Joseph Hatchett II is spending a week of summer vacation singing, dancing and speaking in a theatrically resonant voice.
"I want to be on Broadway," the teenager from Sandtown-Winchester said. He spoke with a seriousness suggesting that his goal was not some fanciful pipe dream.
"The first play I've been in was called 'Beauty and the Beast,'" he continued. "I was about 6 or 7. I really liked it and thought it was fun, so that's what I wanted to do. It inspired me."
Joseph, 13, will perform Thursday evening at the Hippodrome Theatre with 70 other fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade students. They will present songs and monologues from popular Broadway hits for family and friends as part of their week at a free theater camp at the historic theater.
Camp Hippodrome opened its doors and its stage this week to Hatchett and other would-be thespians, dancers and singers at its annual summer camp for young people. The nonprofit Hippodrome Foundation offers one-week sessions to area students on a first-come, first-served basis throughout the theater's off season through July 20. The foundation also operates a tech camp for high school students who work with professional stagehands. Students from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Maryland School for the Blind will come in for a one-day session later in July.
This week's camp drew kids from schools in Baltimore and surrounding counties. They represent an array of neighborhoods, backgrounds and life experiences. About 500 children will have attended the camp by the end of the summer.
"What I see is typical middle school kids who are being thrown into this mix of kids from all over Baltimore," said Becky Mossing, a co-director of the camp. "They are automatically finding a way to connect with one another through singing, which is something they all really like to do."
Donald Hicken, a Hippodrome Foundation board member and retiring head of the Baltimore School for the Arts theater department, said the camp gives back to the community at every level by focusing on the unique skills that theater breeds.
"The gift of the imagination is just so outstanding, and these kids don't get enough opportunity in their regular schooling to exercise their imaginations," Hicken said. "The imagination is probably the most important muscle we have."
A day at the camp was mix of youthful energy and earnestness. The tone of the various activities ranged from creative chaos to orderly silence. In the theater skills workshop, campers scrambled to create five-minute performances from start to finish in an hour. One child dashed across the room and dragged a trash can to use as a prop as others rewrote a script.
One floor up, students sang in unison and practiced musical numbers for the show. Students in another practice room listened attentively as they took turns performing and observing speeches they had to memorize before camp began. On the Hippodrome's stage, music blasted as students learned choreographed dance moves while looking out at the 2,000-plus empty seats.
For students like Joseph hoping to pursue theater, the camp is helpful preparation for auditions for high schools such as the Baltimore School for the Arts or Baltimore County's Carver Center for Arts and Technology, said Olive Waxter, the foundation's executive director. Campers also learn important life skills such as teamwork and how to do presentations, she said.
One of Waxter's favorite memories is of a shy camper who hid in the bathroom and cried at the start of camp but was belting out a solo on stage by the end of the week.
"The child in the bathroom on Monday who does a solo on Friday may be our very best accomplishment," she said.
"This is a difficult camp," Waxter said. "They get the work in advance and have to be prepared. Commitment is one of the life skills that we emphasize. You need to be committed to your very best leading up to the performance. That's an important lesson for everyone, no matter what you want to do."
The Thursday evening show is free and open to the public.