Fall Arts Classes at the Everett Rec Center Start This Week: Drama, Acting, Musical Comedy, Guitar, and Pottery
The new fall arts session at the Everett Recreation Center starts this week, and it's the rare set of classes where you can still register and the youngest kids aren't competing with the older ones.
Blount County Parks & Rec posted the full youth lineup, and the performing-arts cluster is the one that snuck up on me — a batch of drama, acting, musical, and guitar classes that all kick off Thursday, September 10. If your kid has been asking about theater or music, this is the week to look.
Here's what's actually on the schedule (all at the Everett Recreation Center unless noted, all registered through Parks & Rec):
- Creative Drama — Thursdays, Sept 10 - Oct 22 (no class Oct 8), 4:30-5:30 PM, $110 for six weeks. Kids explore becoming different characters, play drama games, and work on a fairy-tale scene — think Pooh, Cinderella, or a Pirate. A low-threshold intro for kids who like to perform but haven't done a scripted show.
- Acting / Scene Study — Thursdays, Sept 10 - Oct 22, 5:40-6:40 PM, $110. This one is for kids comfortable reading on their own — actual scenes from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Anne of Green Gables, with a short scene shown to family on the last night. Ron Solomon teaches both this and the next two.
- Musical Comedy — Thursdays, Sept 10 - Oct 22, 6:45-7:45 PM, $110. Singing, acting, and movement, with scenes that end in a song.
- Guitar — Thursdays, Sept 10 - Oct 22, 4:30-5:30 PM, $110 for six weeks. Bring your own guitar; Chris Solomon teaches the class. Good fit if that instrument has been sitting in a corner since a birthday.
- Pottery — a separate track for hands-on kids. Session 1 runs Mondays, Sept 14 - Oct 12 (no class Oct 5), 5:15-6:15 PM at Studio 212, 934 East Broadway Ave in Maryville, $85 for the four-week session, and that price includes all clay, glazes, and firing. Projects are hand-building (coiling, pinching, slab) and go through two kiln firings so they're food-and-dishwasher safe.
Two notes from this year's schedule: the drama classes meet at 4:30 and then back-to-back into the evening, which is handy if you have siblings who both want in. And if your kid isn't a gymnast or a team-sport kid, these are the Parks & Rec offerings that often fly under the radar — the same in-person registration process at the office on S. Everett High Road applies, so it's worth checking parksrec.com for the full list and any online-registration options.
The Thursday classes and the Monday pottery session are all still open as of this writing, but September-start sessions like these usually fill as the first class approaches. Worth a look this week if your kid has been eyeing the stage.