Lights, camera, action

Emily Tanner has been writing since before she could read – well maybe not that long, laughs the 2009 graduate of William Chrisman High School.

“I think maybe I have been writing since I could hold a pen,” she said.

“I started forming those thoughts into stories in elementary school and wrote my first play my freshman year of high school. It has always been something that I have loved to do.”

Tanner’s writing has become even more developed in the last four years after she spent part of her summer in the George Caleb Bingham Academy of the Arts. In its 13th year, the program brings together students from throughout Eastern Jackson County in a program that focuses on the creative arts. Fourteen area high schools are represented in this year’s program.

But Tanner will have a different experience at the conclusion of this academy than she has in the past. Academy theater students will be performing a one-act play she wrote, entitled “Rule of the Game.” It’s a story about a ghost haunting everyone it comes across in an effort to find out who killed her. The plot fits in well with academy’s theme this summer – mystery.

“I am super excited that the theater students will be performing something I wrote,” she said.

“It is an interesting experience because actors will tend to take a different approach than I originally intended, but that is to be expected. It will be interesting to see what they do.”

There are six areas of discipline in the five-week academy program – art, theater, creative writing, dance, vocal music and instrumental music. The academy will conclude with a Showcase of the Arts at 7:45 p.m. July 9 at Truman High School.

The event is free and open to the public.

In addition to Tanner’s play, which will be accompanied by six members of the GCB Academy music staff, there will be Slovakian dances presented in costume, a performance by the choir including three Slavic folk songs and art on display created by the art students.

The creative writing students will have available for sale a 32-page literary arts magazine, “Shadow Works,” they created over the course of the program. Tanner, along with Blue Springs High School graduate Josh Gunter, were the co-editors of the magazine.

Katie Schmidt, one of the instructors for the theater program, said she is thrilled the students will be performing a piece of work written by a fellow GCB Academy member.

Emily Tanner has been writing since before she could read – well maybe not that long, laughs the 2009 graduate of William Chrisman High School.

“I think maybe I have been writing since I could hold a pen,” she said.

“I started forming those thoughts into stories in elementary school and wrote my first play my freshman year of high school. It has always been something that I have loved to do.”

Tanner’s writing has become even more developed in the last four years after she spent part of her summer in the George Caleb Bingham Academy of the Arts. In its 13th year, the program brings together students from throughout Eastern Jackson County in a program that focuses on the creative arts. Fourteen area high schools are represented in this year’s program.

But Tanner will have a different experience at the conclusion of this academy than she has in the past. Academy theater students will be performing a one-act play she wrote, entitled “Rule of the Game.” It’s a story about a ghost haunting everyone it comes across in an effort to find out who killed her. The plot fits in well with academy’s theme this summer – mystery.

“I am super excited that the theater students will be performing something I wrote,” she said.

“It is an interesting experience because actors will tend to take a different approach than I originally intended, but that is to be expected. It will be interesting to see what they do.”

There are six areas of discipline in the five-week academy program – art, theater, creative writing, dance, vocal music and instrumental music. The academy will conclude with a Showcase of the Arts at 7:45 p.m. July 9 at Truman High School.

The event is free and open to the public.

In addition to Tanner’s play, which will be accompanied by six members of the GCB Academy music staff, there will be Slovakian dances presented in costume, a performance by the choir including three Slavic folk songs and art on display created by the art students.

The creative writing students will have available for sale a 32-page literary arts magazine, “Shadow Works,” they created over the course of the program. Tanner, along with Blue Springs High School graduate Josh Gunter, were the co-editors of the magazine.

Katie Schmidt, one of the instructors for the theater program, said she is thrilled the students will be performing a piece of work written by a fellow GCB Academy member.

“The purpose of this academy is to create together, so we thought that this would be a chance to do that,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for them to be surrounded by all kinds of creative students and learn from each other.”

Ryan Lewis, a 2009 graduate of Blue Springs High School, has been coming to the academy for two years. He said through the program he has learned how to better himself as an actor. To perform a student-written play to conclude his final academy performance, Lewis said, is “fantastic.”

“I think it is amazing that we will be able to showcase someone else’s talents,” he said. “I just hope she loves the show we produce.”

This is the second one-act play that Tanner has seen come to life on stage. Her first was performed during a series of one-act plays at William Chrisman earlier this year.

“This academy has certainly helped me develop my skills,” said Tanner, who will be majoring in English at Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., this fall. “It has helped me to become a better writer. I have seen so much growth in myself over the last four years.”