Education Conservatory for Youth – Workshops for Kids & Teens

Education Conservatory for Youth – Workshops for Kids & Teens offers theatre workshops, classes, and camps where participants take part in after school acting classes, weekend acting classes, play production classes, and musical theatre classes. Program options include the Early Stages Create-A-Play workshop, Winter Break theatre camp, Spring Break theatre camp, Summer Theatre Workshop, Online Theatre Workshop, Summer Stock theatre intensive, International Theatre Tours, and Private Coaching. Activities include creating and performing a brand new play, creating an original musical or play, learning basic camera technique, getting help memorizing a script, and focusing on movement for the stage, the basics of auditioning, focus and concentration, memorization and cold reading, and projection and enunciation.

• Ages: 4–16 years old
• Schedule: Following the Fall and Spring school semesters, after school or weekend acting, play production, and musical theatre classes meet once a week, and participants can create and perform a play in just one camp session.
• Price: Private Coaching - $100 per hour ($75 per hour if booking 10 to 25 hours; $65 per hour if booking over 25 hours)

The program is part of Santa Monica Playhouse, which was established in 1969. Working actors share their love of the craft with young people in all stages of development, using a unique hands-on method that is structured so that each child can be successful. The program combines the fun and excitement of working as a team to create and perform a brand new play with a dynamic, creative, arts-oriented environment, and it ignites students' passion for arts appreciation and self-expression. After school or weekend acting, play production, and musical theatre classes always culminate in a performance for friends, family and the public.

Early Stages Create-A-Play is described as perfect for the energetic, dramatic, artsy youngster and a way to introduce the arts at a very early age. Winter and Spring Break theatre camps are described as a thrilling adventure of the theatrical kind. Summer Theatre Workshop is described as the most popular theatre camp and a spectacular all day theatre experience, with camps available for all ages throughout the summer. The Online Theatre Workshop is held once a week on Zoom and culminates in a fully edited filming of an original piece of theatre to share with family and friends. Summer Stock is a theatre intensive for serious performers and is by invitation only. International Theatre Tours are described as the only theatre tours of their kind that include participants starting at age 12 and include youth theatre tours to England or Japan.

Private Coaching sessions are 90-minute sessions that emphasize movement for the stage, basics of auditioning and camera technique, focus and concentration, memorization and cold reading, and projection and enunciation, and these sessions allow young actors to develop the ability to excel in auditions and performance on any stage and in any artistic endeavor in a truthful, authentic manner. Santa Monica Playhouse states that it is not just plays, but an organization dedicated to sharing the magic of live theatre in many forms.

Parents have shared that they were impressed with the professionalism, caring, and overall experience provided for the kids, and that one program accomplished in one week what they felt most programs could not accomplish in months. Another parent described the team as professional, attentive, sensitive, and patient, and said their daughter would never forget the experience. A parent also thanked the program for providing a video of the performance to share with family members who were not in town.

Last updated March 15, 2026.