The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts
The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, 900 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001
About
The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts offers Saturday and weekend acting classes, summer camps for kids, and summer youth and teen theatre programs. The program also offers acting or playwriting classes for rookies and public speaking for non-theatre professionals, along with special events such as RENT: A Community Singalong and productions like Something Rotten!. Older participants can enroll in the Honors Acting Conservatory and take part in the Life Stories® program and the workforce development program, the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
• Schedule: Honors Acting Conservatory is an intensive, year-long program for those 18 and older preparing for a theatre career.
The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts was founded in 1992 and was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1993. It launched scholarship fundraisers in 1996, started the Life Stories® program in 2000, and began the Honors Acting Conservatory in 2006. By 2019, student enrollment had grown to over 2,800, and the organization has been operating for over 30 years.
The Theatre Lab describes itself as Washington, D.C.’s largest and most comprehensive independent, nonprofit school for the dramatic arts and states that it works to make both the artistic and real-life benefits of theatre training accessible to all. Its mission statement notes a focus on small classes, a nurturing and inclusive environment, high expectations for students at all skill levels, and extending theatre education to traditionally underserved populations. Theatre Lab classes are described as teaching skills applicable to a career in theatre or elsewhere, including heightened confidence, adaptability, social ease, and the ability to work on a team.
The faculty is described as a distinguished group of experienced, award-winning professional artists who perform, write, or direct in theatre, film, TV, and audio recording across the DMV area. The leadership team includes Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors Deb Gottesman and Buzz Mauro, along with Michael Rodgers, a fellow actor and singer with a degree in arts management, and Theatre Lab Director of Youth Programs Terah Herman-Saldaña.
The Theatre Lab offers tuition assistance and work-study to disadvantaged kids, youths, and adults, and runs free Life Stories® programs for incarcerated and at-risk youth, homeless women, adults and teens in addiction recovery, wounded veterans, and seniors throughout the DC metro area. Its Arts Institute for Creative Advancement is a workforce development program in technical theatre and partners with the Kennedy Center to support apprentices with disabilities. The organization also runs the Send a Kid to Theatre Camp initiative to provide scholarships for children and teens from low-income households in the Washington region and has stated plans in a given year to award $175,000 in scholarships for young people to attend summer programs.
The Theatre Lab’s youth arts programs are nationally recognized and have been described as offering award-winning arts education to over 550 youth and teens each summer. The Honors Acting Conservatory is described by the organization as the closest thing to graduate-level training students can get without having to quit a job to attend school full-time, and it is a year-long intensive for those 18 and older preparing for a theatre career. The Arts Institute for Creative Advancement received $50,000 in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Theatre Lab has been featured four times in Spur Local (formerly the Catalogue for Philanthropy) as one of “the best small charities in Washington.” Its directors have received the Linowes Leadership Award from the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, and the organization received the Mayor’s Arts Award for Innovation in the Arts in 2010. The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities has recognized The Theatre Lab as one of the 50 “top arts- and humanities-based programs in the country serving youth beyond school hours.” The Theatre Lab is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
A former student stated, “The Theatre Lab will not only make you a better actor, if taken seriously, it will make you a better person.” A student evaluation described the faculty as “invested in your growth, extremely knowledgeable, and experienced.” Another quoted participant described a program experience as “an incredible opportunity to create connections across generations to strengthen identity and build community through our individual...”
Last updated June 14, 2026.
• Ages: 5–18 years old
• Schedule: Honors Acting Conservatory is an intensive, year-long program for those 18 and older preparing for a theatre career.
The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts was founded in 1992 and was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1993. It launched scholarship fundraisers in 1996, started the Life Stories® program in 2000, and began the Honors Acting Conservatory in 2006. By 2019, student enrollment had grown to over 2,800, and the organization has been operating for over 30 years.
The Theatre Lab describes itself as Washington, D.C.’s largest and most comprehensive independent, nonprofit school for the dramatic arts and states that it works to make both the artistic and real-life benefits of theatre training accessible to all. Its mission statement notes a focus on small classes, a nurturing and inclusive environment, high expectations for students at all skill levels, and extending theatre education to traditionally underserved populations. Theatre Lab classes are described as teaching skills applicable to a career in theatre or elsewhere, including heightened confidence, adaptability, social ease, and the ability to work on a team.
The faculty is described as a distinguished group of experienced, award-winning professional artists who perform, write, or direct in theatre, film, TV, and audio recording across the DMV area. The leadership team includes Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors Deb Gottesman and Buzz Mauro, along with Michael Rodgers, a fellow actor and singer with a degree in arts management, and Theatre Lab Director of Youth Programs Terah Herman-Saldaña.
The Theatre Lab offers tuition assistance and work-study to disadvantaged kids, youths, and adults, and runs free Life Stories® programs for incarcerated and at-risk youth, homeless women, adults and teens in addiction recovery, wounded veterans, and seniors throughout the DC metro area. Its Arts Institute for Creative Advancement is a workforce development program in technical theatre and partners with the Kennedy Center to support apprentices with disabilities. The organization also runs the Send a Kid to Theatre Camp initiative to provide scholarships for children and teens from low-income households in the Washington region and has stated plans in a given year to award $175,000 in scholarships for young people to attend summer programs.
The Theatre Lab’s youth arts programs are nationally recognized and have been described as offering award-winning arts education to over 550 youth and teens each summer. The Honors Acting Conservatory is described by the organization as the closest thing to graduate-level training students can get without having to quit a job to attend school full-time, and it is a year-long intensive for those 18 and older preparing for a theatre career. The Arts Institute for Creative Advancement received $50,000 in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Theatre Lab has been featured four times in Spur Local (formerly the Catalogue for Philanthropy) as one of “the best small charities in Washington.” Its directors have received the Linowes Leadership Award from the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, and the organization received the Mayor’s Arts Award for Innovation in the Arts in 2010. The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities has recognized The Theatre Lab as one of the 50 “top arts- and humanities-based programs in the country serving youth beyond school hours.” The Theatre Lab is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
A former student stated, “The Theatre Lab will not only make you a better actor, if taken seriously, it will make you a better person.” A student evaluation described the faculty as “invested in your growth, extremely knowledgeable, and experienced.” Another quoted participant described a program experience as “an incredible opportunity to create connections across generations to strengthen identity and build community through our individual...”
Last updated June 14, 2026.
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