Created by Director of Education and Community Outreach, Allen O’Reilly, Executive Director, Tracy Mitchell, and Academy Director, Kayla Matters, the newly formed Bay Street Theater Student Academy serves children and teens of eastern Long Island, with the goal of empowering a new generation of artists to discover theater as a powerful means of emotional expression. The Academy strives to be a safe haven of self-expression and community for every student, and is guided by principles of equity, inclusion, collaboration, and creativity.
The Academy will launch in January 2022 with a ten-week workshop titled Leading the Show: A Character Study.
Students ages 12 to 18 will choose any leading role from any play or musical to study in great depth. While focusing on that characters, and with the guidance of director Kayla Matters, students will pursue a thorough examination of that character’s arc and journey throughout the respective show.
Leading the Show offers the opportunity to work with music director Bobby Peterson and professional dancer and choreographer Ross Thompson to study selected songs, scenes, and monologues from their chosen role, gaining a first-hand experience of the work that goes into preparing to play a leading role on the stage. Students will develop their songs, scene, and character to deepen their understanding of the text through lyric and script analysis.
