Confidence and Curtain Calls: A Week at Mary Poppins Drama Summer Camp

Can 40 kids learn how to sing, dance and memorize lines in less than 20 hours? At this drama summer camp they can do that and more!

Mary Bowen

July 24th, 2025

I just spent a really fun week helping a friend with a kid's drama camp as a counselor or a team leader. My friend had over 40 children sign up to participate in his Mary Poppins Drama Camp. I got to help 8 of these stay organized, have fun and prepare for their roles in the show.

What impressed me most about all of these kids? They memorized lines, dance moves and songs in only 4 days dedicating only about 25 hours to it. It was really impressive how well they did after so short of time to prepare. They pushed themselves to the limit and pulled off an amazing show. And their average age? It was only 9 years. The ages of the kids in this camp ranged from 6 to 17.

Something that I saw everyday was how important it is for children to be in the arts whether its movies or plays. Putting themselves out there makes them not so shy, more bold and outgoing. At this drama camp, children were challenged to obey adults other than their parents because a play cannot be performed well if the actors do not listen to their coach.

Learning to follow directions and feeling more confident are just some of the reasons that children should partake in acting at a young age.

Planning, Patience, and a Perfect Performance: How DJ Connelly Masterminded a 4-Day Drama Camp Success

Hats off to my friend, DJ Connelly, for having the plans of this event down pat. He showed me how important is was to remain calm, in control and to have put a lot of thought into how the day was going to be planned out from stretches, scheduled and timed lunches to daily meetings with the camp counselors. He would arrive early to set up and stay late as he gathered all the items that were left behind each day by the kids.

Another trait that I found impressive was his iron will in refusing to call a kid's parent simply because they were momentarily crying.

Another great idea of my friend's was the time limit he put on the show. He's a working dad and can't dedicate months to preparing a full scale play. Instead, he limited it to four days and only for a few hours from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm each day. In the evenings, the parents would pick their kids up and bring them back the next morning.

And guess what? The kids could do it in that amount of time! And they only spent 50% of each day working on the actually performance. The other half of the time was spent playing and doing other activities. 

Another smart move of DJ Connelly's: one performance. No weekend tour, no double days. One show.

Theme Days and Team Spirit: How Fun Challenges Brought Kids Together at Drama Summer Camp

Everyday there was a new theme that the attendees were encouraged to incorporate into their attire. It was fun to see the kids go home with a theme assignment and have them return the next day seeing that their moms and dads helped them fulfill their goals as far as they were able.

These themes were things such as team color day, crazy hair day, costume day or crazy hat day.

READ: Without Actors You Don't Have a Movie. Learn How to Get Actors to Your Auditions and How to Cast Them

Each team would choose the best representative then DJ Connelly would praise each team member's display. Then the five team leaders would put their heads together and decide which team had fulfilled the assignment the best. They would then be given a certain number of tickets to put in their bucket. At the end of the day, whichever team won the most tickets would get a candy prize.

Props, Play, and Pure Fun: How Drama Camp Kept Every Kid Engaged On and Off Stage

While the kids who had larger speaking roles were busy running through scenes, the kids who were cast as dancers, singers or extras were kept busy with other activities. This included decorating team banners, assembling various props that would be used for the show, answering trivia questions, playing with sidewalk chalk, blowing bubbles or playing with water balloons!

READ: Help an Acting Volunteer Become an Actor With Rehearsals to Get Familiarized with the Script and Benefit from Plenty of Coaching Help

Another fun activity that DJ Connelly organized was an obstacle course. My team was short one runner so I had to run with my team. I was sore for a few days afterwards but our team won 30 tickets for being the fastest so it was worth it.

Quiet Moments and Classical Music: The Power of Rest at Drama Summer Camp

Surprisingly, one of my favorite parts of the drama summer camp schedule was the rest time. Interestingly, this was some of the kid's favorite part too. It is important to take a break and recuperate every now and then. DJ Connelly would turn off all the lights in the gym and then turn on Pachelbel's Canon.

READ: Study Music Appreciation for Families in 6 Lessons

For a solid seven minutes, the kids would sit by themselves quietly. The music helped to time the break and it also provided a soothing way to relax for a few minutes. Afterwards, the lights were turned back on and we were all back to work preparing for the show.

Showtime Magic: Young Stars Shine on the Final Day of Drama Summer Camp

Finally, the last day of camp and the day of the performance arrived. The kids put on their costumes and rehearsed on the stage. Faustina and I mic-ed them all up then they waited in the "Green Room" until their parents, grandparents and friends arrived.

They all knew their lines, they all knew the dances and they all sang their hearts out. It was a loaded week full of fun memories and I can't wait to do it all over again next month with The Greatest Showman Drama Summer Camp!

Mary Beth Bowen is a movie director and entrepreneur. 

Since 2018, she has distributed four movies through her online platform at Industrious Family Films where she also contributes to the #ReclaimChristianArtBlog. Her 5th film is currently in pre-production.

Some of her passions include history, classical literature, and modest fashion: topics she usually writes about to share her great love for these things.