CLASSES + WORKSHOPS

The Ensemble Theatre stimulates young minds through the performing arts with its Young Performers Program with sessions held in March, June, and July 2009.

The Young Performers Program (YPP) is for young people ages (7–17) who desire to explore their creative and artistic talents. Three sessions are offered: a Spring Break Session, March 16-20, 2009; Summer Session One, June 1 – 27, 2009; and Summer Session Two, July 6 – August 1, 2009. The sessions are Monday thru Friday, 8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m.

Parents may register their children for any of the sessions now. Applications are available at The Ensemble Theatre 3535 Main St. Houston, TX 77002 or they can be downloaded from The Ensemble Theatre website: www.ensemblehousotn.com .

Call The Ensemble Theatre at 713-520-0055 for additional information.

Tuition for the Spring Break Session is $225. The Summer Sessions are $600 with the option of enrolling for an hour of extended day artistic workshops for an addition $100. Scholarships are available for qualifying applicants. Youth participating in the Spring Break Session will focus on experiencing the different facets of the arts. The students will take two field trips that will give them direct exposure to other art forms. The week will end with the students presenting their own creative interpretation of what they learned during the program.

Each summer session will offer classes in theatre performance, acting theory, dance techniques, and music. Both sessions will culminate in a live theatrical performance performed by the youth. They will perform in front of an audience family, friends, and parents interested in enrolling their young person for future spring or summer sessions.

Artistic Director Eileen Morris, along with Audrey Lawson, President Emeritus, was instrumental in initiating the Young Performers’ program — an educational training program for youth ages 7 to 17 that address the collaboration of art and life skills. This program has now reached over 4,000 youth who have gone on to have careers on Broadway, and in other areas such as law, medical, education, community and politics, allowing them to use their early learned theatre techniques in their suggested fields.

The Ensemble Theatre was founded in 1976 by the late George Hawkins to preserve African American artistic expression and to enlighten, entertain, and enrich a diverse community. The theatre is known as the only professional theatre in its region dedicated to the production of works portraying the African-American experience. In addition to being the oldest and largest professional African-American theatre in the Southwest, it also holds the distinction of being one of the nation's largest African-American theatres that owns and operates its facility with an in-house production team. Board President Emeritus Audrey Lawson led the capital campaign for The Ensemble’s $4.5 million building renovations that concluded in 1997.

The Ensemble Theatre produces a main stage season of six contemporary and classic works devoted to the portrayal of the African American experience by local and national playwrights and artists. The theatre’s Performing Arts Education program provides educational workshops, Artist-in-Residence experiences and live performances for students both off-site and at the theatre. Through its varied programs, The Ensemble Theatre benefits an audience and artistic constituency of approximately 65,000 people annually.