Top Summertime Theater Activities For Kids In Philadelphia
Potential Oscar nominees can acquire experience on and behind the stage at the city's best summer theater camps for kids. Through a schedule of engaging games, improvisation, acting classes and educational activities, students learn what it takes to make it big in the entertainment business.
Walnut Street Theatre Camp Walnut
825 Walnut Street
Phialdelphia, PA 19107
(215) 574-3550, ext. 510
www.walnutstreettheatre.org
Price: varies from $850 to $1,450 per child
Hours: Sun to Sat – 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
As Philadelphia's most well-known theater camp, Camp Walnut offers three divisions, from beginner to advanced, for children ages eight to 18. Classes are held four days a week for four intense weeks beginning the second Monday in July and culminating in end-of-camp performances in August. Beginners learn improvisation, singing, dancing and on-camera techniques, while the more advanced campers add audition coaching and full-scale production training to their schedules.
Arden Kids' Crew Summer Kids' Camp
40 N. 2nd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 922-1122
www.ardentheatre.org
Price: varies from $400 to $755 per week
Hours: Mon to Fri – 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Arden Kids' Crew Summer Theatre Camp offers five sessions of fun-filled classes for campers in grades first through fifth. Students learn acting, storytelling, playwriting, improvisation, music, dance, and set and costume design while gaining problem-solving, teamwork and listening skills. Campers take center stage when the week culminates in a performance for parents and friends.
Theatre Horizon Summer Camps
401 DeKalb St.
Norristown, PA 19401
(610) 283-2230
www.theatrehorizon.org
Price: $125 to $160 per week
Hours: Tues to Sat – 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sun – 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Taught by professional Philadelphia actors and acting coaches, Theatre Horizon offers summer theater camp experiences at schools and recreation departments throughout the greater Philadelphia area. Campers and parents fall in love with each camp's instructors, praising their relationships with students and ability to teach even the shyest child to enjoy the arts. Young thespians enjoy an action-packed week working in teams as they create a play from scratch, including a script, costumes, props and performance. Your up-and-coming Tony winners practice the basics of acting, stagecraft and elocution as they learn respect, organization and teamwork.
MacGuffin Theatre & Film Company Summer Camps
2030 Sansom St., 2nd floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 922-1141
www.macguffintf.com
Price: $285 acting, cabaret and comedy camps/$785 – musical theatre camp
Hours: Sun to Sat – 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Future stars really get down to business honing in on their primary entertainment interest at one of four summer camps by MacGuffin Theatre & Film Company. The camps offer week-long concentrations in acting, comedy and cabaret singing. The pièce de rèsistance, however, is a three-week musical theater camp in which kids train in Broadway voice, jazz dance and characterization. It culminates with campers taking their final bow in a spectacular theater performance for friends and family to enjoy.
Curio Theatre Company Theatre Camp
4740 Baltimore Ave.
Philadelphia, PA, 19143
(215) 525-1350
www.curiotheatre.org
Price: $425 per child
Hours: Mon to Fri – 9:30 to 3 p.m.
Curio Summer Theatre Camp teaches Broadway babes ages six and up how to write, design and perform a skit in a two-week camp held each July. In addition to costume and props classes, young actors practice acting, dancing, singing and improvisation. The camp's curtain closes with a showcase performance held onstage at the Curio Theatre. After more than eight years teaching children to be comfortable on stage, Curio promises classes that develop skills kids carry for life.
Related: Top Indoor Activities For Families in Philadelphia
