Please visit our COVID-19 Response page for current information about summer programs, policy updates, payment due dates, and back up plans.

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HUMANITIES SEMINARS
& PERFORMING ARTS WORKSHOPS
MIDDLE SCHOOL - HIGH SCHOOL (VARIES BY WORKSHOP OR SEMINAR)

Seminars: Our seminars are geared to mature and curious high-school aged students. From 8:30 - 9:00 am, students have the opportunity to examine the many books, artifacts, maps, music, artwork, etc. that Mr. Gardner will display during the seminar, followed by a very dynamic, engaging and interactive lecture. Younger students who are able to stay seated, focused and engaged for the duration of the class lecture, may be considered. Please contact admissions@ideaventionsacademy.org if you would like to discuss.

Workshops: If you like stories, games, and imagination, our writing and acting workshops teach students how to get up in front of a group, how to write based on what they love and the joy of creative fun! Taught by Mr. Andrew.

Maximum Enrollment: 10 students

TUITION AND FEES

Tuition varies per seminar or workshop and is listed below. 

Registration

• ​For registrants before April 15th: A $75 non-refundable deposit due at time of registration. Full payment is due May 1st. 
• For registrants after April 15th: Full payment is due at the time of registration.

Please see Terms and Conditions for details.

​Extended care options available before and after full-day workshops or seminars and before the half-day seminars.

Workshop / Seminar	Dates / Times	Description	Ages	Register
Literature Seminar: ​​J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings  ​$280	June 22 - 26 ​8:30 am - noon	Journey into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, the Master of Middle Earth. Explore his fascinating childhood and adolescence, his many enduring friendships, especially his close relationship with C.S. Lewis, his horrific World War experiences, and his inspirational relationship with his wife and family. Discover Tolkien’s intense love of language and languages and the amazing panoply of literature and mythology that influenced him, his celebrated academic endeavors, and his intense faith in God. Learn how all of these are reflected in his majestic work, The Lord of the Rings. Students are required to have read The Lord of the Rings before the first day of class.​ This course is confirmed and will run live or virtually.	13 - 17	Register​
Literature Seminar: ​G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday and Charles Williams' The Place of the Lion $224 ​(4-day)	June 29 - July 2 ​​8:30 am - noon	G. K. Chesterton was one of the most prolific, profound, and paradoxical writers of the 20 th century. Chesterton fearlessly delved into every subject that came to the attention of his powerful intellect. His works are always provocative in the best spiritual and philosophical senses of the word. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday has been hailed as a surreal comic masterpiece, a work of genius, and often laugh-out-loud funny and an immense joy to read! Charles Williams was a lay theologian, a playwright, a medievalist, and a novelist, as well as a poet. He was a close friend of C. S. Lewis and a member of the famous Oxford literary reading and discussion circle (along with J.R.R. Tolkien) known as the Inklings. Williams delved into esotericism for part of his life, searching for hidden truths, this part of his life is reflected in the series of strange, densely written, “metaphysical thrillers” he wrote – which, though difficult, are richly rewarding. We will read and discuss The Place of the Lion, a fantastic novel about the “ideas” that lay beyond our visible world. This seminar requires that students have read The Man Who Was Thursday and The Place of the Lion before the first day of class. This course needs three more registrants to be confirmed and can run live or virtually.  ​	​13 - 17	Register
​Improv Workshop ​$455	July 6-10​ ​8:30 am - 3:30 pm	Improv Theater gives students a chance to interact with their peers in a low-stress and fun way. By using improv games, activities and scenarios, students not only have fun but build listening, communication, problem solving, and teamwork skills. The purpose of this camp is to offer a fun, creative outlet to students in a supportive environment.Even for the most experienced actors, there are moments where a split second choice makes all the difference in the performance. Learning to be comfortable in those choices is the point of learning improvisation. This class will help actors respond on impulse and bring inventiveness, creativity, and life to the stage. Special emphasis will be placed on techniques used to build an actors confidence and creativity while allowing actors to get out of their own head and be present in the moment. This freedom allows the actor to create more vibrant, real performances in both improvised and written scenes. ​This workshop has a maximum of 12 students.	​10 - 14	​​Register
Film Studies Seminar: American Silent Cinema, the Civil War, & Buster Keaton $455	July 6-10 ​​8:30 am - 3:30 pm	View and discuss early silent films by movie pioneers like Edison, the Lumieres, and Milies. Be introduced to Civil War themed short films, and see why the first American epic Birth of a Nation, remains able to rouse an audience in spite of its disturbing views of history and race. Gain an appreciation for Buster Keaton, his films, and colorful life. View selected short films and features, including Keaton’s masterpiece, The General, widely considered one of the greatest films ever made and quite possibly the greatest Civil War themed movie of all-time!	14 - 17	​​Register
Storytelling Through Video Game Design Workshop​ $455	July 13-17 ​​8:30 am - 3:30 pm	​​Video games are an exciting medium to explore as a writer. In this workshop we will develop the foundations of a narrative video game. We will start by familiarizing ourselves with Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey as a foundation for epic narratives focusing on heroes (and journeys.) We will build characters, create an outline and write the opening scenes to a narrative video game replete with branching pathways. We will decide on the point of view (first person, third person) and the type of video game (adventure, RPG, puzzle, etc.). We will be looking at narrative examples from innovative video games throughout the workshop. ​​ ​This course is confirmed and will run live or virtually.	13 - 16	​​Register
Value	Value	Value	Value	​​
​Film Studies Seminar: European Cinema of the Inter-War Years and World War II $455	​July 20-24 ​​8:30 am - 3:30 pm	​View and discuss how the exotic and self-reflective films of Weimar Germany turn into the strident, sometimes vicious, yet artistically brilliant propaganda vehicles of Nazi Germany. Explore the grandeur and technical achievement of Soviet cinema. Feel the national malaise inherent in French film. And lastly, be rescued from all of the above by the stiff-upper-lip and subtle humor of British films.	14 - 17	​Register​
​​Writing Workshop for Card-Based Role Playing Games $455	July 27-31 ​8:30 am - 3:30 pm	Tabletop RPGs have seen a resurgence in recent years. An RPG narrative is constructed by a game master in conjunction with players inside a narrative frame. Creating the narrative frame makes up the balance of this workshop. Tabletop RPGs differ from video game RPGs in that it is almost impossible to predict player actions in a setting unfettered by technical restraints. Yet world building is world building whether it be novels, comics, video games, or tabletop RPGs. This workshop will focus on constructing open ended epic narratives with a focus on environment, genre, puzzles, traps, NPCs, battles and antagonists. If you love to play Magic the Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, or Pokemon, and want to learn how to create a world of your own, this workshop is for you! This course needs one more registrant to be confirmed and can run live or virtually.  ​	12 - 15	​Register
Film Studies Seminar: American Cinema of the World War II Years ​$455	August 3-7 ​8:30 am - 3:30 pm	View and discuss some of the greatest films ever made! Witness as Hollywood prepares American for war! Thrill as moviedom’s vital contributions to Allied victory flash across the screen! Laugh and cry as filmland alternately rouses and comforts the country! Proudly ponder the meaning of the War as Hollywood propagandizes the populace! We will examine films from many war-era genres, such as preparedness, espionage, combat, romance, drama, musicals, and homecoming. Many fabulous stars, superb directors and a variety of studios will be included.​	14 - 17	​Register
​Historical Games Workshop $455	​August 10-14 8:30 am - 3:30 pm	Explore the world of classic historical board games! This workshop includes dozens of games from: Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, The Celtic, Saxon and Viking Worlds, The Middle Ages of Europe and the Middle East, and 2000 Years of Asian History. Participants will discover how games easily traveled through the centuries and transformed from culture to culture. For example, Seega (Egypt) becomes Petteia (Greece), which transforms into Latrunculi (Rome), which morphs, in part, into the Hnefatafl Family of games found in the Celtic and Viking worlds. All of these games are eventually surpassed in popularity by the Chess Family of games which flow into Europe from the Middle East and Asia. There are multiple versions of some games, since our knowledge of most of these games is imperfect, and different designers envision the games differently. In fact, one of the challenges for your students is comparing and contrasting the same game idea, both from different cultures and from different modern designers. ​There will be some reading required before and during the workshop. The workshop begins each day with a ~45 minute historical lecture before moving to the games themselves.	12 - 17	​Register​
​Film Studies Seminar: American Cinema Classics: Film Noir and Science Fiction ​$455	​August 17-21 ​8:30 am - 3:30 pm	​View the shadowy cinematic world of Film Noir – a dark mirror of the American psyche from 1940-1959. More than 500 movies, originally thought of a “psychological thrillers,” exist in the cross-genre cinematic style characterized by light and dark, virtue and vice, and life and death. We will concentrate on the origins of Noir and the classic wartime productions. We will lighten the mood with classic American Science Fiction movies from the 1940’s and 50’s!	​14-17	Register

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Registration:

• A non-refundable deposit of $75 per student required to reserve a spot for them.
• Payment can also be made in full at the time of registration via Visa, Mastercard or Discover.
• If paying by check, checks should be made out to Ideaventions, LLC and mailed to 12340 Pinecrest Road, Reston, VA 20191 within 7 days of registering. Please include a copy of the invoice with your check.
• Film Studies Seminars Only: As the film seminars are the individual weeks of a credit-bearing course, students from schools outside of Ideaventions Academy wishing to take one week, may pre-register and the registration will be processed after permission to join the course has been approved. If the registration is not approved, the amount paid, including the non-refundable deposit, will be refunded in full.

Withdrawals and Refunds:

• If you need to withdraw from a course, please send an email to info@ideaventions.com requesting the withdrawal. We will not process withdrawals from voicemails.
• On or before May 15th, the full payment minus the non-refundable deposit.
• On or before June 1st, 50% of program.
• No refunds will be processed after June 1st.

Notes: Courses that have been cancelled due to no enrollment have been removed from the schedule.