Drama
NYU – Tisch Summer High School Drama Programs
The Summer High School Program is a condensed version of the professional training in the undergraduate Drama program, where the emphasis is on the process, not the product. You’ll be challenged to learn and grow as artists, see some of Broadway’s amazing shows, and have access to the incomparable theatrical resources of New York City. Each week you will have 28 hours of conservatory training in either the Experimental Theatre Wing, the Meisner Studio, the New Studio on Broadway, the Stonestreet Screen Acting Studios, or in the Production and Design Studio. You will also take a weekly Introduction to New York Theatre seminar with professional actors, directors, designers, stage managers, and faculty as guests. There are two opportunities to showcase your work: a performance for faculty and students, and an open-class day where your family and friends can attend.
Northwestern – NHSI Cherubs – Theatre Arts Division
The NHSI Theatre Arts Division offers a powerful exploration into stage performance and design. A rigorous combination of classes and rehearsals challenge students every day for five weeks, giving them a taste for what their college experience may be like should they pursue a degree in the field. Working with professional theatre practitioners from around the country, students are exposed to a multitude of performance styles, receive extraordinary training in a collaborative and supportive environment, and get to take advantage of the world-class facilities offered at Northwestern. All students will perform in or stage manage a fully produced, 60 minute play directed by a professional director. Every student leaves with an expanded understanding of what is possible in Theatre.
Interlochen – High School Acting Summer Program
You will strengthen your acting skills through a curriculum that explores both scripted and improvisational work. A mix of experiences that includes on-camera work will help you develop a consistent and reliable acting process that you can adapt to a variety of scripts and styles. Please note: the first three-week session will have an emphasis on improvisation and the second three-week session will focus on acting for the camera.
As an acting camp student, you will:
Learn practical tools to expand your physical and vocal expression
Demonstrate fundamental acting and performance skills
Develop your physical presence and awareness
Strengthen your vocal instrument
Interlochen – Musical Theater Techniques Intensive for High School Students
This program is for students currently enrolled in grades 9 and 10. In it, you'll work with high-caliber faculty to develop the voice, physicality, knowledge, and tools to be a successful performer. Our accomplished faculty bring their real-life expertise and give you individualized attention to help you unlock your potential.
As a Musical Theatre Techniques Intensive student, you will:
Gain confidence in your ability to "act a song"
Improve dance skills through daily work focusing on strength and flexibility
Increase vocal performance skills through both group and private study
Understand basic acting and theatre terminology
UCLA Summer Acting and Performance Institute
The UCLA Acting and Performance Summer Institute is a three-week, intensive program for high school students in theater arts. The program encompasses performance training classes, movement-based techniques, and a final showcase where students create their own unique content through the devised theater process.
Each morning begins promptly with tai-chi exercises, followed by acting and movement classes. Other classes may include but are not limited to: classical acting, combat, acting for the camera, and playwriting.
In the afternoon, the performance workshop provides students with practical experience in the rehearsal and performance process. Students are involved in all aspects of the creative process – conceptualizing, writing, and transforming ideas into dramatic action. There will be a final showcase for invited guests.
This program is designed for high school students with a commitment to the theater arts who seek the discipline and training required for participation in a university theater program or a career in the performing arts.
Stagedoor Manor
Before there was Glee or American Idol, there was Stagedoor Manor, a theater camp in the Catskills where casting directors came to find the next generation of stars. It’s where Natalie Portman, Robert Downey Jr., Ansel Elgort, Lea Michele, Jon Cryer and many others got their start as kids. Since 1976, a new crop of campers have stepped onto these stages each summer to begin an intense, thrilling and magical introduction to professional theater. Every three weeks, 14 full-scale productions come to life. The faculty – all seasoned professionals – demand adult-size dedication and performances from the kids. But where did it begin?
RADA (London) - Young Actors’ Summer SchooL
Acting for Young Actors is a programme for 16–18 year-olds. If you are thinking of applying to drama school, these courses will challenge your skills, deepen your understanding of acting and playmaking and give you a taste of classes at a world-leading drama school. If you are interested in theatre and storytelling, you will get a practical insight into literature and drama, gain confidence and find your voice under the guidance of RADA’s expert faculty.
USC – precollege acting intensive
The USC School of Dramatic Arts offers an opportunity for you to work with theatre professionals and explore a creative experience in the dramatic arts.
This conservatory-style “Acting Intensive” training course will challenge you and offer a strong foundation in the craft of acting. The program, taught by the school’s world-class faculty, emphasizes process and includes scene study, movement, voice, as well as on-camera acting workshops and a monologue audition master class. The program culminates in a workshop performance for family and friends.
Summer Theatre Conservatory is also offered in Comedy Performance and Musical Theatre.
Yale Summer Conservatory for Actors
The Yale Summer Conservatory for Actors is an intensive introduction to the basic techniques of acting. Based on the principles of Stanislavski, this five-week summer drama program focuses on building a foundation that is applicable to all further study in theatre.
We believe that acting happens in the space between two people - two people who are usually embodied, breathing, and living in the same space. The Summer Drama Program will look and feel different than in past years, but we’re confident that you’ll come away from the experience with new skills, a deeper understanding of craft, and a more liberated sense of permission and play. You won’t sit for hours a day. You’ll be moving, clowning, vocalizing and acting!
More than just acting or scene study, the Conservatory offers students an entire program comprised of a series of sections, each focused on a fundamental element of acting. Sections concentrate on the following:
Text Analysis: to comprehend the material being acted
On-Camera Acting: Taught by acclaimed actors Welker White and Damian Young from The Moving Frame
Voice and Speech: to improve vocal production, articulation, and interpretive skills
Movement: to strengthen the body and encourage its use in creative expression
Clowning: to encourage risk-taking and a sense of play
We divide the students into small sections of 10-12 that permit significant focus on individual work. With a faculty to student ratio of 1:4, we make sure that each student gets the personal attention needed for individual artistic growth. We think of the Conservatory as an experimental lab, and because of this, we offer no public performance or production of a play. Removing the pressure of an audience allows our students to focus on honing their skills for use in future performances. The lab structure also allows the faculty to focus equally on all students: because there are no leading performers, every student receives the same amount of attention.
Outside of the classroom, students work, study, and play. Because the majority of class work is project-based and dependent on collaboration with other students, rehearsal time outside of class is valuable. Weekends are spent rehearsing and enjoying personal time.
Carnegie Mellon U. Summer Pre-College Drama
Pre-College Drama prepares students for the college audition and interview process, illustrating the kind of creativity and discipline required of students studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts Drama curriculum. Classes are taught by accomplished Carnegie Mellon University faculty and adjunct professors.
Pre-College Drama is a six-week residential program for high school juniors and seniors that offers training and preparation for college auditions and interviews within an acclaimed drama conservatory. Each of the three options offered - Acting, Design/Production, & Musical Theater - has a different focus that will bring students unique experiences, challenging opportunities, and preparation for future theater endeavors. Through this program, students may find value in a wider, liberal arts undergraduate experience where they can explore all the opportunities afforded to them.
Students will attend classes for approximately eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a daily lunch break.
Pre-College Drama students are involved in a wide variety of classroom projects, topics, workshops, lectures and demonstrations, seminars, and masterclasses. All provide curriculum enrichment.
Sitka Fine Arts Camp
High school students explore new arts and hone familiar ones by choosing from over 60 different classes offered in theater, dance, music, creative writing, visual arts, digital arts, and Alaska Native arts in a two-week long session. Students can attend as day or dorm students and have the opportunity to meet other students from throughout the state and country. After classes, the counselors run a variety of recreation activities from soccer to open mics and each evening the faculty perform a live show for the camp community. The Sunday in the middle of the session is an outdoor recreation day with opportunities to explore Sitka's vast trail system. At the end of the session, students share their work through live performances, screenings, a visual art show, and rock concert.