Jodie Mahoney Center Continues MT Stage Summer Camp Series for 2025

Dr. Ann Robinson, founding director of the Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education and distinguished professor in the School of Education at UA Little Rock, has been awarded $15,548.92 for the summer program MT Stage: From the Bard to Broadway. The Academic Enrichment for Gifted/Talented in Summer(AEGIS) grant comes from the Arkansas Department of Education, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. Lori Delk, the Mahony Center’s professional learning director, is serving as co-administrator for the AEGIS project. Applications for the one-week commuter camp, scheduled for late June, were open to students completing grades 7-9.

During the camp, students will study William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and create modernized scenes with original song lyrics. To achieve that goal, they will explore subjects including Shakespearean insults, setting up theatrical scenes, and stage combat. The week will culminate with a showcase performance at 2 p.m. on June 27 in the Donaghey Student Center Ledbetter conference rooms, which will be open to the public. From the Bard to Broadway continues the MT Stage summer camp series, which the Mahony Center has led for several years.

The camp is a vital enrichment opportunity for students, Robinson and Delk wrote in their proposal. “Adolescent students, in particular, need to experience the arts in various forms such as music and lyrics, creative writing, and performance,” they said, explaining how music exposure stimulates parts of the brain associated with math and reading, and how the performing arts can help develop youths’ social skills and confidence.