Bunce Performing Arts Summer Theater Camps

Bunce Performing Arts Summer Theater Camps include learning musical theater songs, fun choreography, playing theater games, and rehearsing and performing on a real stage. Camp activities include teaching songs, choreography, and dialog as part of preparing a musical theater performance.

• Ages: 6–15 years old
• Schedule: Camp is run the week after the District 279 school year ends.
• Price: This fun Maple Grove theater camp costs just $120.

Each camp is run by talented local directors with backgrounds in theater and education, and rehearsals are led by experienced theater professionals. The camp is directed by professional theater and music directors along with a group of energetic counselors. Bunce Summer Camp now serves up to 70 students each summer in two camps, one for elementary-aged kids and one for middle and high school participants. An affordable summer theater camp is offered in Maple Grove for students ages 6–11 or entering grades 1–5, with registration beginning on March 1st and limited to 50 campers for the elementary camp. A summer camp for middle school students is offered through the District 279 Community Education Department for students entering grades 6 through 9, with registration limited to 50 students and all students pre-registered before the first rehearsal. In the middle school camp, all students receive a part in the musical, and trained theater staff lead middle school students through a musical theater experience that includes rehearsing and performing on a real stage and activities intended to promote problem solving skills, working cooperatively, leadership, and self-confidence.

Bunce Performing Arts has been engaging and entertaining the northwest suburban Twin Cities area since 2007, starting with a backyard performance of Oliver that brought 450 people to the Bunce backyard in Maple Grove. The organization was run by the Bunce family with help from friends from 2007 until 2012, when Bunce Backyard Productions, a 501(c)(3) theater company, was formed, and it was rebranded as Bunce Performing Arts in 2020. In 2015, Bunce Summer Camp launched in the Bunce backyard, and in 2016 Bunce Performing Arts produced its first traveling show. The newest addition, The BEAT (Bunce Educational Adventure Theater), began in 2019. The BEAT partners with Osseo Area Schools Community Education to offer after-school musical theater experiences to elementary and middle school students, including students at Cedar Island, Fernbrook, Osseo Middle School, and Maple Grove Middle School. Bunce Performing Arts states that it tells stories of hope and encouragement to the communities it serves and offers access to theatrical opportunities to people of all ages through affordable, high-quality theatre productions, and that it cultivates the development, education, and advancement of performers and leadership teams with artists from all levels of experience. Bunce Performing Arts also aims to provide a free outdoor musical theater production in the summer and affordable indoor theater opportunities throughout the year, along with reasonably priced summer theater camps and after-school musical theater programs.

Last updated February 23, 2026.