AKT Academy Youth Acting & Musical Theater Workshops
Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W Sierra Madre Blvd, Sierra Madre, CA 91024
About
AKT Academy Youth Acting & Musical Theater Workshops offers hands-on acting classes that include acting, comedy, singing, movement, monologue and scene work, improv, writing, theater games, improv techniques, and musical theater. Youth Onstage Musical Theater combines singing, movement, and drama and includes one individual coaching session in addition to group classes.
• Ages: 10–18 years old
• Schedule: Summer sessions run in 10-class Monday–Friday blocks in June and August, with additional Youth Onstage Musical Theater classes held weekly from early September to early December.
• Price: $775 per session with available Early Bird, sibling, and Session 1 whole-day discounts, and $600 for Youth Onstage Musical Theater.
Session 1 offers a morning workshop, “Frumpled Fairy Tales & Fractured Fables,” with 10 classes Monday–Friday from June 15–26, 9:00 am–12:00 pm, and an afternoon “Theater Games and Improv Techniques” workshop with 10 classes Monday–Friday from June 15–26, 1:00 pm–4:00 pm. For Session 1, there is free extended care before class from 8:00–9:00 am, mid-day from 12:00–1:00 pm (bring your own lunch), and after class from 4:00–5:00 pm. Session 2 is a Writing & Comedy Workshop for grades 5–10 with 10 classes Monday–Friday from August 3–14, 8:00 am–12:00 pm. Final student showcases are held on June 26 for Session 1 and August 14 for Session 2. Youth Onstage Musical Theater meets on Tuesdays from 4:00–6:00 pm from September 10 to December 11, includes 12 classes plus one individual coaching session, has a class limit of 12 students, and holds a final showcase on December 11, with no class on October 1 or November 26.
AKT Academy Youth Acting & Musical Theater Workshops has been running “From Stage Fright to Spotlight — 25 Years Strong!” The program accepts students ages 10 through high school, with a maximum of 15 students per class in the summer sessions and a 12-student limit for Youth Onstage Musical Theater. Families can enroll for two or more classes or siblings to receive a 10% discount.
The leadership team includes Lead Instructor Alison Kalmus; Vocal & Music Instructors Gayle Bluemel and Dianne Harmel; and Choreography & Movement specialist Jean-Michelle Sayeg. Alison Kalmus has over 30 years of film and theater performance, teaching, directing, and producing experience, and has served as Casting and Voice-Over Director for NASA’s Space Place in a Snap, NOAA’s Scijinx educational videos, the Walt Disney Company, and Independent Shakespeare Co. She is a resource acting coach for L.A. and Orange County High School for the Arts, an award-winning director of theater, musicals, and opera nationally and internationally, and has directed multiple productions for Sierra Madre Playhouse, including A Christmas Carol Story (’01, ’02, ’04), Narnia, The Sound of Music, The Gondoliers, A Christmas Memory, A Little House Christmas, and The Dream On Royal Street. She produced and directed four seasons of professional Shakespeare in The Park in collaboration with the City of Sierra Madre and Los Angeles County Parks & Recreation, and developed curriculum and taught, trained, and supervised teachers for the nonprofit Noteworthy Music & Learning Systems for school drama programs throughout Los Angeles County in association with Pasadena Polytechnic School.
Vocal & Music Instructor Gayle Bluemel is a teacher, administrator, and performing arts specialist, and the founder of the Pasadena Musical Theatre Program (GATE Summer Musical Workshop). She has served as Vocal/Music Director for student productions including Once upon a Mattress, Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma!, and Company, and is a performer and singer-songwriter with local bands, as well as a writer, composer, and arranger, including of the original musical The Girl Is Still Here. Upon her retirement as Principal Emeritus from Sierra Madre School, the auditorium was renamed in her honor with recognition for her outstanding service and transformational role through the performing arts in education.
Vocal & Music Instructor Dianne Harmel holds a B.M. in Vocal Performance from USC and an M.A. in Music with an emphasis in Vocal Pedagogy from CSULA. She is CEO and artistic director of the nonprofit Foothill Academy of Vocal Arts (FAVA), founded in 2006, and is an accomplished mezzo-soprano soloist specializing in oratorio. She served on the Applied Voice faculty at Azusa Pacific University for 23 years, has taught voice as an adjunct professor at several colleges, maintains a private studio in Monrovia, offers Certificate of Merit curriculum, and has served as Voice Chair and Past President of the Music Teachers Association of California, Pasadena Branch.
Choreography & Movement instructor Jean-Michelle Sayeg is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of California, is Pilates certified (BASI), and is on faculty at the Colburn School and Curtis Studio of Dance. She has taught master classes in a variety of dance styles at Arcadia High School for seven years and choreographs all mainstage productions there. She trained at Le Studio and San Francisco Ballet, became a principal dancer with State Street Ballet and Smuin Ballet, and has performed internationally in Taiwan with State Street Ballet and throughout the U.S. in Broadway National Tours of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats (as Victoria) and Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot (as Lady Sybil). Her performance credits include Marie de la Palme’s award-winning aerial silk ballet Le Couer Illumine and productions at Lincoln Center (My Fair Lady, Cinderella), the Hollywood Bowl (Sound of Music, Camelot), and LA Opera (Aida, Merry Widow, Ghost of Versailles, Macbeth). Her choreography credits include Tie Up & Cover (Smuin Ballet), And As the World Goes Round (Interplayer’s Theatre), Picnic (Antaeus Theatre Company), Dancing Lessons and Emma (Ensemble Theatre Company), and original works in South Africa (CAPA) and the townships in Philippi and Gugulethu. Her awards include the Music Center Spotlight Award, the Lester Horton Award, Palm Desert Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival, and the Jerry Herman Award for Best Choreography for Thoroughly Modern Millie, and she is a member of Actors’ Equity, SAG-AFTRA, and AGMA.
One parent testimonial notes that a student participated in both the Spring and Summer AKT Academies, had a fun, positive, and productive experience in each, and was excited to join the Fall session, and credits director Alison Kalmus and her team with doing a tremendous job and providing a great service to kids and their families.
Last updated March 26, 2026.
• Ages: 10–18 years old
• Schedule: Summer sessions run in 10-class Monday–Friday blocks in June and August, with additional Youth Onstage Musical Theater classes held weekly from early September to early December.
• Price: $775 per session with available Early Bird, sibling, and Session 1 whole-day discounts, and $600 for Youth Onstage Musical Theater.
Session 1 offers a morning workshop, “Frumpled Fairy Tales & Fractured Fables,” with 10 classes Monday–Friday from June 15–26, 9:00 am–12:00 pm, and an afternoon “Theater Games and Improv Techniques” workshop with 10 classes Monday–Friday from June 15–26, 1:00 pm–4:00 pm. For Session 1, there is free extended care before class from 8:00–9:00 am, mid-day from 12:00–1:00 pm (bring your own lunch), and after class from 4:00–5:00 pm. Session 2 is a Writing & Comedy Workshop for grades 5–10 with 10 classes Monday–Friday from August 3–14, 8:00 am–12:00 pm. Final student showcases are held on June 26 for Session 1 and August 14 for Session 2. Youth Onstage Musical Theater meets on Tuesdays from 4:00–6:00 pm from September 10 to December 11, includes 12 classes plus one individual coaching session, has a class limit of 12 students, and holds a final showcase on December 11, with no class on October 1 or November 26.
AKT Academy Youth Acting & Musical Theater Workshops has been running “From Stage Fright to Spotlight — 25 Years Strong!” The program accepts students ages 10 through high school, with a maximum of 15 students per class in the summer sessions and a 12-student limit for Youth Onstage Musical Theater. Families can enroll for two or more classes or siblings to receive a 10% discount.
The leadership team includes Lead Instructor Alison Kalmus; Vocal & Music Instructors Gayle Bluemel and Dianne Harmel; and Choreography & Movement specialist Jean-Michelle Sayeg. Alison Kalmus has over 30 years of film and theater performance, teaching, directing, and producing experience, and has served as Casting and Voice-Over Director for NASA’s Space Place in a Snap, NOAA’s Scijinx educational videos, the Walt Disney Company, and Independent Shakespeare Co. She is a resource acting coach for L.A. and Orange County High School for the Arts, an award-winning director of theater, musicals, and opera nationally and internationally, and has directed multiple productions for Sierra Madre Playhouse, including A Christmas Carol Story (’01, ’02, ’04), Narnia, The Sound of Music, The Gondoliers, A Christmas Memory, A Little House Christmas, and The Dream On Royal Street. She produced and directed four seasons of professional Shakespeare in The Park in collaboration with the City of Sierra Madre and Los Angeles County Parks & Recreation, and developed curriculum and taught, trained, and supervised teachers for the nonprofit Noteworthy Music & Learning Systems for school drama programs throughout Los Angeles County in association with Pasadena Polytechnic School.
Vocal & Music Instructor Gayle Bluemel is a teacher, administrator, and performing arts specialist, and the founder of the Pasadena Musical Theatre Program (GATE Summer Musical Workshop). She has served as Vocal/Music Director for student productions including Once upon a Mattress, Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma!, and Company, and is a performer and singer-songwriter with local bands, as well as a writer, composer, and arranger, including of the original musical The Girl Is Still Here. Upon her retirement as Principal Emeritus from Sierra Madre School, the auditorium was renamed in her honor with recognition for her outstanding service and transformational role through the performing arts in education.
Vocal & Music Instructor Dianne Harmel holds a B.M. in Vocal Performance from USC and an M.A. in Music with an emphasis in Vocal Pedagogy from CSULA. She is CEO and artistic director of the nonprofit Foothill Academy of Vocal Arts (FAVA), founded in 2006, and is an accomplished mezzo-soprano soloist specializing in oratorio. She served on the Applied Voice faculty at Azusa Pacific University for 23 years, has taught voice as an adjunct professor at several colleges, maintains a private studio in Monrovia, offers Certificate of Merit curriculum, and has served as Voice Chair and Past President of the Music Teachers Association of California, Pasadena Branch.
Choreography & Movement instructor Jean-Michelle Sayeg is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of California, is Pilates certified (BASI), and is on faculty at the Colburn School and Curtis Studio of Dance. She has taught master classes in a variety of dance styles at Arcadia High School for seven years and choreographs all mainstage productions there. She trained at Le Studio and San Francisco Ballet, became a principal dancer with State Street Ballet and Smuin Ballet, and has performed internationally in Taiwan with State Street Ballet and throughout the U.S. in Broadway National Tours of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats (as Victoria) and Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot (as Lady Sybil). Her performance credits include Marie de la Palme’s award-winning aerial silk ballet Le Couer Illumine and productions at Lincoln Center (My Fair Lady, Cinderella), the Hollywood Bowl (Sound of Music, Camelot), and LA Opera (Aida, Merry Widow, Ghost of Versailles, Macbeth). Her choreography credits include Tie Up & Cover (Smuin Ballet), And As the World Goes Round (Interplayer’s Theatre), Picnic (Antaeus Theatre Company), Dancing Lessons and Emma (Ensemble Theatre Company), and original works in South Africa (CAPA) and the townships in Philippi and Gugulethu. Her awards include the Music Center Spotlight Award, the Lester Horton Award, Palm Desert Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival, and the Jerry Herman Award for Best Choreography for Thoroughly Modern Millie, and she is a member of Actors’ Equity, SAG-AFTRA, and AGMA.
One parent testimonial notes that a student participated in both the Spring and Summer AKT Academies, had a fun, positive, and productive experience in each, and was excited to join the Fall session, and credits director Alison Kalmus and her team with doing a tremendous job and providing a great service to kids and their families.
Last updated March 26, 2026.
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