Fall 2024 & Winter 2025 Programs
Enrollment for youth programs is through the Philipstown Rec. Department.
Art Thieves Conservatory
Dates: Wednesday 1/15-3/26 3:30-5. No class 2/19.
Performances: Wednesday 3/26 at 5pm and Sunday 3/30 at 2pm.
Location: The Philipstown Depot Theatre
Age: 5-8 grade
Instructor: Bill Coelius
Cost: $395
Class size: Max of 15
Art Thieves Conservatory is a hands-on, fully immersive theatrical experience for the brilliant and sneaky. Improv, singing, dancing, monologues, writing, YouTube videos and smeared clown make-up all wait within the walls of the ATC. (Previous experience and/or actual skill at singing and dancing not required, and if bad at it, must be really bad.)
Each year, the Art Thieves Conservatory chooses to steal a regular theatre production and create their own version. The regular actors are cast aside, the programs are torn up, and the audience is locked in. Details to follow. (Keep this to yourselves for now, as we don't want to give it away!)
Each Art Thieves Conservatory student must follow a modest but strict manifesto:
1. No original props. You cannot use the original props of the stolen production. You must make your own with duct tape, newspaper, tin foil, and any recyclable material you can fit into your backpack.
2. No original lighting. You cannot use the lighting grid of the captured theater. You must use flashlights and scoop lights and anything else you can fit into your backpack.
3. We must write our own script. This stolen version is completely up to us. What does this play mean to you? You can keep what you want and toss the rest out the door. You can introduce new characters, monologues, dance numbers, or songs. Every production is stolen but original. Oh -- and performed in under 37 minutes (the average police department response time).
Bill Coelius Bio:
The Dean of the Art Thieves Conservatory is professional actor Bill Coelius. A resident of Cold Spring, TV/Film teacher at T. Schreiber Studio in NYC, Bill has over 20 years of arts-in-education experience and is being released on bail for this special circumstance. www.billcoelius.com
Play in a Day
Saturday, 1/25/25, 10am-3:30pm (Performance at 3:00pm)
Grade Level: 4-7 grade
Instructor: Merideth Maddox
Location: Philipstown Depot Theatre
Cost: $70
Size: 8-12 kids
Materials: snack, lunch, pencil and highlighter
Do you love acting in a play and just can't wait to get to opening night? Then join the Depot Theatre for a fast-track, super-fun experience called A Play in a Day! In just one day, students will rehearse AND perform a short play for an audience! In addition, students will create characters with props and costumes and play improv games. The script for the workshop will be totally new to the students in class. Students will exercise their skills, make bold character choices, experiment and build the show together. At 3:00pm, the play will be performed for an audience!
Play in a Day Junior
Sunday, 1/26/25, 1pm-4:30pm (Performance at 4:00pm)
Grade Level: 1-3 grade
Instructor: Merideth Maddox
Location: Philipstown Depot Theatre
Cost: $55
Size: 8-12 kids
Materials: snack, pencil and highlighter
Do you love acting in a play and just can't wait to get to opening night? Then join the Depot Theatre for a fast-track, super-fun experience called A Play in a Day Junior, created specifically for students in 1st-3rd grades! After some improv games, students will rehearse AND perform a short play for an audience! The script will be new text for the students in class, making this an exercise in ensemble theatre and literacy. At 4:00pm, the play will be performed for an audience!
Merideth Maddox Bio:
Merideth holds both a BFA (University of Florida) and MFA (FSU/Asolo Conservatory) in Acting and worked as a performer in regional theatre before moving to New York and beginning her work in theatre education. While in NYC, Merideth was the Director of the Young Actors Program at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, a teacher of acting technique at the Professional Performing Art School, an annual guest lecturer at the School of Visual Arts and a private audition coach. Merideth relocated to Westchester to teach at Hackley School, where she has been teaching middle school theatre classes and directing multiple productions each year since 2009. Her favorite thing to tell young actors is "make bold choices!"
The Day the Internet Died!
Dates: Mondays starting 9/9, 3:30-5:00. No class 10/14 & 11/11
Performances: 12/6-12/8
Location: The Philipstown Depot Theatre
Age: 4-7 Grade
Instructor: Kalista Parrish
Written by: Ian McWethy and Jason Pizzarello
Cost: $395
Class size: Max of 25
There has been a death in the charming town of Bloomington. No, not of one of their cheerful citizens, it seems someone has killed…the internet! Comical chaos ensues as the entire town has to navigate how to shop, write school papers, post cute pics, or follow the latest TikTok trend all without the internet. This fresh and lively play has many fun roles and real opportunities to make this piece our own!
Kalista Sale Parrish started working professionally as an actor at a very early age and has spent a lifetime in theater, television, film and publishing. After an apprenticeship at Irondale Ensemble Project she studied theater at NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing and screenwriting at The New School. She currently teaches, writes, directs and performs theater throughout the Hudson Valley. She lives in Cold Spring, NY and is an Artist-in-Residence Theater teacher, PK-8th grade, at The Garrison School.
Create-a-Play
Dates: Wednesday 9/11-11/20, 3:30-4:30
Performance: Wednesday 11/20
Location: The Philipstown Depot Theatre
Age: 1-3 Grade
Instructor: Sarah Law
Cost: $325
Class size: Max of 20
In this class we will be performing an original play that has never been seen before! From your ideas, imagination and creativity we will create an original story with unique characters. The sky's the limit! Each week we create using a variety of theatrical skills like improvisation, movement, music, group games, character creation and puppetry! All you have to bring is yourself and your ideas! This class will culminate in a final performance piece that students will be able to share with their peers and family.
Sarah Law is a theater educator and director who has been creating theater with youth for many years. She recently directed The Wizard of Oz at Philipstown Depot Theater and has spent most of her time creating original theater in NYC public schools, senior centers, residential treatment centers, after school programs and residency programs. She was the Director of Education at Illuminart Productions, a Program Manager with Queens Theater and also worked on youth productions with CAT Youth Theater. Sarah just started working with a local creative arts therapy program, making theater with youth and adults. She has a Masters in Applied Theater from CUNY SPS and a BFA in Theater Arts from The University of the Arts.
About our youth programs:
Our youngest students, kids in first through third grades, are introduced to theater through a series of fun, interactive classes: Stories for the Stage; Making a Play; and Twisted Tales. Older participants, in fourth through seventh grades, perform scripted plays in the spring and fall. In our Teen Mentor program, teens meet with theatre professionals over the course of a year, study the many facets of staging a play, including directing, set design, costumes, choreography, stage-managing, marketing and development, and put what they learn into practice.
Each summer we stage a pair of ambitious musicals: one stars middle schoolers and is produced entirely by the members of our teen mentor program; the other stars teens under the guidance of experienced directors, choreographers and set designers.
The kids and teens who participate in the Depot’s youth programs get hands-on experience in a working theater. They feel the incandescent thrill of putting on a show. And they learn a lot, too. In addition to the singing and dancing, kids develop their speaking and listening skills. They learn the value of preparation and how to handle the unexpected. They learn how to stand in the spotlight and work together as part of a team toward a common goal. And they have plenty of fun.
To learn more, write depottheatremembership@gmail.com or call (845)424-3900.
