Put Together a Show. Sing, Dance, Act, and Have a Blast
Musical Encore is the older-teen version of Gretna Glen's creative arts specialty. Campers spend the week building a full show, then perform it for families at 5 PM on Friday before pickup. Every camper gets a real role in the production. Singers, actors, dancers, and instrumentalists all shape what the show becomes, rather than fitting into a script that was written before they arrived.
Around the rehearsal blocks, campers get the rest of a real Gretna Glen week. Swimming, boating, crafts, challenge courses, archery, hiking, group games, and campfires are all part of the schedule. Bible Discovery and worship are woven through the whole week. The balance is what keeps Musical Encore from feeling like a theater camp in the woods. It feels like a camp week that happens to put on a show.
Rehearsal. Recreation. A Real Production.
Daily rehearsals for the Friday show, alongside the full Gretna Glen experience for older teens.
Build the Show Together
Campers do not audition into a finished script. The show is built around the cast, with staff shaping roles to match the talents that arrive. Singers, actors, dancers, and instrumentalists all have a place in the final production.
Daily Rehearsal Blocks
Vocal work, movement, acting, and full-cast run-throughs happen every day. Led by experienced musicians, educators, and clergy who know how to get a strong performance out of a week without burning the cast out.
Challenge Course + Camp Fun
Between rehearsals, campers get full camp. Challenge course sessions, swimming, boating, archery, crafts, hiking, and group games are all part of the week, not a side program.
Worship Through Performance
Singing, acting, and dancing become forms of worship in themselves. For campers who connect with God best through performance, the rehearsal blocks are not a distraction from faith but an expression of it.
The Friday 5 PM Performance
Families arrive for pickup and stay for the Musical Encore performance at 5 PM. The show runs to early evening, pickup happens after. Every camper is in it. The production is built for the cast that showed up, so there is no camper on the sidelines during curtain call.
For rising seniors, this is often one of the last camp weeks in a creative track they have been coming back to for years. The Friday show is the note they go out on.
A Creative Week That Treats Teens Like Artists
Musical Encore is built for the teen who takes their creative work seriously. The rehearsal expectations reflect that. Staff treat campers as performers with real input into the show, which is different from how the younger Music and Drama week works. By Friday, campers have built something that matters to them and performed it for people who came specifically to see it.
It is also the right week for returning Music and Drama campers who have aged up. The creative community is there. The camp community is there. And the Friday show gives the week a real endpoint that the rest of the program points toward.
WHERE YOU'LL STAY
Campers stay in Raab Retreat Lodge, the two-story lodge on Gretna Glen's main campus. The Lodge has bunk-style housing with restrooms in the building. It feels more like home than traditional cabins, which is ideal for the rehearsal schedule and the creative focus.
WHAT PARENTS SHOULD KNOW
Campers who play an instrument should bring it. Pickup runs after the 5 PM performance on Friday, closer to 6 PM than the usual 5-6 PM window. Plan accordingly.
Gretna Glen is ACA-accredited, meeting over 300 health, safety, and quality standards. Program staff are experienced musicians, educators, and clergy members. Ministry Safe and UMC Risk Management certified.
WHO THIS PROGRAM IS FOR
- Teens 14 to 18 who sing, act, dance, or play an instrument
- Returning Music and Drama campers who have aged up into the older week
- Rising seniors looking for a last creative-focused camp week
- Teens who worship best through music, movement, or performance