As our students progress through the workshops many will develop a passion for performing. Civic Theatre West offers the Master Series as an opportunity to meet that challenge.

Musicals

In this exciting program, students aged 10 to 19 can audition to be a part of our Master Series Musical. During this eight to ten week session, each student will go through the audition process, be given a role in a Broadway Musical show and spend three evenings a week rehearsing that role. They will learn choreography from professional dancer, Stephen Hatcher; vocal instruction from Jennifer Vaughn, Civic Theatre West's staff Musical Director; and receive acting instruction from a working actor from our community. These fully costumed shows are performed on stage at either the Roseville or Tower Theater with a full set and a committed technical crew to make the show as professional as our Main Stage performances. Many of our season ticket holders pay to come see these shows and rave about the performances.

Since these shows are Broadway musicals it offers the students their first opportunity to experience what it is like to be a community theatre performer. They must prepare for their auditions with a song and sheet music; they must come dressed appropriate to audition; they will fill out an audition form and then audition by themselves on stage in front of their peers; some will be cut because of the size of the cast and others will experience what it like to be cast in a show and receive that exciting call from their director! All these experiences are essential in order to become a well-rounded performer and to make our character stronger.

Non-Musical and Shakespeare

Many of our students take the opportunity to perform a play, which is a completely different experience than a musical show. Students ages 13 to 19 can audition to participate in our plays that we rehearse and perform at the Tower Theater. This intimate theater-in-the-round setting places the actors in close proximity to their audience and there is no room to be out of character or miss a cue. We focus our rehearsals not just on blocking, but on creating characters that communicate to the audience and actors around them. Our Shakespeare cast performs each summer and this summer we will be working mastering Macbeth. Our actors will take on more responsibility as they create the show from the ground up and study the text of the play in order to create more meaningful characters and performances. Our Non-Musical Series performs contemporary dramas and comedies that place a strong emphasis on acting skills and character.

Current and Upcoming Workshops