A Day at Youth Theatre School

That my friend is a Christopher Turk burn delivered with grace and fierceness.

This is the reason I've been having to cancel plans with a lot of you guys this month. I've fondly been calling it "school" because it's too hard to explain in a quick text. I know, I know, who wants more school?

 

Let me be clear though, the only school worth going to in the summer is theatre school!

Who would have thought that this geek would need even more school in the summer? No, no, not summer school but I guess in a way it is. Okay, before I lead you to confusion I will admit I am going to a "school" this summer, but it doesn't really feel that way because it's an institution devoted to the theatre. It's a bit easier just to call it by it's nickname though since theatre school has a pretty wordy name. Precisely, my summer education is coming from The Youth Theatre School at The University of Utah. I told you, it's a mouthful. So we pupils of the school fondly call it "YTU".


YTU is a whole new brand of theatre camp as it lasts an entire month (at least for the teen session) so in one month a new student should prepare for:

• A whole bunch of inside jokes
• Musical theatre sing-along sessions (which happen almost daily let me tell you)
• A tummy full of Einstein's bagels, Pie Pizzeria... pizza obviously, and maybe the occasional sack lunch.
• Walks to The Pioneer Theatre, oh don't stress it's not even a block away
•  New friends whether they be just in your company or not.
• More inside jokes
• Pretty awesome carpools if you're lucky like me (thanks Jayne and Christian)

So I guess you could say that YTU is pretty...

 



On the first day of Youth Theatre students find out what companies they're in, like the acting companies you may see at theatres around you, these companies are pretty small groups from five to sixteen people that come together to make a show. The companies range from Comedy/Improv to Shakespeare and even Musical Theatre, oh and did I mention there are three musical theatre companies this year? It's wonderful!

 

Now, it is still kind of like school in the fact that you can pick your classes and you have specific schedules for the day.

Grace's Guide to Youth Theatre

Since you have a lovely block schedule to fill, and four classes to choose besides an extra serving of company everyday it's important to choose wisely. Are you going for humorous classes? Singing heavy classes? Musical theatre classes? Basically what you want to work on are the classes you should be taking, not just an easy ride, something that will help you and hopefully make you better!

Being the geek I was, one of my days is a crazy intellectually charged day while the other is all fun all the time. You can guess which day has Political Theatre and Poetry Slam or Pitched Perfect and LOL Lab just by looking at the names. Yeah, I sure packed in my geek classes as always.

 

Basically, the schedule works like this every day:

9:00  // Be there or be square
9:00-9:05 // Daily announcements, aka don't walk alone and the Performance of the Day
9:05-9:15 // Warm up those vocal chords and dancing feet
9:15-10:30 // Time to work on whatever your company is creating
10:30-11:30 // Elective numero uno
11:30-12:30 // Sack lunch, or if you actually have money, Einstein's, The Pie, Subway, B&D's, etc.
12:30-1:30 // Elective numba two!
1:30-3:30 // More company time to work on your show

Of course there are some minor details I left out like the time it takes to walk from place to place, but that doesn't take long especially when you're running in the rain *cough* today for example.

It's been a wonderful month; I've made some unforgettable friendships, ate the best pizza, got a role I adore, got some pretty influential advice, and happened to be in one of the nicest companies out there. Oh and I probably should say that with the help of a fantastic director named Laura, two great accompanists, and several other students I'm going to be performing this Thursday at Kingsbury Hall!

If you happen to be in Utah for the next couple days, I highly recommend going to Youth Theatre's performances at Kingsbury Hall at seven pm from Wednesday to Friday! I don't have all the information about all the shows, but I sure know about mine!

The Drowsy Chaperone is about an antisocial thespian who finds the record of The Drowsy Chaperone and the show comes to life in his apartment. The show within a show is about a show girl named Janet Van Der Graaf who is leaving the stage for her fiancé, Robert Martin. Mix ups and mayhems occur leaving you wondering if a wedding will ever occur! Oh did I mention,  I'm the Chaperone?

When? Thursday, July 31st
Where? Kingsbury Hall, 1395 Presidents Cir, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Who? The Red Company and I
Why? Because it's a good show and I've worked hard on it! So you better come!

As we stumble along,

Drowsy out!