Cast and crew of The Spongebob Musical Youth Edition ride a float in the Crooked River Roundup Parade. (Jason Chaney/Central Oregonian)

The loveable characters of Bikini Bottom are coming to a Prineville stage soon.

The SpongeBob Musical Youth Edition will take place in the Crook County High School auditorium on Friday, July 11 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, July 12 at 2 p.m. Cost is $3 for kids/students and $5 for adults, cash only. Donations are always appreciated.

This is the 15th season of performances for Prineville Music Theater Camp. Barbara Punch and Michelle Moore created Prineville Music Theater Camp and the first performances began in the summer of 2010. Moore was a music teacher and had subbed in the local school district when they cut the music programs from the elementary schools. At that time, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church had funds available for a kids’ program. Wanting to keep Moore here, they were able to put that money towards music and theater, and Prineville Music Theater Camp was born. 

The camp started in the basement of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church and now operates at Crook County High School. The first few years’ performances were held in the church sanctuary. When the productions outgrew that space, they moved it to Pioneer Park on the big stage. 

“While the venue there was awesome, it was sometimes hard to hear with the traffic and setting up and tearing down the set daily was cumbersome,” said camp spokesperson Ashley Smith. “The productions now are held at the Crook County High School auditorium, and we have been working more and more with (instructor) Nathaniel Dunaway and the high school drama department. What a great group of people. They help build our sets, make costumes and props, do the sound and lights, mic the performers and help with costume and set changes and anything else that we need.”

Kim Griffin was a huge part of making theater camp what it is and was involved from the very beginning. She stepped down as camp director after last year’s production of “Shrek,” leaving huge shoes to fill. 

The camp is now under the direction of Casey Tunison and Dunaway, with Hannah and Katie Jones working behind the scenes on choreography and costumes as well as eight high school students on staff, six of whom are former campers who have aged out of the program. Betsy Rochelle also works with the campers as the new musical director.

As the camp continues to grow, it has become a launching pad for theater as kids age. Some of the camp kids now transition to the drama department when they enter high school as they feel comfortable having experienced the stage and crew while in camp.

The camp now also has a board of directors from different facets of the community. They meet regularly during the year and one of their main contributions besides giving ideas is to help fundraise to keep the camp going. Production costs, copyrights, the scripts and rights in itself are quite costly, Smith said. The camp also employs high school students and past cast members. 

“We even have past cast members as volunteers,” Smith added. 

The camp always begins in the middle of June and runs through the middle of July. Ages are 7 to 15 and kids can sign up with Crook County Parks and Recreation District at the beginning of April every year.