Electives & Activities[edit]
In addition to the theatre program, campers also register for three periods of elective activities per day. The camp operates on an alternating schedule of A-Days (M, W, F) and B-Days (Tu, Th, Sa), so campers actually have six classes of their own choosing. Examples may include Soccer, Basketball, Swimming, Volleyball, Badminton, Cheerleading, Tennis, Fitness, Zumba, Technical Theatre, Costuming, Improv, Audition Coaching, Story Theatre, Hip Hop, Tap, Photography, Film & Video, Arts & Crafts, Creative Writing, Board Games, etc.
History[edit]
First established in 1955, Harand came into being as a children's arts studio based in Chicago and area suburbs. Pearl, a former member of the Chicago Repertory Theatre, taught dramatics, while Sulie, known for her one-woman interpretations of classic musicals, taught voice. Other staff included Sulie's husband Byron as Business Manager; Nora Jacobs, who had trained alongside Martha Graham, taught dance; and Byrne and Joyce Piven, future founders of the Piven Theatre Workshop, helped with the acting program. Staff would soon also include Errol Pearlman on piano, Estelle Spector (now head of the Columbia College Musical Theater program) as choreographer, and future Cultural Commissioner, Lois Weisberg, in drama.
The studio curriculum focused primarily on musical theater with an emphasis on the community spirit and equal opportunity for which the camp would later become known. The studio was also the first to combine training in all three musical theater disciplines – singing, dancing, and acting. The children loved it so much that they never wanted to go home so many parents suggested expanding the program to a full camp in the summer months. Pearl once told the Chicago Reader that the "dream [had] always been to have a place where kids can laugh and play, where they can develop their whole personality while learning through shared experiences." That dream became a reality when a resort in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin became available.
Led by Sulie and Pearl, along with husbands Byron and Sam, Harand Camp of the Theatre Arts opened its doors in the summer of 1955 with a staff composed primarily of the studio team and 87 campers—a number that grew to over 250 in just three years. The buildings were renamed after popular shows with the theatre deemed "Carnegie Hall" after the famed venue in New York. Campers were split into groups designated by show names such as Brigadoon (a tradition that continues today) and became known as "Haranders."
In 1989 the Harand family sold the camp property in Elkhart Lake; however, the camp continued to live on and moved to Wayland Academy, a preparatory school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. In 2005 the camp relocated to Carthage College in Kenosha.
Harand Academy[edit]
In 2013 the Harand Academy of the Arts was launched as a separate non-profit, offering performing arts classes and shows at Starland in Deerfield, IL. The academy is inspired by the original Harand Studios of the Theatre Arts started by Sulie and Pearl Harand in the 1950s in Downtown Chicago.