Young Actors Professional Intensive (YAPI)

YAPI (Young Actors Professional Intensive) is a program for dedicated actors ages 13 – 19 who are looking for conservatory-style training to prepare for college or a career in theatre. This program is focused on a holistic approach, including training for the actor as well as skills and experiences needed to thrive in this fast-paced and competitive industry.

Students in this program will be expected to come ready to work daily from 9am – 3pm in an intensive environment to hone their skills quickly and effectively. There will be work outside of sessions expected including memorization, research, and rehearsal. It is highly recommended students in this program have a strong history of theatrical training and performance. If students are not ready for a more advanced experience, we recommend enrolling in a Change It Up, Skills, or Performance camp instead. (See Teen Camps Here) If you have any questions about your readiness for the program, please reach out to Artistic Director Carolyn Agan ([email protected]) to discuss further.

New this year, students are able to sign up for the weeks of the program that most fit their interest, training goals, and schedule. Each week can stand alone as a training module, or weeks can be combined for a more complete and holistic experience. Students who participate in all 5 sessions will be offered the opportunity to complete an audition for local casting and artistic personnel for additional feedback and networking. Each week will include classes and workshops with YAPI teachers as well as an opportunity for a Master Classes with professionals from around the industry.

What does it take to make it as a professional actor? This week we will deep dive into preparing students for all that is required to make it in this industry. Topics explored will include choosing a college or advanced training program, resumes and headshots, website and self-promotion, creating a reel, audition techniques, mental toughness and handling nerves and rejection, taxes for the artist, and more!

We will spend this week focused on how we utilize our bodies to tell stories in both musical theatre and straight plays. This will include a focus on styles of dance and movement from traditional methods including ballet and jazz to stylized movement used in Commedia Dell’Arte, Viewpoints, and Laban movement technique. Additionally, students will focus on the care of their body as a tool and properly recognizing and recovering from injury, warm up and cool down routines, and proper stretching. We will also explore Stage Combat and how violence is controlled on stage.

Students will delve deeply into the various schools and styles of acting to explore monologue and scene work. This will include the history of the technique, exercises to gain an understanding of it, and application in work. The goal of this week is for students to grow their toolbox and have a familiarity to move swiftly between styles depending on the needs of a director or production as they discover what works best for their personal process.

Each day, we will explore the history of an era of musical theatre. Students will learn the artists that were popular at that time as well as the influence of cultural and world events on this period. We will explore techniques and apply them to songs and dances from that era. At the end of the session, students will have a full understanding of the history of American Musical Theatre and examples to pull from the 1930s to today!

Students will explore all the ways we use our primary instrument, the voice, in both our musical theatre and acting. We will look at healthy techniques for vocal styles and how and when to utilize these, explore the brain body connection as it applies to the voice, and how to take healthy care of our instrument. Additionally, students will learn basic voice and speech techniques for accent and character work and explore voice over and audio techniques for everything from recording to podcasting.