By Nacogdoches Miller

Sun Intern

Theater students began honing their craft Monday with the start of the Leeds Center for the Arts Musical Theatre Intensive 2019 Leeds Center for the Arts.

Steve Crosby, who is teaching during the intensive alongside Ellie Miller, said the students will spend this week and next working to broaden their skills in singing, dancing and acting while working to put on a full-scale musical theater revue. The goal is to push students to their limits, he said, especially since they have several students who have participated in previous years.

“ … We have some of these kids year after year after year,” Crosby said.

This summer, the camp has 28 participants — the largest group, Crosby said, they’ve ever had.

The program also brings in professional instructors from inside and out of the area like Susie Thiel, an associate professor of dance and the director of dance at the University of Kentucky, to guide them through different techniques.

Crosby said it’s important for them to learn how to become a character, so they can make the audience feel the emotion of a show.

Everything students learn will meet its crescendo when students perform “Stars & Stories” at Leeds on their last day. It will be their time to shine and showcase their talent.

“This is just one more thing that Leeds does for the community and really invests in the kids of this community,” Crosby said. “It gives them something to do.”