Lucy-Desi Center and Jamestown Community College Join Forces

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center and Jamestown Community College are teaming up to provide three distinct learning adventures in Lucy’s hometown this summer.

The July 24-28 Kids College class “Have a ‘Ball’ with Lucy”, for children 8-12 years old, will be taught by Mary Jane Price, a Lucy-Desi Center associate who is a full-time teacher at Southwestern Central Middle School. Ms. Price will be combining her love of children and her love of the Queen of Comedy to explore the power of laughter and discover what tickles our funny bone and why. The class will include learning about famous comedians and will be topped off with tours of the Lucy-Desi Museum and the Desilu Playhouse.

In a July 5-August 15 Summer Arts Academy course, juniors and seniors in high school can learn improvisational comedy with instruction by Len Barry and Jane Fischer, members of The Unexpected Guests, the Center’s resident improv comedy troupe. The class’s Basic Technique section will explore stimulating warm-up exercises and activities to nurture creative expression and team-building skills. Performance Games will utilize Basic Technique while introducing games familiar to improv audiences. Preparing for and Performing a Live Show will teach students how to host a show, field suggestions from an audience, and transition between games.

A one-credit course on writing biographies offered August 1-7 is the final of these summer learning opportunities. Lucille Ball biographer Kathleen Brady is coming from New York City to teach this class and host an authors roundtable with four fellow Lucy-Desi authors as part of Lucy’s Birthday Celebration, August 4-6. The class will include the study of Lucy history at the Lucy-Desi Museum and Desilu Playhouse, the viewing of a Lucille Ball documentary in the Tropicana Room of the Rapaport Center, attending the authors roundtable, and a four-hour workshop with Ms. Brady.

For more information, call Jamestown Community College (716-665-5220) or The Lucy-Desi Center (716-484-0800, ext. 206) or go on-line to www.sunyjcc.edu.