The York Theatre Company Summer Intensive gives young performers the opportunity to “strengthen theatre skills, ignite creativity, encourage collaboration and boost self-esteem.”
The program is available to both high school and middle school students and features instruction and master classes designed to prepare students for auditions while working on material from classic and new shows. Past guest instructors include Kerry Butler, Richard Kind, Rebecca Luker and John Tartaglia.
In this peek at the program, performers Siena Rafter and Ren came in to teach the youngsters the American Sign Language for “The Song of Purple Summer” from Deaf West Theatre’s Spring Awakening. As a child, Rafter was introduced to ASL by Deaf West and served as an ASL consultant on the production of Spring Awakening; Ren understudied multiple roles in the show.
