Brooklyn Acting Lab

We love YPT! My then 4-​year old daughter attended summer camp with Young Players Theater and had a wonderful few weeks of song, theater and creative movement. Each week, they focused on the folktales and songs of a different country. And every Friday afternoon, the week would culminate in a fabulous little performance, where families could watch their little ones come to life on «stage.» The directors and staff are all warm, smart and engaging, bringing their own professional training and expertise to the kids. I felt very comfortable leaving my little one at YPT and look forward to her attending again this summer!

Our child has been receiving personal theater coaching for upcoming middle school auditions. Right off the bat, we could tell our coach Marielle was highly experienced in working with kids, incredibly professional, warm and congenial, helping our kid to hone technique and deliver the best possible performance with focused attention.
If the classes are anything like our experience with coaching, I’d highly recommend it! Their curriculum seems like an engaging, thoughtful and fun way for kids of all ages to explore the theatre.

My child has been taking camp and after school classes at YPT for 3 years and we both adore the program. While its mostly performance/​theater based, I think of it as more of an «arts exposure» program. In the summer camp (the program’s piece de resistance IMO) there are weekly themes where the kids focus on a topics — a country or animal or author — and read books, study art and sing songs along that week’s theme. The «sharing» at the end of the week offers warm ups, acting, singing, dancing often accompanied by a specialist who has spent time with the kids during the week teaching them their instrument or expertise (ie. drummer, pianist). There is something for everyone, and every type of kid… shy to outgoing…
The program is colorful, exuberant and engaging for the kids. The director is a lovely presence who constantly brings enthusiasm and creativity to the program she designed — and she somehow, every year, finds the most wonderful counselors/​assistants who are perfect compliments to the program

I have nothing but wonderful things to say about this program. My daughter attended their summer camp in 2012 for all except two weeks, and she loved every minute of it. Here is what I liked most about the program: the teachers are professional actors, playwrights, and musicians who truly love to teach children. They take their work very seriously because they love their professions and they want to pass their passion on to the children. They write plays with the children and do a performance every Friday and invite the families. I went to all the performances and every single time the theater was packed. After the show, I saw many parents approaching the teachers to congratulate them and thank them for their work. I also liked that the teachers did not put any pressure on the students to act in front of an audience. If a child wanted to sit throughout the entire play, they would allow it. I never saw any intimidation. My daughter is a social butterfly who talks to everyone in the park and on the street, and always felt very happy going to this school because she got along very well with everybody. She is bilingual in Spanish and English and loved the fact that one of the teachers also speaks Spanish. Every day my daughter would come home to tell me many fun stories about the play they were rehearsing, the songs she learned, or to practice her part in the play. I am very happy to have chosen this summer camp for my daughter because they were a perfect match. I will definitely enroll her in this camp this summer.

If you want great actors that are also experienced teachers to work with your kids– Young Players Theater is place to go. My son, age 7, has been enjoying programs at YPT for over 3 years. YPT is his favorite summer camp. The staff is carefully picked by Kristen Lynch, the director. Many have, or are en route to, MFA’s in theater, and MA’s in theater education. Like no other program I’ve seen, they are able to give the kids experience, knowledge, and a genuine love of theater. They take the students on journeys through improv, multi-​cultural, musical, dance, and many other forms of theater. This Brooklyn based operation is a model for what theater programs for kids should look like.

I was very disappointed my daughter took the theatre camp she enjoyed it alright but the director was very rude and my child seemed stifled. I was unnecessarily reprimanded for my daughter being too outgoing in the park. Hello that is why she is in theatre. They were not open to our help for the performance, made things very awkward and unwelcoming. I was not impressed with the performance and when my child wanted to sing out and dance she was pulled off stage she was bored up there in a musical theatre class where they were given a full performance to do she performed perfectly. Definitely not worth the time and money!