Youth Camps & Classes
Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Topanga, CA 91406
About
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 that features short, fun, physical stage combat moves using a broadsword, lightsaber, and quarterstaff, with each segment including a warmup, breakdown of a move, practice, and cool-down.
• 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
Once purchased, students in the Combat Snippets: Online Stage Combat Series can watch, review, and repeat each segment as often as they would like, and all videos are available to watch online or download and keep. Youth Camps & Classes is part of Theatricum Botanicum’s nationally recognized arts education programs and its Academy of the Classics for Youth & Adults, School Programs, and Camps & Classes for Ages 4–18. 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, and the organization is celebrating 50+ years of Shakespeare. 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 in a positive, nurturing environment. A small number of scholarships are available for families that can demonstrate financial need.
The Youth Camps & Classes leadership team includes Youth/Teen Programs Manager Cindy Kania-Guastaferr, Academy & Adult Programs Manager Michelle Merring, Teen Programs Manager/Education Programs Coordinator Bianca Akbiyi, Young People’s Camp Manager Christopher Gilstrap, and School Programs Manager – Field Trip and Classroom Enrichment Bookings Emoria Weidner. 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), honors the land and its original stewards, and notes the lasting impact of the California genocide on its Native peoples as a call to continue learning how to be better stewards of the land.
Testimonials about Theatricum Botanicum describe it 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 William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times), and “the most enchanting theater under the oaks in the heart of Topanga” and “a perfect summer evening to see an utterly engrossing play” (Ann Marie Donkin, The Canyon Chronicle).
Last updated March 26, 2026.
• 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
Once purchased, students in the Combat Snippets: Online Stage Combat Series can watch, review, and repeat each segment as often as they would like, and all videos are available to watch online or download and keep. Youth Camps & Classes is part of Theatricum Botanicum’s nationally recognized arts education programs and its Academy of the Classics for Youth & Adults, School Programs, and Camps & Classes for Ages 4–18. 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, and the organization is celebrating 50+ years of Shakespeare. 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 in a positive, nurturing environment. A small number of scholarships are available for families that can demonstrate financial need.
The Youth Camps & Classes leadership team includes Youth/Teen Programs Manager Cindy Kania-Guastaferr, Academy & Adult Programs Manager Michelle Merring, Teen Programs Manager/Education Programs Coordinator Bianca Akbiyi, Young People’s Camp Manager Christopher Gilstrap, and School Programs Manager – Field Trip and Classroom Enrichment Bookings Emoria Weidner. 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), honors the land and its original stewards, and notes the lasting impact of the California genocide on its Native peoples as a call to continue learning how to be better stewards of the land.
Testimonials about Theatricum Botanicum describe it 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 William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times), and “the most enchanting theater under the oaks in the heart of Topanga” and “a perfect summer evening to see an utterly engrossing play” (Ann Marie Donkin, The Canyon Chronicle).
Last updated March 26, 2026.
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