From Staff Reports

Jackson Audubon to host bird walk Saturday

A family bird walk, hosted by the Jackson Audubon Society, will be from 8 until 10 a.m. Saturday at Mayes Lake in LeFleur’s Bluff State Park.

Those interested must meet at the picnic area campground entrance off Lakeland Drive.

The cost is $3 per vehicle.

For information, call 601-956-7444.

VTG tells schedule for plays, auditions

The Vicksburg Theatre Guild has announced events it has planned through September. All performances are at Parkside Playhouse, 101 Iowa Ave. For information, call 601-636-0471 or visit www.e-vtg.com”Gold in the Hills,” the world’s longest-running melodrama, according to the “Guinness Book of World Records,” is set for 7:30 Friday and Saturday nights, beginning July 11 and ending July 26. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 12 and younger.Auditions for “Faith County” will be from 2 until 4 p.m. July 12-13. Needed are three men playing characters in their 20s, 30s and 40s; and six women playing characters in their 20s, 40s and 50s. Audition forms are available online.In “Faith County,” the colorful residents of Mineola are gearing up for stiff competition at this year’s county fair. Production dates are 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12-13 and 2 p.m. Sept. 14 and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19-20 and 2 p.m. Sept. 21. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for senior citizens 55 and older, $7 for students 13 and older and $5 children 12 and younger.Auditions for “Stalag 17” will be from 2 until 4 p.m. Aug. 16-17 and from 6 until 8 p.m. Aug. 18. Needed are 20 men playing characters ages 15-75. Audition forms are available online. “Stalag 17” is a tense-yet-funny drama about Allied prisoners in a World-War-II German POW camp. Production dates will be Nov. 7-9 and Nov. 14-16.Auditions for “Jenny Saint Joan, A Play of Joan of Arc in One Act” will be at 2 p.m. Sept. 13 and 6 p.m. Sept. 15. In the play, Joan of Arc is depicted as a normal adolescent facing tough choices about her future. Needed are two men playing a teenage character and a non-age-specific character, one woman playing a teenage character, and three characters that are not gender or age-specific. Production dates will be Dec. 12-14 at Parkside Playouse and at the Mississippi Theatre Festival in January 2009.

Southern Miss tells plans for acting camp for youths

A Midsummer Musical Theatre Experience will be hosted by the University of Southern Mississippi.

The event is set for July 21-Aug. 2 on the Hattiesburg campus. Sessions will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

The day camp is for children ages 9 through 14. Robin Carr, an associate professor of voice and acting, and Jennifer Shank, assistant professor of music, will lead the activities.

The camp is designed to help develop acting, singing and dancing skills. Campers will be offered vocal coaching, acting and movement training and set and costume instruction. At the end of the camp, participants will perform “The Mad Adventures of Mr. Toad.”

The cost is $350. Scholarships are available.

For information, contact Carr at 601-266-6442 or robin.carr@usm.edu.