Musical & Theater Intensive + Audition Prep & Performance
About the Course
A fundamental acting education supports the ability to be successful in any career in musical theater, theatrical plays, and performance production. In this four-week intensive, teens will explore the world of the character through work on sensory awareness, physical involvement, imagination, and communication. Beyond any single production, teens will build a foundational knowledge of the theater. At the end of four weeks, discrete work highlighting learned skills as an actor, scene development, and musical scenes, will be shared with families in an informal setting on a Cornish stage.
While this intensive may be taken independently, it is the foundational program that is designed to work in conjunction with the Summer@Cornish electives in the afternoon. Please select two afternoon electives to go along with this intensive. Please see those descriptions here or email plus@cornish.edu if you have any questions.
How the Summer@Cornish program works:
3 ways to Participate - Full-Day - Half Day - One Intensive
Full-Day Program
- 1 Morning Intensive
- M-F 9AM - 12PM
- 2 Afternoon Electives
- M/W/F & T/Th 1PM - 4PM
Half-Day Program
Students can select a combination of:
- 1 Intensive + 1 Elective
- Only Intensive
- Only Elective
Residency Program
- Full-Day Program
- Evening & Weekend Activities
- Extra studio Time
- Learn more here...
Related Theater Classes
Writing for Stage & Screen
Writing for Stage & Screen is designed for aspiring film screenwriters and musical or theater playwrights to unleash their storytelling potential. In this elective, students explore the craft of writing captivating scripts for both film and live performance. Through hands-on workshops, creative exercises, and feedback from industry
Technical Theater
Learn about bringing theatre to life through aspects of technical theater. Each day, teens will explore through professional back-stage environments to give them an understanding of what it takes to run a performance from the back end. This elective is perfect for the teen who loves theatre, ballet, music - any aspect of live performance -
Costume Design
Costume Design is focused on exploring the job of a costume designer and understanding their role as part of a collaborative design team working on a production. Teens will explore the role and processes of designing costumes from the initial reading of a script, to conceptual work and research, design techniques and principles, and
Stage & Screen Combat
Both an acting and a physical technique course, this class explores character movement in the context of a specific physical form: stage combat (armed and unarmed), including rapier, dagger, and broadsword. Performers develop greater specificity of movement, clarity of physical choices, and balance of one’s own energy with that of a partner. 
Voice for Musical Theater
In this class, students will strengthen skills for confident singing, focusing on character-driven vocals, ensemble singing, and general singing technique. Each student will have the opportunity to sing solo material, as well as group singing. If this is your first time dipping a toe in the world of musical theatre, or if you're looking to brush up
Dance for Musical Theater
In the last 10 years dance and how it relates to the world has evolved so much. Whether it be the prevalent use of hip hop and street dance in contemporary Musical Theater or the infectious fun moves of Tik Tok. In this elective, students will learn about the shift in culture with movement and understanding the styles that got us here! 
Acting for Stage and Screen
This intensive exposes teens to the actor’s “instrument” - their body and voice - and the habits of healthy performance; establishing skills, concepts, terminology, and goals from which subsequent training can spring. Teens will learn about their instrument as a complex and unified system, the mechanics of the body, and the steps
