Dates/Time: Mondays (January 27 to April 28; no class 3/31 and 4/21) from 5:15PM to 6:30PM

Location: In person at SPARC

Grades: 5th to 8th

All levels of experience are welcome! Teachers in this class will work with youth at all levels of experience to help them reach their goals.

Young people who enjoy creating characters, telling stories, and immersing themselves in a role will delight in this class with an emphasis on play! Students will expand their understanding of important acting and improvisational skills like working with scene partners, making strong choices, expressing emotion, and saying "yes". This dynamic class also teaches focus, empathy, and commitment. 

Acting and Improv Studio starts with a focus on improvisational comedy skills like trusting your instincts and working cooperatively with a team. Then as the session continues, those skills are applied to scripted scene work, where students will expand their understanding of acting through giving life and truth to a character, investing in the character’s given circumstances, and using acting concepts like objectives/obstacles/tactics. At the end of the session, students will share their favorite parts of these two branches of theatre for a small audience of friends and family. Improvisational topics and acting scenes will vary from session to session. Youth who enjoy this class are encouraged to take it more than once so that they can continue to practice their new skills. 

Interested in scholarships? Read this page first

*Teachers subject to change.

Photo Credit: Courtney Thompson

Date/Time: Tuesdays (January 28 to April 22; no class 4/1) from 5PM to 6:15PM

Location: In person at SPARC

Grades: 5th to 8th

All levels of experience are welcome! Teachers in this class will work with youth at all levels of experience to help them reach their goals.

Jump into the upbeat world of musical theatre in this high-energy class. Students who enjoy singing and dancing will love this opportunity to learn music and choreography from their favorite shows. Young performers will learn several styles of movement and song in this class, while learning more about theatre through games and warm-ups. Students will also grow skills like ensemble-building, information recall, and sharing the spotlight. 

Each young person will develop physical and vocal techniques for performance. Vocal skills include expression through choral music, using proper breath support, and following basic conducting gestures. Physical skills include conveying emotion through movement, building endurance and coordination, and retaining patterns of choreography over time. At the end of the session, the youth will perform musical theatre-style songs and dances for a small audience of friends and family.

The world of musical theatre is deep and wide, and there is a wealth of classic and contemporary material to explore in Musical Theatre Studio. Youth who enjoy this class are encouraged to return and learn more from the canon! 

Teachers in this class will work with youth at all levels of experience to help them reach their goals.

Interested in scholarships? Read this page first

*Teachers subject to change.

Photo Credit: Liz Earnest

Dates/Time: Wednesdays (January 29 to April 30; no class 2/26 or 4/2) from 6:30PM to 8:00PM

Location: In person at SPARC

Grades: 8th to 12th

All levels of experience are welcome! Teachers in this class will work with youth at all levels of experience to help them reach their goals.

The Performer's Process will give young artists an opportunity to work on their skills as a singer, actor and dancer. The course is divided into three units over the course of twelve weeks with a rotation of Teaching Artists.

For four weeks each of the performance disciplines will be given full focus.  Ultimately empowering the youth to make creative character-driven choices, convey emotion through song and dance, and become confident storytellers. 

This course is designed with all people in mind and will run at a pace designed for beginning to intermediate level performers. This class will also offer support for audition prep and how to prepare and perform a monologue and a song for a musical theatre audition.  This material will work well for auditions at school, in the community, or here at SPARC!

In the Singer's Process unit, the youth will begin as an ensemble, building an understanding of their vocal range, how to warm up the voice, sustain healthy vocal practices, and build the confidence necessary to sing independently. Once they feel ready, youth will begin to work one-on-one with the instructor to practice performing a song of their choosing.  Through this individual vocal coaching, youth will develop techniques like projection, breath support, and physicality. 

In the Actor’s Process unit, young people will explore a series of foundational acting exercises designed to help them discover the methods that work for them as an actor when developing a character. Through monologues and scene work, actors will practice using vocal and physical expression to convey emotion, react to their partner, and tell a convincing story. 

In the Dancer's Process unit, the youth will learn and practice various dance styles to build their confidence and experience in musical theatre. In practicing dance, youth will build skills like conveying emotion through movement, building endurance and coordination, functioning as an ensemble, and retaining patterns of choreography over time.  

Interested in scholarships? Read this page first.

*Teachers subject to change.

Dates/Time: Wednesdays (January 29 to April 23; no class 4/2) from 6:30PM to 7:45PM

Location: In person at SPARC

Grades: 5th to 8th

All levels of experience are welcome! Teachers in this class will work with youth at all levels of experience to help them reach their goals.

Young people who enjoy creating characters, telling stories, and immersing themselves in a role will delight in this class with an emphasis on play! Students will expand their understanding of important acting and improvisational skills like working with scene partners, making strong choices, expressing emotion, and saying "yes". This dynamic class also teaches focus, empathy, and commitment. 

Acting and Improv Studio starts with a focus on improvisational comedy skills like trusting your instincts and working cooperatively with a team. Then as the session continues, those skills are applied to scripted scene work, where students will expand their understanding of acting through giving life and truth to a character, investing in the character’s given circumstances, and using acting concepts like objectives/obstacles/tactics. At the end of the session, students will share their favorite parts of these two branches of theatre for a small audience of friends and family. Improvisational topics and acting scenes will vary from session to session. Youth who enjoy this class are encouraged to take it more than once so that they can continue to practice their new skills. 

Interested in scholarships? Read this page first

*Teachers subject to change.

Photo Credit: Courtney Thompson

Dates/Time: Thursdays (September 19 to December 19; no class 10/3 and 11/28) from 5:15PM to 6:30PM

Location: In person at SPARC

Grades: 5th to 8th

Students must have completed at least 1 year of previous SPARC programming to enroll in this course. (Example: Two semesters of SPARC classes or one SPARC summer camp & one semester of SPARC class.)

This Intermediate Musical Theatre class is designed to support students who have excelled in their studies in Musical Theatre and would benefit from a more rigorous curriculum.  

The focus of SPARC's intermediate classes will be to provide students with more advanced performance materials and guide them through an in-depth process in developing the performer's tool kit.

Interested in scholarships? Read this page first.

*Teachers subject to change.

Photo Credit: Liz Earnest

Dates/Time: Thursdays (January 30 to April 24; no class 4/3) from 6:30PM to 7:45PM

Location: In person at SPARC

Grades: 5th to 8th

Students must have completed at least 1 year of previous SPARC programming to enroll in this course. (Example: Two semesters of SPARC classes or one SPARC summer camp & one semester of SPARC class.)

This Intermediate Acting & Improv class is designed to support students who have excelled in their studies in Acting & Improv and would benefit from a more rigorous curriculum.  

The focus of SPARC's intermediate classes will be to provide students with more advanced performance materials and guide them through an in-depth process in developing the performer's tool kit.

Interested in Scholarships? Read this page first!

*Teachers subject to change.

Photo Credit: Courtney Thompson

Date/Time: Saturdays (February 1 to March 8) from 12:30PM to 2PM

Location: In person at SPARC

Grades: 8th-12th

All levels of experience are welcome! Teachers in this class will work with youth at all levels of experience to help them reach their goals.

This class will cover the basics of choreographed fight sequences for the stage. Youth will learn how to keep themselves and others safe while creating the illusion of drama for an audience. Plus, this class will offer a helpful foundation for those who are cast in SPARC’s winter play, She Kills Monsters: Young Adventurers Edition!

When in any type of physical class that requires partner work, it is essential that students follow ALL safety protocol set in place by the instructor(s). While this class is open to all experience levels and abilities, we encourage families to consider what it means to use arms, legs, elbows, and objects in close contact with other students and the maturity level that might be needed before registering. Participants will be asked to sign a safety waiver on the first day of class.

Interested in Scholarships? Read this page first!

*Teachers subject to change.

Photo Credit: Tom Topinka

Dates/Time: Saturdays (February 1 to March 8) from 12:30PM to 2PM

Location: In person at SPARC

Grades: 8th to 12th

All levels of experience are welcome! Teachers in this class will work with youth at all levels of experience to help them reach their goals.

In this brand new technical theatre class, students will gain hands-on skills in both the construction of puppets and their implementation on the stage. Did you know almost anything can be a puppet? The Puppeteer's Process will dive into how to create characters from shapes, buzz words, and texture, while working as a group to literally bring a story to life. Topics of instruction include but are not limited to: marionettes, hand and rod puppets, shadow puppets, and bunraku.

Students who show extra interest in building puppets may be invited to lend their skills to construction for our spring play, She Kills Monsters.

Interested in Scholarships? Read this page first!

*Teachers subject to change.

Photo Credit: Tom Topinka