Grades 7 and 8

Hone your improv skills by jumping into unscripted scenes where anything can happen! Improv training provides a solid foundation in developing strong listening skills and sharp instincts. Explore character and story in real time, supporting scene partners while making confident, specific choices. Short-form games keep the energy high, while longer improvisations allow scenes to grow and evolve. Practice staying present on stage, heightening moments without forcing them, and challenging yourself to take creative risks!

Grades 7-12

Welcome to the new JT studio, a series of intensive programs geared towards students looking for advanced training. Ideal for students pursuing musical theatre at a high level, this course builds the confidence, technique, and artistry needed to shine in both solo and collaborative settings.

Approaching Shakespeare as we do - as actors interpreting his work four centuries after the plays were performed, we inevitably tend to focus on the language -  on giving life to his soaring rhetoric and expansive thinking.  However, the theater of Shakespeare's day which he both embraced and reinvented was largely one of physical spectacle.  In all of his plays, intellectual and spiritual reflection is made more vivid by contrasting it against scenes of broad physical comedy, grand buffoonery, and antic folly on the part of the rustics, clowns and fools.   In many of Shakespeare's comedies these elements of inversion and anarchy become dominant.  These plays draw upon performance traditions such as Commedia Dell’arte, Morality plays, and even Elizabethan holiday pageants -  all forms which delight in physical exuberance and fully embodied characterization.    The class will focus on engaging the stock character physical forms of Commedia Dell’arte and applying them to characterization in Shakespeare's plays where the influence of Commedia is at the forefront.  Students will also learn to play within and exploit the unique actor-audience relationship that many of his comedies revel in.   Drawing upon material from The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Tempest, students will learn an approach to Shakespearean comedy that is expansive, extempore, and flirts with a kind of sublime anarchy that can liberate and enliven Shakespeare's work, as well as the actor performing it.

Grades 7-12

Pay homage to the roots of musical theatre as we explore the movement styles that shaped Broadway’s Golden Age! Learn choreography inspired by landmark musicals like Singin’ in the Rain, Guys and Dolls, and West Side Story. Focus on musicality, precision, and storytelling through dance while building technique. Connect movement choices to musical theatre history and expand your dance repertoire with classic material that continues to influence contemporary choreography.

Grades 7-12

Explore the sweeping, powerful sound of musical theatre’s most iconic scores! Designed to complement JT’s upcoming production of Les Misérables while also welcoming singers outside the cast, this workshop focuses on the classical vocal style that defines epic storytelling onstage. Work through a curated repertoire survey drawn from Les Misérables, West Side Story, The Light in the Piazza, and more, building healthy technique, expressive phrasing, and musical confidence. Through group and solo work, tackle rich harmonies and emotionally charged material, developing the skills needed to sing big, timeless scores with clarity and power.