In Other People’s Shoes Productions and Camp Bob Waldorf, which is part of Jewish Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Los Angeles, have announced a partner­ship to provide young people a rare opportunity to participate in new theater development sessions with professional actors and a master playwright.

Campers will provide feedback to a reading of a play in develop­ment that is geared for a young audience, and then participate in sessions to give further input and dive deeper into the play’s themes. The program gives campers a taste of what it takes to create a play, and for the creative team to learn what parts of the play resonate with their target audience. The partnership will host a pilot program this July during one of the camp’s regular summer sessions.

The pilot program with the campers will introduce “Pia’s Wondrous Adventures in Tlaxlandia,” written by playwright José Cruz González, to an audience for the first time. He was recently named one of the Kennedy Center’s Next 50, which honors leaders who are lighting the way forward through art and action.

“I’m excited to get feedback from the campers,” González said. “Children are the most honest audi­ences and make great dramaturgs. I look forward to learning from them, and to their responses to the themes and characters in the story, which grew out of the pandemic. I’m also happy to continue working with In Other People’s Shoes, and to sup­port their mission to tell stories of our many culturally rich and diverse communities.”

“Camp Bob Waldorf creates pos­itive experiences kids will look back on for the rest of their lives,” camp director Simon Hansen said. “My staff and our caring counselors instill the four pillars of respect, community, identity and inclusion at Camp Bob Waldorf, and we all work hard through our program­ming to ensure every camper takes them into their lives. The opportu­nity for our campers to participate in a program like this, with such a talented and creative group of peo­ple, is incredible. The values of camp and In Other People’s Shoes perfectly align.”

“The goal of our company is to use theatre and other forms of story­telling as a way to show all children that they matter,” In Other People’s Shoes founder Mireya Hepner said. “We want children who don’t often see themselves represented on stage to see and celebrate their own cul­tures, and to learn about differ­ences.”

For information about In Other People’s Shoes visit inotherpeop­lesshoes.org. For information about Camp Bob Waldorf and Jewish Big Brother Big Sisters of Los Angeles visit jbbbsla.org.