Registration for Lexington Children’s Theatre’s 2024 Summer Theatre School is open!

Please check out the information below to help make your summer planning a breeze:

First Stage Players (FSP):

Open up a book and leap right in! First Stage Players, offered for ages 4 to 6, investigates your favorite stories through drama while creating a simple performance. Students will share the story using music, art, crafts, and creative drama techniques as their teachers guide them towards the Friday presentation. Tuition $225

Playmakers (PM):

Playmakers is designed to meet the needs and interests of 6-8-year-olds. Students explore the world of theatre by using contemporary literature, media, or a theme as their source material. The sharing will use basic costumes and scenery in a wonderful presentation at the end of the week. Tuition $225

Performance Workshop (PW):

Performance Workshops allow participants to improve their acting and performance skills. Students receive classes in acting, voice, and movement. Each child enrolled in the workshop receives a speaking role in the play which rehearses every day, culminating in a fully mounted performance for family and friends on Friday evening. Tuition $240

Musical Theatre Revue (MTR):

Musical Theatre Revue is designed for students who wish to develop their musical performance and presentation skills as they learn about the world of musical theatre. Each session has a different theme that ties the music together. The class culminates in a musical revue for family and friends on Friday evening. Tuition $260

Youth Arts Academy (YAA):

Youth Arts Academy is a brand new 2-week intensive structure designed to build skills in areas of the dramatic arts beyond acting, voice, and movement. While open to students of all experience levels, these classes were created with our veteran Summer Theatre School attendees in mind. Students enrolled in the workshop will spend two consecutive weeks engaging in a specialized theatre or theatre-adjacent topic, culminating in a presentation of their class project at the end of the second week. Tuition $375 

Students must be the minimum age of a class’s designated age range by the first day of class (i.e. – a young person must turn 6 on or before the first day of a Play Makers class for ages 6-8). We do not allow students to age up into any class for any reason.

Summer classes at LCT will operate on a staggered start and dismissal schedule. Students should arrive no earlier than 15 minutes before their class’s scheduled start time for drop off in the mornings. Families have a 15-minute window to pick up their young person at the end of each day. Should a young person be picked up after the 15-minute window, families will be charged the $15 daily fee for Extended Care. Additionally, if you need to pick up your young person early from class, you must do so no less than 30 minutes prior to their class’s scheduled dismissal.

Families will be asked to fill out an emergency contact form for their student(s) on the first day of class. The form can be found here: Emergency Form. We encourage you to fill out and print this form in advance and bring it with you on the first day of class to expedite the check-in process. If you are unable to do so in advance, copies will be available at the check-in desk on the first day. Families with multiple students attending classes can list them all on one form. Families only need to fill out the form once if they are attending multiple weeks of classes.

Every class has a mid-morning and afternoon snack break. Every class will also have a thirty-minute lunch break. We ask families to pack items that don’t require refrigeration or microwaving. Please note that LCT’s Summer Theatre School is a peanut and tree-nut free program. Do NOT pack snacks and lunches containing peanuts/tree nuts as students will NOT be permitted to eat those items while at theatre school. Please help us keep our students with allergies safe.

All students are encouraged to bring a refillable water bottle to class to assist with hydration. Students in performance workshops, musical theatre revues, and youth arts academy may bring money for use at the 3rd floor vending machine. We ask that students only bring standard silver change (nickels, dimes, and quarters) and 1-dollar or 5-dollar bills. The vending machine does not accept anything larger than a five and the Education Department will not make change for larger bills.

Students enrolled in LCT’s Summer Theatre School will spend their week engaging in a variety of activities as they work toward their Friday sharings. While most of the schedule each day is devoted to preparing for the performance at the end of the week, we also include a few blocks of time throughout the week that either build specific theatre skills or allow for some much-needed downtime. Below are some of the activities your young person can expect to experience throughout the week:

First Stage Players (Ages 4-6) & Playmakers (Ages 6-8):

  • Drama Time: the time when students are engaged in their class’s story where they play the protagonist in an imaginative play experience facilitated by their teaching artists.
  • Art Block: usually folded into Drama Time, this time is spent creating props and other items that will enhance the story students are taken through during the week.
  • Fundamentals of Drama: a series of lessons introducing and identifying key theatre terms (such as pantomime and stage directions) that students have already been engaging in during their Drama Time blocks.
  • Centers: a daily period set aside for students to have free play within pre-determined activities such as reading, LEGOs, and puzzles.
  • Chill Time: a daily post-lunch activity where students watch part of an age-appropriate children’s movie. This time allows students a chance to relax after a morning full of adventure during drama time.

Performance Workshops (Ages 8-16), Musical Theatre Revue (Ages 10-16), & Youth Arts Academy (Ages 11-18):

Pizza Party: Fridays are a long day, especially for our older students whose sharings take place after their class’s usual end time. To help celebrate their hard work and also ensure they can keep up their energy, LCT hosts a pizza party for all students in PWs, MTRs, and YAA. Students are asked to contribute $5 to the cost of pizza.

Rehearsal: the time when students are engaged in practicing their play including blocking, line memorization, characterization, and more.

Core Class: a series of lessons introducing and identifying key theatre concepts and skills (such as movement, voice, and intro to acting) that help students as they bring their characters to life onstage.

Elective: a time set aside to either focus on elements of theatre that aren’t covered in rehearsal and core classes or to contextualize the world of the play. Popular past electives have included technical design, intro to stage combat, and trivia.

Mid-week Movie: held on Wednesdays each week, students take a break from the busyness of rehearsals and watch an age-appropriate children’s/family movie, usually the film adaptation of the script for their class.

All classes will have a final performance on the last day of class. Please note that for Youth Arts Academy classes, the last day is the Friday of the second week of the intensive. Sharings run approximately 25-35 minutes and are free and open to family members and friends. Friday sharing times remain the same all summer:

  • FSP (Ages 4-6): 3:00 PM
  • PM (Ages 6-8): 4:00 PM
  • PW (Ages 8-12): 5:00 PM
  • PW (Ages 9-13): 6:00 PM
  • PW/MTR/YAA (Ages 10-18): 7:00 PM

Each year, LCT designs a T-shirt to commemorate our summer classes. Cost of the shirt is $15. Purchasing a shirt is not required for participation in LCT’s Summer Theatre School program.

To order, you will see a Tuition + CS option when adding a class to your cart. The plus (+ CS) is the shirt size. We offer:

  • Child Small (CS)
  • Child Medium (CM)
  • Adult Small (AS)
  • Adult Medium (AM)
  • Adult Large (AL)
  • Adult Extra Large (AXL)
  • Adult 2X (A2X)

Please note that if you are registering your young person for multiple classes, you only need to choose a Tuition + Shirt Size option for ONE (1) of the classes. While we do order extras of each size, the only way to guarantee the size you need is by ordering a shirt during registration. Preordered t-shirts will be sent home with students on the first day of class.

LCT provides extended care service for families who need to pick up or drop off their young person outside of normal arrival and dismissal times. The service is provided in the mornings from 8:00 – 9:15 AM and in the afternoons from 4:00 – 5:30 PM. Extended Care is available for a rate of $15 a day or $70 for the full week. Fees include both morning and afternoon services.

Extended Care for the full week can be purchased online in advance or in-person when you arrive for check-in on the first day. Single day extended care can be purchased in-person the day the service is needed when you bring your young person for check-in.

As classes fill, we accept students on a waitlist in case of cancellations. If a seat becomes available and you are at the top of the waitlist, you will be notified via email.

If you would like to be added to the waitlist, please sign up here: Waitlist Request FormWe highly encourage families be specific about the classes they would like to be placed on the waiting list for as it boosts your placement priority on the list. If you have been added to the waitlist for a class but are no longer available, please let us know so we can remove you from the list.

For more information or questions about the waitlist, please email education@lctonstage.org

There will be no Theatre School classes on the following dates:

Thursday & Friday, July 4-5 (Fourth of July Holiday)

Wednesday, June 19 (Juneteenth Holiday)

If a patron cancels more than two weeks before class begins, the patron will receive a full refund. If the patron cancels less than two weeks prior but still before class begins, the patron will receive full credit towards another theatre school class or production during that fiscal year. If the patron cancels after class begins, a partial class credit will be issued for 70% of the tuition that can be used towards another theatre school class or production during that fiscal year. After the second class, no adjustments will be made. If LCT cancels the class for any reason, the patron will receive a full refund.

For additional questions about Box Office hours, financial aid, and more, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.