Summer programs

Experience the thrill of working together to create and perform in an original play! Professional playwrights and directors will work with students to create a dynamic and original online performance piece. Students will also immerse themselves in acting, voice, and movement classes.

Combine your love of singing, acting, and dancing in this performance-based musical theatre intensive with Broadway and Berkeley Rep actor Jarvis B. Manning, Jr. Actors will explore new singing techniques and choreography. Students will also learn how to explore and act a song, including text interpretation, subtext work, and making strong movement choices.

Jarvis B. Manning, Jr. is a native of Houston, TX, where he studied classical voice at the Grammy Award-winning High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). He moved to New York to attend American Music and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) and pursue a career in entertainment. Jarvis has been able to travel the world (for free) performing on many historical stages. He’s an original company member of Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations portraying Al Bryant and Norman Whitfield. He has been with the show since the first workshop and world premiere at Berkeley Rep in 2017. Favorite credits include: SUGA FOOT music video (produced by Jarvis), Hairspray (Seaweed), Ragtime (Pas De Deux), Nickelodeon’s The Backyardigans, Motown: The Musical (Jackie Wilson, Rick James), and Ain’t Too Proud (Al Bryant, Norman Whitfield).

Collaborate with a professional playwright/director and form an artistic company in order to create and present an original performance piece! Text, movement, sound, and multi-faceted backgrounds will be incorporated in order to create a dynamic and kinetic online environment. Students will also immerse themselves in acting, voice, and movement classes.

Admittance into High School Summer Company will require an interview for selection. Please email school@berkeleyrep.org. All experience levels are welcome to apply! We are looking for students that will commit to working rigorously in class and outside of class. The company will meet mostly online and some sessions will be in person outside in the Berkeley Rep courtyard while adhering to all CDC and City of Berkeley health guidelines.

William Thomas Hodgson regional credits include Romeo (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), It Can’t Happen Here (Berkeley Rep), Calligraphy (TheatreWorks), Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (La Jolla Playhouse), An Octoroon (Mixed Blood Theatre), Trufaldino Says No (Shotgun Players), Seussical the Musical (Berkeley Playhouse), and I Am My Own Wife (Oakland Theater Project). He received his MFA from UC San Diego, and he is co-artistic director of the Oakland Theater Project. He has taught for Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, Berkeley Playhouse, ACT, UCSD, OSF, Park Day Middle School, Chatauqua Center, Roads Scholars, and more.

Unlock your inner filmmaker while exploring your smartphone’s camera, or your family camcorder or DLR camera’s full filmmaking potential! This do-it-yourself filmmaking class will focus on building acting for the camera skills, screenwriting, filming, and how to put it all together with editing software. This filmmaking and acting intensive will cover pre- and post-production, and concludes with a final screening for family and friends. Students will be immersed in on-camera acting theory and practice. Students will perform for the camera multiple times to develop and demonstrate their understanding of acting for film. The intensive will shift gears, taking students behind the camera to learn film theory from all major disciplines, including screenwriting, directing, and editing/post-production.