First Stage Theater Academy

First Stage Theater Academy offers the Young Company, which provides advanced training in Acting, Voice, Movement, Shakespeare, and electives such as Auditioning, Stage Combat, and Dialects. Students in Young Company take part in master classes with guest artists from across the nation and from across the country, and participate in two to three performance projects each season that use a nearly bare stage and elemental production values. Classes are held on Saturdays from 9:30 AM – 12:15 PM throughout the school year, with additional workshops and rehearsals scheduled separately, and Young Company members also take part in special excursions such as an overnight training program at American Players Theatre in Spring Green and annual travel to compete at the Utah Shakespeare Festival High School Acting Competition.

• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: Classes held on Saturdays during the school year, with additional workshops and rehearsals scheduled separately

First Stage Theater Academy is for grades K4–12. Young Company is the Theater Academy’s award-winning training program for advanced high school actors and is described as the college and graduate-level actor training program at First Stage Theater Academy. Young Company members gain professional exposure through a fully produced season of plays, special excursions to the Utah Shakespeare Festival and American Players Theatre, and master classes with renowned guest artists. Young Company Performance Projects allow students to work on full length material, including Shakespeare, American classics, and pieces commissioned specially for them. Young Company is supported in part by the Anthony J. Petullo Endowment for Advanced Theater Students. First Stage fulfills its mission of transforming lives through theater. The Director of Young Company is Michelle LoRicco. The Theater Academy can be reached by phone at (414) 267-2970 or by email at [email protected].

Last updated February 26, 2026.