PIC Kids | PIC

For Rising 2nd-5th Graders

JUL 21-25 Growl and Groove (FULL**)

JUL 28-Aug 1 Fairy Tale Mash Up

AUG 4-8 Theatrical Clown 1

AUG 11-15 Theatrical Clown 2

9am-3pm each day

$350/week

For Rising 6th-9th Graders

AUG 4-8 Improvise and Devise 1

AUG 11-15 Improvise and Devise 2

9:00am-3:00 pm each day

$350/week

All sessions will be held at Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity, 130 Pine St, Florence

**if sessions are full, you can email rachel@playincubation.org to be added to the waitlist**

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At PIC Kids Summer, young artists (rising 2nd-9th graders) will go on an adventure through the creative process as they explore theater, movement, visual art, and more. Each week follows a different theme, and all weeks will culminate in a sharing of the young artists' original work on Fridays at 2:30pm. The number of participants each week is capped at 14, with an average 1:4 instructor/counselor to participant ratio.

Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity is a non-profit organization established to steward the property at 130 Pine Street, in Florence, Massachusetts - a historic gathering place founded by abolitionists who championed anti-slavery, gender equity, and religious tolerance. Carrying these values forward, we serve our community as a venue for transformative arts experiences, spiritual growth, and challenging conversations.

We are currently raising money for a scholarship fund for this year to ensure that all young artists who would like to attend PIC Kids Summer are indeed able to. If you would like to contribute to this effort, please click the "Give Today!" button below.

If you wish to apply for the scholarship, you can do so here.

Additionally, Scarlet Sock Foundation offers grants for youth arts programs. You can learn more and apply here.

If you would like to make a financial contribution to Scholarship Fund, click the button below.

Give Today!

Richie Barshay began drumming inside kitchen cabinets at an early age, and continues banging on things worldwide to this day. He has performed with Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Esperanza Spalding, The Klezmatics, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, Natalie Merchant, Bobby McFerrin, Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, Donald Harrison, Lionel Loueke, Julian Lage, the Curtis Brothers, Gabriel Kahane, Pete Seeger, and the Tony Award winning musical The Band’s Visit on Broadway and national tour.

As an Arts Educator, he trained at New England Conservatory of Music, and Lincoln Center Education Summer Forum, and has taught groups and individuals of all ages about global rhythms, body percussion, improvisation, and drumming in general. Based in Northampton, Massachusetts and New York City, he is an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher helping performing artists and others develop more body-mind coordination and ease of movement.

Gabriel CiFuentes is an educator and multi-disciplinary theater artist based in The Pioneer Valley. He has worked in a variety of roles (actor, director, improviser, sound designer, and/or stage manager) with companies such as Real Live Theatre, Silverthorne, Serious Play, and Plays In Place. Gabriel loves to incorporate his improv experiences, garnered from Paintbox Theatre and Happier Valley Comedy, into his work with youth to help them create new original plays through a devised development process. He has worked with ages ranging from 5 to 18+. His work with Multi-Arts and PIC’s Youth Performance Festival has led to a collaborative and fun exploration of artistic mediums ranging from theater, live video and animation, sound design, poetry, and stand-up comedy. Apart from his work in the public educational system, Gabriel has also led and developed educational workshops and devised play workshops for the general community with WAM Theatre and Enchanted Circle Theater. He is a member of the PIC Artistic Advisory Team.

Anna Fox (she/her) is a playwright, performer, teacher and astrologer. Her work has been performed at a variety of locations around the country, including her play “The Sarahs” at PIC PIPS, and she has also been a mentor for YPF. She’s worked with kids and teens ages 3-18 the majority of her adult life, nannying, working in preschools, and teaching improv, playwriting, satire + parody writing and screenwriting to teens and adults. She received her MFA in Playwriting from UCLA, where she was invited back to teach undergraduate playwriting courses. She is currently an Assistant Preschool Teacher at The Common School in Amherst, and The Early Childhood Coordinator for their summer farm-themed program. She also enjoys taking improv classes at Happier Valley Comedy in Hadley and working in their box office, so if you’re curious about improv, come see a show. www.annapfox.com.

Tracy Einstein (she/her/hers) is excited to return to PIC Kids Summer for the third year. She loves facilitating spaces for young people to make art and connect through theatrical play. Before moving to Northampton in 2020, she worked as a theater & movement Teaching Artist in NYC at Public Schools in all 5 boroughs for nearly a decade. Since 2018, Tracy has been Associate Faculty of Movement & the Alexander Technique at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC where she’s been responsible for educating hundreds of emerging artists in the Alexander Technique and Movement for the Actor. She's also taught for the Public Theater, the Hunts Point Shakespeare Ensemble, LeAp NYC, Arts Ignite (formerly ASTEP), Redbull Theater Company, Completely Ridiculous Conservatory, Fairfield University, Barnard College, Smith College, and UMass Amherst (theatre & dance departments).

In addition to being a Teaching Artist, Tracy helps grownups to feel at home in their bodies so they can do what they love, through her work as a certified Alexander Technique Teacher and Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner. You can learn more at www.tracyeinstein.com.

Brianna Sloane is a director, actor, teacher, and maker based in Huntington MA. Brianna has worked as a teaching artist in all sorts of ways and places - camps and schools with young children; teaching, coaching, and directing high school-aged students; offering theater classes for older adults at community centers; working as a visiting professor at colleges; and teaching master-level workshops for professional actors.

Brianna has an extensive background in physical comedy, mask, and the Italian Commedia dell'Arte and loves working on movement for theater. She is co-founder of TheatreTruck, a mother-owned company crafting mobile & site-specific performance and making new work in Western Ma. In Chicago, Brianna served as Education Outreach Director for Piccolo Theatre as well as working artistically with companies around the city for over a decade.

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July 21-25 Growl and Groove

Rising 2nd-5th graders

Instructors: Tracy Einstein and Richie Barshay

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, your animal adventure awaits! We'll dive into an embodiment study of different animals, and create masks and costumes for the journey. Group games will lead us to discover new habitats, as we explore them through music, craft making, theater, and roar!

July 28-August 1st Fairy Tale Mash Up!

Rising 2nd-5th graders

Instructor: Brianna Sloane

It all starts with "once upon a time..." but then what happens? This week we'll stir up a potion of fairy tale ingredients and explore them all through elements of performance like character building, improv, writing, mask, and movement. We'll take all our favorite elements- enchanted forests, magical animals, witches, royalty- you name it!- and cook up a fairy tale that's delicious and brand new.

August 4-8 Theatrical Clown 1

Rising 2nd-5th graders

Instructors: Tracy Einstein and Richie Barshay

Celebrate that special sparkle you carry inside, and let it shine! In this camp, we'll start by warming up the theatrical clown's tool kit of voice, body, imagination, and complicité (collaboration!) Then, in pursuit of our fun, we'll play theatrical games and explore the stage while wearing the clown's unique red nose! We'll also create unlikely musical instruments from scratch, leading to irresistible fun through music

August 11-15 Theatrical Clown 2

Rising 2nd-5th graders

Instructors: Tracy Einstein and Richie Barshay

For those that attend Clown 1 or participated in Theatrical Clown last summer, Theatrical Clown 2 will build on the foundation introduced in those sessions while also creating a welcoming space for first-timers.

August 4-8 Improvise and Devise 1

Rising 6th-9th graders

Instructors: Gabriel CiFuentes and Anna Fox

Enjoy making things up on the spot, working as a team, and creating your own performances? Then this week is for you! We will spend the mornings each day playing comedy improv games, and then apply those skills and concepts to our afternoon sessions, working as an ensemble to create (devise) our own original performance. The exciting part of improv is that it’s all made up, so while the games have structures and rules, we won’t know what will happen until we’re all in the room exploring together. So let's take risks, laugh and figure it out as we go!

August 11-15 Improvise and Devise 2

Rising 6th-9th graders

Instructors: Gabriel CiFuentes and Anna Fox

Whether you come to both weeks or just 1 week of Improvise and Devise, each session will be unique, based on the participants’ interests and ideas, and will result in a completely brand-new, original performance piece!

Clear here to register

Rachel F. Hirsch (she/her) Rachel has found a creative home in the Pioneer Valley where her passion for new play and musical development lead her to co-found Play Incubation Collective. She is also a voice-over artist and musician. In 2016, Rachel started the music and storytelling outfit-Golden Bird- which engages the youngest kiddos in their own creative storytelling through picture books, imaginative adventures, and folk and jazz inspired original tunes. As a performer, Rachel has appeared locally with PIC projects, in commercials, Northampton 24 hr Theater, Double Take Fringe, and Youth Performance Festivals, and virtually with Chester and Silverthorne Theatre Companies. Previously, Rachel worked on new theatrical works in DC, NYC, and around the country and as a teaching artist with Spellbound Theater Company in Brooklyn.

Sarah Marcus (she/her) Sarah is a Northampton-based theater artist and educator who has been creating and teaching drama programs to children of all ages since 2002. She attended Tufts University, where she was a member of the children’s theater troupe Traveling Treasure Trunk, and she received her M.F.A. in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University. She is the co-founder of Play Incubation Collective (PIC) and the director of the Youth Performance Festival, at the Northampton Center for the Arts. From 2016-2019, she ran Valley Performance Playground summer camps with Felicia Sloin, and from 2010-15, she ran the 6th–9th grade drama program at The Bement School in Deerfield. She has also run theater programs at the Smith College Campus School, Greenfield Public Schools, Girls Leadership Institute, Enchanted Circle Theater, and at schools throughout the boroughs of New York City.

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Youth Performance Festival

The Youth Performance Festival (YPF) is a collaborative program of Play Incubation Collective and the Northampton Center for the Arts at 33 Hawley in partnership with Make-It Springfield . Now in its 6th year, YPF is a FREE opportunity for youth artists ages 8-18 to create original performance pieces under the guidance of mentor artists in the fields of music, dance, theater, poetry/spoken word, and video. YPF centers the creative agency of young artists, and is committed to supporting them as they discover their own creative processes.

There are four opportunities to see the wonderful pieces 2025 YPF Youth Artists have created.

Saturday, Feb 8th: Cast A at 1pm, Cast B at 4pm

Sunday, Feb 9th: Cast B at 1pm, Cast A 4pm

All at Northampton Center for the Arts at 33 Hawley Street in Northampton. Ticketing information coming soon.

Additional Annual Youth Programs

PIC’s annual All-Ages Salon is a celebration of the artistic process. In 2023 it marked day one in the two day PIC Kids Fall Fest event. This sharing of new, original works created and performed by youth and adult artists is always a big hit with the whole family!

Youth Performance Festival

Additional Annual Youth Programs

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This work is made possible with support from The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts,the Northampton Arts Council, individual community donors, and the Workroom Cooperative- a pilot program of A.P.E. We are so grateful for their support.