Student Arts Reception
A reception for Guild Hall’s Student Arts Festival, which opened last weekend, will be held on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. Not only will families be able to check out the exhibition’s artworks, which have a water theme this year, but there will be musical performances, dance numbers, film screenings, and refreshments. The festival, which includes work by some 2,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, will continue through Feb. 9.
Improv Open House
Our Fabulous Variety Show will give young actors a taste of its upcoming improv workshops during a free open house on Monday evening at AKT Studio in East Hampton. A sample workshop for ages 11 and under will run from 5:30 to 7, and one for ages 12 and up will follow from 7 to 8:30. The eight-week workshops will begin on Feb. 3 at the same times. The cost is $250, and registration is at ourfabulousvarietyshow.org.
The nonprofit theater education organization, founded in 2010 by Anita Boyer and Kasia Klimiuk, runs theater and dance classes and stages productions for and starring adults and kids across the East End.
Bay Street Workshops, Camp
Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor is offering a number of new performance workshops for kids and teens starting in the next few weeks. The first, Creating a Character, for ages 7 to 10, begins next Thursday from 4 to 5:30 p.m. and will continue weekly through March 11, excluding school holidays. Participants will research characters and work on movement, stage presence, voice projection, and breathing.
In Teen Scene, a weekly class running Feb. 1 through March 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., teen actors will work on a range of material from classical to contemporary and learn about different approaches to acting. Allen O’Reilly, the theater’s director of education and community outreach, will be the instructor.
Each costs $300 and will culminate in a performance for family and friends on the final day of class.
Scott Baker, an actor, comedian, and educator, will teach a one-day improv workshop for kids 13 to 17 on Feb. 8 from 2 to 5 p.m. According to the theater’s website, “participants will learn how to articulate their viewpoints, accept ‘mistakes’ as gifts, become inspired team players, and communicate their ideas more effectively while having a ton of laughs doing it!” The cost is $125.
Looking ahead to the February school break, the theater will run a weeklong musical performance camp for ages 7 to 17 titled Mighty Myths and Legends with Teresa DeBerry. Young performers will create a musical blending inspiration from their own lives with classic myths and fairy tales. The camp will meet Feb. 17 through 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., culminating in a performance for friends and family. The cost is $500.
Registration information for the classes and the camp is at baystreet.org.
Singing at the Y
Registration is underway for a Tuesday afternoon group singing class for kids 6 to 13 at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter with Lucy Caracappa. The class will meet weekly from 3:30 to 4:30 from Feb. 4 through April 7.
Ms. Caracappa, known to students as Miss Lucy, has taught at the Y for a number of years and also offers private singing lessons to students on the North and South Forks, with performance opportunities each season that include her Y students and her private students. In the fall, they sang at Guild Hall in East Hampton and at Union Cantina in Southampton.
The cost for the series of classes is $190, or $155 for full members of the RECenter. Advance registration is required.
Play Dough Time
Not only is play dough fun to play with, it’s easy to make. On Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton, families with children 3 to 6 will learn how to use simple nontoxic ingredients to make their own play dough. The cost is $20 including museum admission, $7 for museum members. Advance sign-up is a must.
Winter Scenes
Using tape, magazine pages, and paint, kids 6 and older will make winter scenes of birch trees in an art program at the East Hampton Library on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Next Thursday, the library will host a glow-in-the-dark yoga session for high school students at 3:30 p.m. At 4:30, they can face off against a librarian in a pop culture trivia game using Kahoot. Participants should take their smartphones so they can download the Kahoot app. Virtual Reality Trip For something completely different, on Tuesday afternoon from 3:30 to 5 at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, kids in sixth grade and up can immerse themselves in a virtual reality experience. Younger kids ages 8 to 12 can go on a virtual journey using Google Expeditions next Thursday at 4 p.m. On Friday, Jan. 31, scratch art is on the agenda during a program for all ages at 4 p.m.
Let the Debate Begin!
A monthly teen debate club, offering well-informed teens the chance to discuss current issues in a “friendly but competitive environment,” will meet at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Staff will facilitate the discussion.
The library is offering teenagers an introduction to the game Pathfinder, an offshoot of Dungeons & Dragons, on Monday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Also on Monday, high school students have been invited to an Advanced Battle of the Books session at 5 p.m. at which they will prepare to face off against teams from other libraries in a countywide trivia contest focusing on Anna Priemaza’s “Kat and Meg Conquer the World,” Marie Lu’s “Warcross,” and Ransom Riggs’s “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.” The contest will take place on Feb. 28 at Connetquot High School. Snacks will be provided at all three programs.
In Amagansett and Montauk
A play dough party for kids 3 and up will happen at the Amagansett Library on Saturday at 11 a.m.
In Montauk, kids from 5 to 18 have been invited to learn to make a Chinese-inspired dish using fresh ingredients at a Chinese New Year celebration on Saturday at 2 p.m.