Summer decision: Interlochen vs. Stagedoor??

<p>One of the great things about interlochen is the large amount of staff members who were alums....in addition to the faculty who are professionals. there are college students who are counselors, lifeguards and work at various places like the scholarshop (the "school store"), but as brbway said, no college students teach the classes. we did have opportunities to teach side activities such as swing dancing, yoga, etc that were just for fun.</p>

<p>after attending as a camper in 03 and 04, i returned back this past summer as a high school girls counselor. it was a great experience because i was able to take private lessons with the theater professionals and there is so much tradition at interlochen. everyone there is so passionate about what they do (not to imply that at stage door they aren't either lol!!!!!) and it's friendships for life. my 17 year old girls were so inspired to know that i'm still very close with all my friends from when i was a camper. i actually last night got a phone call from my camper who was from Indonesia!!! 11:30 PM my time, lunch time the next day her time haha. it is another thing that makes Interlochen great, the amount of international students the program attracts. and i personally love being in an environment surrounded by other artists who aren't just aspiring actors. at first i was kind of disappointed that none of my girls were musical theater majors (i did have a straight theater major, though), but it opened my mind so much to other styles of art. it was life-changing.</p>

<p>i think the musical theater workshop is a very good experience and the guy who runs it is a very talented actor/singer and is a member of actor's equity. it's only 3 weeks, whereas most of the camp programs are 6 weeks, but they put the 3 weekers in cabins with other 3 weekers, so they don't have to feel like the awkward newbies if they come 2nd session when everyone else has already been there 3 weeks and made friends. the revue is very high-scale and the theater is a very nice space.</p>

<p>I did have a longish post about items so as location, weather and living situtaion - some what had aboout parallel to what Sozievt had about stage door. Unfortunately I got timed out and had not saved. If the OP would like that kind of inofrmation about interlochen I would be happy to share my Ds experience for her 2 years as and intermediate student. But I am not going to recreate it if it is not wanted.</p>

<p>For what its worth, I know quite a few kids from my daughter's high school which has a very highly regarded drama program here in South Florida that go to StageDoor, and they absolutely love it, swear by it, and can't wait until the summer to go back. They got awesome experience, and spoke very highly of the professionalism of the program and the instructors. I'm sure there are groups on Facebook that discuss both programs, I would suggest looking at those if you are on Facebook. Sounds like both programs have a lot to offer, but I only know about SDM from hearing my daughter's friends rave about it. there is networking, as stated above, make great contacts, and overall very great experiences. Several of the SDM kids I know went on to great experiences in college and I anticipate you will hear of some of them on B'wy in the future.</p>