Youth Camps & Classes

Youth Camps & Classes includes activities such as Stage Combat, Improv, Acting, Voice/Speech, Elizabethan Song and Dance, and Shakespearean technique and performance. The program also offers an Online Stage Combat Series with broadsword, lightsaber, and quarterstaff stage combat moves, along with warmup and cool-down segments. Combat Snippets segments can be watched, reviewed, and repeated as often as students like, and all Combat Snippets videos are available to watch online or download and keep permanently.

• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: Youth Drama Camp Session 1 is a 2-week session; Youth Drama Camp Session 2 is a 3-week session

Youth Camps & Classes is part of Theatricum’s education offerings, which also include Academy of the Classics for Youth & Adults and School Programs. Youth Classes seek to empower students with confidence, introduce students to Shakespeare, theatre, and poetry, and have the stated goal of inspiring a lifelong relationship with language, history, and art. A small number of scholarships are available for families that can demonstrate financial need. Youth Drama Camp Session 1 leads up to a performance of an abridged Shakespeare play.

Since its founding in 1973, education has been central to the mission of Theatricum Botanicum, with a focus on passing on a love of community, language, music, theatre, and art to the next generation. The leadership team includes Cindy Kania-Guastaferr, Youth/Teen Programs Manager; Bianca Akbiyi, Teen Programs Manager/Education Programs Coordinator; Christopher Gilstrap, Young People’s Camp Manager; and Michelle Merrin, Academy & Adult Programs Manager.

The program acknowledges that it gathers on the unceded, ancestral lands of the Chumash, the Fernandeño Tataviam, and Gabrielino Tongva (also called the Kizh Nation), and states a commitment to learning how to be better stewards of the land. Testimonials describe Theatricum as “a place where magic not only seems possible, but probable” (Michael Doherty, Mostly Shakespeare), “a gem of a theatre space that is nothing short of a creative playground” (Todd Gaebe, Hollywood Revealed), “the most idyllic” place to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times), and “the most enchanting theater under the oaks in the heart of Topanga” (Ann Marie Donkin, The Canyon Chronicle).

Last updated June 25, 2026.