Strong Drama Program for 14 year old, High School's not happening
Hi,
Can someone recommend a teen program for acting? Has anyone's kid done anything with Berkeley Rep or Berkeley playhouse? We'd appreciate hearing both positive and negative experiences. Also he is quite serious about acting, so we'd like to find something that is fairly professional and not too little kid-ish and since he's currently at a high school in Oakland with not much of a drama program (they haven't done a play so far and it's possible that they won't at all this year) and he is quite jazzed to participate production of some sort (play or even some kind of film or anything of the like). Thanks for any suggestions.
Nov 19, 2023
Parent Replies
My daughter is now studying musical theatre in NYC and was involved in a bunch of local theatre stuff. It’s definitely an exciting, arduous journey. Highly recommend ACT Young Conservatory - classes, college audition workshop, the networking, etc. Also Berkeley Rep youth classes and their Teen Council to meet other theatre lovers. There are a couple of local improv programs that my daughter wanted to try but could never fit it in her schedule. If interested in musical theatre, then definitely YMTC and Berkeley Playhouse. For camera work, my daughter did a few gigs mostly as an extra, everything from a music video for a local singer to commercials to Antman — all fun and interesting to see how a production works. She took an on-camera class at Nancy Hayes Casting and that led to a local agent. This didn’t lead to a lot of work but it gave her experience with working with an agent. If son wants to go to college for acting, do a bunch of research way in advance and understand the auditioning process that goes along with the regular college application process. Highly recommend going to one of the Unified so your son can audition for a lot of colleges in one local. My daughter ended up going to both the one in NYC and in Chicago for both call-backs and first auditions. Best of luck to your son (and the parents!)
My kid did many programs with Berkeley Rep, and had a wonderful time. The teachers were professional theater people. They also had a "teens see plays" rate where teens went to the plays and had a Q & A. This was before COVID, so I'm not sure how much of their program has resumed.