Best rigorous on camera training summer program for high school actors/musical theatre students?

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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Hi! I just posted a pretty extensive thread asking about summer programs, but I just realized the length of it might scare some people off. Everything I wrote is completely true but this is also insanely important so if it helps to downsize this then I will! If length doesn’t matter to you, you can check a few threads back in musical theatre major, theatre major, and summer programs! Thank you!

So basically - I’m a current sophomore, rising junior, and I’m 16. I live where there is absolutely no access to any kind of training hours around me, especially in acting. I’ve known for a while this is the only thing I want to do with my life, so I’ve been buying books and teaching myself all I can, but I’ve never even gone to an acting class in the first place! I really have learned all I can from my self I’m really so craving professional technique and training.

I want nothing more than to be a professional performer right now but there’s just not anything anywhere around me, so this might be the only time I have training all year as scary as a thought that is, so it’s insanely important that this program is incredibly incredibly incredibly rigorous, and not too performance-based or juvenile. I would love to be with students my own age (ie a teen program instead of a 16+ adult program), but if anyone has any insight on ANY program at all, and the adult ones are the only ones that are truly rigorous, that’s fine! I just desperately need quality training!

There are a few programs whose ages are 12 to 16 or 13 to 16, that I REALLY like, but since 16 is a maximum age I’m really scared those programs will be all focused on having fun and not actually learning the craft. I’m primarily focused in musical theatre, but since there is NO acting training anywhere near me, that is my focus for this summer. But I would really love to improve my singing technique as well because I hardly have any and my voice needs major improvement. But top priority would be techniques such as on camera acting training, Meisner technique, and comedy training, because I know nothing about these except for what I’ve read in articles!

Here are the programs I’ve come across. But please I’m so open to any suggestions at all! I just really really need unbiased reviews, especially from people that know extensively about several of these programs, so I can REALLY tell how professional these programs are. This could make the difference for my entire future! Also, my parents said that it couldn’t be more than $2000, which I know is incredibly low for summer programs, I wish I could contribute but I don’t have a job. Anyway this is insanely important so I think up to $3000 would be fine. The problem is, we don’t qualify for ANY scholarships at ALL because based on our income, we look like we’re able to pay the tuition, but the reason we can’t is due to medical expenses. Also, I would NEED board and I doubt if it’s a longer program I would be able to have a parent with me, so it would need to be an on campus thing. Here are the programs I’ve seen so far!

  • Young Actors Camp (I've heard from a few people that this is incredible but I don't know for sure the age of their child. I've also heard from a few people that it's not professional and kind of a scam, but I can't tell whose right! It did sound kind of juvenile, but if it has good training and great opportunities I don't care of course!)
  • SOCAPA (I really really love everything I've been able to read about this, but I've never read ANY specific reviews about the training. Is it high quality advanced training? Or just basic training like I would have already learned in middle school? The films they make look so high quality and amazing, but the acting is a little odd. I just can't tell. ALSO there's a $500 non refundable application fee, which pretty much knocks it out of the running, unless this was the ONLY one I was applying to. It could be, but it would have to be PERFECT.)
  • AMDA Acting Program (I just can't tell about AMDA I hear so many different things! I know they have a musical theatre program but I think that's in the voice program, so that wouldn't work for me but they do just have a strictly acting program, but I've never heard a THING about the quality of the training. Again, that's THE most important thing!!)
  • American Academy of Dramatic Arts - AADA (I REALLY love everything I've read about this, I really do, but I haven't heard ANY reviews from actual participants! Their youth program is from ages 12 to 16, so I can't help but worry that it's juvenile. The video of the program looked like everything I want though! A few people have said the program is not that great, but the general consensus seems to be that it's great! Again, just quality of training! Another problem - even though they have students coming from all over the world, they said they don't offer board AND you need a parent with you. It's a month long program so I have no idea how we would work with that. They have adult programs too, that are 16 and UP, and if the training is good that sounds fine! But again they don't have board, and I don't know what ages normally apply to that but it might be a little weird if it was just me and then everyone else was much older than me. So I'm not sure what to do!)

I’ve also heard of programs such as: the Relativity School, Broadway Dreams Foundation, the Actors Space West, Maggie Flanigan Studio, etc. but have absolutely NO information on them and they could be a little juvenile because there’s no info anywhere on the training. I’ve also heard that places in Chicago and places like Groundlings and Broadway Workshop Teen Excel have programs that are just a week or so long, but I haven’t heard any reviews! I’d way rather have boarding and a more long extensive program, but any reviews on any training at all are incredibly helpful!

I really really really love the programs at Rutger’s and UNCSA and Northwestern’s Camera Acting Program (any reviews??? I can’t find any for that specific program) they sound perfect, but I don’t see how we could ever afford these.
This is really important to me so if they’re perfect I just want to find a way to afford them, especially Rutger’s it sounds great! I don’t know if it has on camera acting technique though. Any info? They each have non refundable application fees of several hundred dollars so I could only go to these if they were my ONLY option which I can’t decide on without extensive info!! But either way I just don’t know how to pay for these if we really can’t afford it but we have average income so we don’t qualify for scholarships!

Thank you so much for reading this! Again this is so insanely important to me ANY information ANYONE has about the training or the age ranges or the things they teach you or the professionalism whether you or a friend you know went there please please share it!! Thank you so much you don’t know what a help this is!!

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I would like to follow this…

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Hello,

My daughter is currently a freshman at UNCSA, and did a number of summer programs, some of which are on your list. One thing I need to say straight off is that, in my experience, all of these programs are expensive. :frowning:

My daughter did Rutgers pre-college when she was a rising sophomore; Broadway Dreams and other classes in NYC when she was a rising Junior, and CMU pre-college when she was a rising senior. I think Rutgers was the best program overall. She got excellent acting training there, and came home a more sophisticated actress in a marked way. To your questions, Rutgers provides housing. You can either do the acting track or the musical theater track. I don’t think there is any film training there. It cost something like 4,400. It probably would be worth it.

Broadway Dreams, I think, was not that helpful. It was an intense week, and involved auditioning, dance and singing. My daughter was in a number of scenes, and they performed in a terrific theater in downtown Philly. It was a great show, but most of the lead parts went to their interns. It was fun, but not particularly helpful in terms of training. And its only one week. It cost something like 1.200.

CMU was also a great experience, but it is incredibly expensive. I don’t think the acting training was as intense as it was at Rutgers. My daughter enjoyed it, and felt she made good friends there. She thought some of the classes were very helpful. It cost something like 7200.

All my prices are based on my memory, and please don’t rely on that. But I included the info just to give you a quick estimate of what things would cost.

I do think that summer training helped my daughter get where she is now (top notch conservatory). But, everything was expensive.

Best of luck to you!

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$3,000 is a stretch for a solid, residential intensive program. You would get more bang for your buck with weekly voice, movement, dance or acting lessons from a local instructor.

Are you sure you’ve tapped out all your local resources? Are there no community theaters, local colleges, community colleges? What about your HS drama and music teachers? What about teachers at other nearby high schools? If there’s truly nothing in your town, do you have relatives in major metro area you might stay with for part of the summer to take lessons or work with a community theater?

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@arwarw I know I really wish we could afford more we’re middle class but we’ve had a TON of medical expenses this year. But I know its really really low and kind of odd because this is about my future so its super important, but maybe by then we’ll have a little more. Also thank you! I’ve definitely looked into a couple once a week programs and I have about three lined up that, if we can travel to them, would be I think a good summer back up plan!
And yes definitely! Haha I’ve spent so much time looking at my local resources trying to find everything! There is one community theatre, but it only does one under 18 show a year, and its right in the middle of the summer when I hope to be at one of the intensives and they don’t offer classes. There are two local colleges but they also don’t seem to offer any classes during the summer or year for youth (at least for any type of performing or acting or theatre). My high school drama teacher last year was a big help, but the school took away her two drama classes to “make room for more english classes”, plus I actually haven’t been in school all this year due to lots of medical problems. I have tried to contact the one other high school’s drama teacher but I couldn’t get directly to her but the school said she only likes to stay teaching at her school and during the school day and things. There are a few college music teachers that I’ve all reached out to but they all seem to not want to teach anyone younger than college age. I do have a voice teacher but she admits to not knowing much about acting, plus I’ve had lots of throat problems all year so I haven’t been able to study with her which is really hard! And sadly no! All my relatives that are living live no more than four hours away and none of them like big cities at all! But good thoughts thanks so much for replying!

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@snerd2020 haha sure! there are a few responses below!

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I like arwarw’s idea. It’s too bad you don’t have relatives to put you up. :frowning:

Stratford Festival in Canada offers a very rigorous training program for 11th and 12th graders, the Theatre Performance Intensive. It runs 2.5 weeks and costs $3400 (Canadian) inclusive. $3400 Canadian is currently $2617. https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/Learn/K12Students/ShakespeareSchool

So this would be within your budget.

The Intensive has a very strong reputation.

They also have a camp for grades 9-12 called the King’s Company, that is a little less expensive.