Monster Mash at the Regional Theatre of the Palouse

PULLMAN - The Regional Theatre of the Palouse (RTOP) held their Broadway Show Review Camp July 15 through July 19, resulting in their final Monster Mash show.

Director of the program Tina McClure said that there were 40 campers who put on "Monster Mash, Blame it on the Boogie," their final day of camp.

The play, written by her son and instructor at the camp, Garrett McClure, was about the 513th Annual Broadway Monster Mash. The Monster Mash was a special gala that featured the Purple People Eater. "We had six members of the band all named different colors of purple," McClure laughed.

McClure said all the monsters came to the big monster mash but were afraid because the Boogie Man was coming, only to learn that the Boogie Man just wanted to dance.

"They got to do some really fun songs," McClure said, "Disco Inferno, Blame it on the Boogie."

"The kids just had an amazing time dancing and singing," McClure said, "We try to make sure that we divy up the lines so that everyone has their shining moments during camp, and they worked so long all week."

Garrett McClure said that he has been doing the summer camp for a couple of years and came up with the Monster Mash thinking it would be fun for the kids to dress up like monsters. "I was thinking the boogie man, but no in the sense of a scary monster but as in dancing," he said, "Then I added a couple disco songs and that's kind of how it went."

Tina said that for some of the kids it is their first camp. "We have a big mixture and such a wide range of ages," she said, adding that it goes from ages 7 to 15. "The older ones help the younger ones and it's a team effort."

"They do a lot and it's only four days," Garrett said, "It's a great way for kids to jump into what they want to do next."

Both mother and son said that the lessons kids learn can be used wherever they go, including teamwork, enunciation and confidence.

"One of the things I really like about our program is that we really put so much on the kids and we give them a lot to learn and they always rise to the occasion," Garrett said, adding that they try to teach the kids the fundamentals of how to perform and put it all together.

"I grew up doing the camp," Garrett said, "I get to write them and see them do what I did. It's really cool."