms were confined.

“That was a little tricky,” Jacob said. “Afterwards, everyone said they loved the costumes.”

However, it’s a giant leap from dancer’s costumes to MacBeth, but Jacob is ready for the challenge.

He also was happy to see his other classmates around campus, including Andie, Christine, Haley, Dakota, Kitty, Karina and Dom, among others. Some were visiting, while others were working summer jobs at the cafeteria or in the offices. Yet, most of them were taking summer classes.

“If an Idyllwild Arts student takes a summer class, then their summer tuition is taken off of their academy tuition,” said Diane Dennis, the Summer Program registrar. “It’s called, ‘Pay Once, Learn Twice.'”

According to the “Pay Once, Learn Twice” brochure available in the Bowman main office, Idyllwild Arts students who attend this Summer Program, will receive 100 percent reduction of their summer tuition from their academic tuition. However, it’s only available to IA students who apply to the summer program and are accepted.

Christine, a theater major who graduated in June, is a perfect example. She attended the Idylwild Arts Summer Program for three years, before she spent her senior year at Idylwild Arts Academy. Last year, she said, she received a tuition reduction.

“I wish I would have come to Idyllwild Arts Academy sooner,” Christine said. She was on campus visiting her former theater teachers. “It’s great to be here, and I hope to come back next summer as a teacher’s assistant.”

Andie, who is taking “Song and Dance,” a two-week musical theater workshop, hopes to improve her vocal and dance skills this summer. She will be a junior Theater major in the fall. She said she’ll ask Howard Shangraw, head of the Theater Department at Idyllwild Arts, to attend her final performance.

Diane said that Lina, another Theater student, is enrolled in “Theater Adventures,” a two-week class that begins July 25. There, students will act, dance, improvise and perform a short play.

For these Idyllwild Arts students, Summer Program classes can improve their skills, and “break up the monotomy” of a long summer.

Kitty, who will be attending Rice University in the fall, came back to Idyllwild Arts to help out with a summer class called the “Piano Workshop.”

Since she’s already graduated, tuition reduction is not applicable. But Kitty is happy to be back on campus.

Her plans to travel and perform in Poland were sidelined because of the economic downturn.

“She was really looking forward to visiting Poland. She really loves to travel anywhere,” said Kitty’s mother. “But those who gave her the scholarship said that they couldn’t afford to send her right now.”

Kitty won the MacNeal Award, one of many. Photo courtesy Idyllwild Arts

Kitty, who has won many musical awards and contests, will likely perform for music students during the summer.

Jacob is going to be a teacher’s assistant for three weeks. Look for his handiwork in the upcoming play, “MacBeth,” that will be held at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, July 30-31 at the JPT. For more information, visit the Idyllwild Arts web site at www.idyllwildarts.org, and click on “Summer.” And for more information on the “Pay Once, Learn Twice Program,” contact Tara Sechrest at (951) 659-2171, ext. 2345.

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