What students are saying:
- "This has been such an inspiring and fantastic intensive. I have loved every minute of it and wouldn’t change it for the world. Thank you for giving us this opportunity."
- "I will take this experience for the rest of my life!"
- "I love, love, love, love loved this camp! Please, Please, Please do this next year."
- "Everything was wonderful and I will absolutely never forget this week. Thank You!"
- "This was an amazing week that has made me certain that this is my path."
- "Truly enjoyed the experience! I learned so much and enjoyed the opportunity to work with Harvey, Pierce, Andrew, and the Meskimens."
- "I will never ever forget such an incredible and inspiring week."
- "This truly was one of the best experiences in my life and I will remember this forever."
- "Once in a lifetime experience THANK YOU!"
- "I feel like this intensive has opened my eyes to a whole new side of musical theatre & it’s really cemented my decision to go into this career."
- "What a privilege to learn from such amazing instructors. Thank you!"
An amazing staff is being assembled to create an exceptional theater learning experience
When this five-day training experience was first created, the goal was to bring in skilled professionals who are at the top of their craft. Not only were we looking for expert performers, but also people who had an ability to share their knowledge with others.
We want to expose young performers to experts that they wouldn't be able to meet or learn from in other ways.
That is exactly the type of staff we are assembling.
Here's the team of instructors that we had at last Summer's Intensive. This year's instructional staff is being assembled and it looks like they will be even bigger and better than 2012.
Meet our previous instructors:
Andrew Palermo
Andrew Palermo is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder (along with childhood best friend Taye Diggs) of dre.dance, a contemporary dance company. Since its premiere in 2005 dre.dance has earned a reputation for authentically poignant and powerful dancing with performances and residencies in New York City and across the country.
In addition to concert dance, Mr. Palermo maintains a schedule of direction and choreography for stage and screen, with stage credits that include Kristin Chenoweth at Carnegie Hall; The Frank Loesser Songbook with New York Philharmonic (Lincoln Center); The Mikado (Carnegie Hall); Lyrics and Lyricists (92nd St. Y); The Aluminum Show (International tour); V-Day (Urban Stages); Journey To The West (37 Arts); Great Joy (New Amsterdam Theatre); Esther Demsack (Summer Play Festival/The Public Theater); DanceBreak 2011 (Joan Weill Center for Dance); Ace (The Old Globe, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theater of St. Louis); Bright Lights, Big City (Prince Music Theater); Vices (Theatre Aspen); Aida (Music Theater Wichita); Man of La Mancha (Sacramento Music Circus); For The Record/Paul Thomas Anderson (Rockwell/LA); Two Gentlemen of Verona (University of Cincinnati/College Conservatory of Music); Hairspray (AMDA/LA); She Loves Me (Westminster Choir College); Hair and The Wild Party (Wichita State University) and the upcoming Allegiance (The Old Globe) and The Other Josh Cohen (The York).
Mr. Palermo’s performance career included the original Broadway companies of Wicked; Annie Get Your Gun (“Tommy Keeler”, revival); the closing Broadway company of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; LaChiusa’s Little Fish at Second Stage, national and international tours of West Side Story; and performances at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Hollywood Bowl, and numerous regional theaters.
Harvey Evans
Harvey Evans is one of the most loved and delightful artists in show biz.
Evans, a spry 72, has appeared onstage, in film and on TV regularly since the 1950s. He can still sing, cut a rug and kick up his heels as he recently did for choreographer John "Chi Chi" O'Connell in the large dance ensemble for Disney's Enchanted.
He made his Broadway debut in 1957 under his real name, Harvey Hohnecker, opposite none other than Gwen Verdon in New Girl in Town. He proceeded to dance in classic musical after classic musical, including West Side Story, again opposite Verdon in Redhead, as Tulsa in the original Gypsy, as Barnaby opposite Channing in Hello Dolly!, with Lansbury in Anyone Can Whistle, opposite Joel Grey in George M and as Bobby in the Boy Friend revival.
Evans won acclaim as Young Buddy in the original Follies and followed that as Jim Dale's Barnum standby. Numerous roles in Sunset Boulevard, The Scarlet Pimpernel and the 2005 Oklahoma! revival followed.
On film and TV, he appeared in adaptations of The Pajama Game, Dames at Sea and Applause. And he's still working!
The stories he can tell! The memories he has! Everyone is always telling Evans, "You should write a book," and maybe he will.
Pierce Peter Brandt
From regional theater to Broadway productions, chorus boy to leading man, Pierce Peter Brandt has been there. Having performed leading and featured roles in the acclaimed final company of the original Broadway production of Les Misérables, the original Broadway cast of Martin Guerre, and the national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, Pierce is a recipient of two Drama-Logue/Backstage West Awards and a San Francisco Critics Award, as well as numerous accolades from critics across the country.
He has performed leading roles in major musical theater productions at many of the country’s finest professional regional theaters and has worked with some of the industry’s most outstanding producers, directors, actors, casting directors, agents, and musicians.
Pierce trained in acting, voice, and musical theater at the University of Southern California, New York's Manhattan Edge Actors' Studio, American Conservatory Theater, Stanford University, as well as with coveted Broadway casting director Tara Rubin, New York's Sara Lazarus, and prominent voice teacher Edward Sayegh and coach Brad Garside.
As an instructor, Pierce is on the teaching staff at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and has also taught master classes and workshops for SF's Theater Bay Area Lecture Series, University of Illinois, New York School of the Arts, Orpheum Theater Summer Institute, Palo Alto Children's Theater, Broadway by the Bay, State University of New York, and others.
Jim Meskimen
As a professional actor for nearly thirty years Jim has appeared in the films Apollo 13, The Grinch, Frost/Nixon, The Punisher, Not Forgotten, There Will Be Blood and many others. Some of Jim’s TV credits include Friends, Whose Line is it, Anyway?, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Castle, Lie to Me and Rules of Engagement.
As an impressionist, his impressions of political figures in the 2004 election were showcased in animated cartoons by Jibjab that were among the most popular items on the Internet.
His viral video, Shakespeare in Celebrity Voices has recorded over 828,542 views. His subsequent impressions videos have cemented him as a major YouTube talent.
Recently, Scott Simon of National Public Radio called Jim, "...The greatest impressionist of these times." His ability to develop distinctive characters with ease has earned him international acclaim.
Tamra Meskimen
Tamra Meskimen is a New York trained stage actress who has appeared in innumerable plays and television shows such as One Life to Live and Fresh Prince of Bel Air. She has done voiceovers for numerous TV and Radio commercials, children's stories and Books on Tape of best selling novels.
As a veteran of the New York and LA Improv scene she has performed with several well-known ensembles - Among them, Interplay and Split-Second Theatre. She is currently a performer and the Executive Director of the LA based, Really Spontaneous Theatre Company, an acclaimed improvised one-act play company.
She is one of the founders of The Acting Center in LA. The Acting Center "produces uniformly confident, completely certain actors who can create any character, in any emotion, in any situation, instantly."
Don't miss your chance to work with this exceptional group of instructors. Register for the Summer Theater Intensive now.