Classes

About


CYT offers classes for students ages 6-18 throughout the school year. Classes include drama, voice, dance, and behind-the-scenes training in makeup, costumes, tech, and more. Classes are held for two hours once a week and run for nine consecutive weeks in Fall, Winter, and Spring sessions. Class sizes are small and offer supervision both inside and outside the classroom. Each session culminates in a high-energy showcase to demonstrate to family, friends, and fellow students the skills acquired.
Parents send their children to CYT classes to learn, and that’s exactly what they will do! At the end of a CYT session, your student will come away with a new or improved skill in the area of emphasis. During the last week of class, a high-energy Showcase is presented by each class to show other students, family, and friends all they’ve learned.

Winter Class Registration is Open!

As a theater arts training program, our new students are required to take core CYT vocal, dance, and theater classes before taking intermediate or advanced classes.  When signing up for classes remember you must crawl before you walk. Technique is the foundation of every aspect of theater. You must learn and understand the basics before you learn the harder elements. This is for safety and to help you grow into well rounded singers, dancers, and actors. 

All classes (from both locations) and auditions (ages 8 and up) for our Winter production of Bye Bye Birdie will be held on Thursday, December 13th, at Bethany United Methodist Church. All location classes will take place on that night from 5:00pm - 7:00pm, and auditions will run from 7:15pm to 8:30pm. We combine all students from both of our locations for opening night which includes our new parent introduction meeting at the beginning of class.  

Auditions for our MainStage show take place directly after class the first night. This allows for students to be part of, and hear all the auditions. Auditions are open to all students and their families to watch. Students who do not wish to audition or watch, may leave after their class is over at 7:00pm. Classes will resume after the Christmas Holiday on Monday January 7th, and Thursday January 10th.

All classes conclude with a showcase/recital on Thursday, February 28th at Austin Baptist Church.
 
You must be enrolled in a class to audition for the show.

***Here is the link for the audition side options for all students enrolled in a class. 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bkkjd1s4to2j8y9/AAAQEal0zJNWoJlVI7rBXspIa?dl=0



SET CREW OPPORTUNITIES
Are you a student who is 12-18 and super responsible and want to be part of the production, but not sure if you want to perform on stage? Then ask us about being on set crew! It's super fun and exciting, and you only have to commit to  the last two to three Saturday rehearsals and production week.  Contact us at austin@cyt.org for more information! 
 
2019 Winter Production Information

Current Classes:

Class: Age: Chapter: Location: Day: Time: Start: End:
Acting Through Improv 12-18 Austin
(Winter 2019)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Dec 13 Feb 28
Dancing Through the Decades 13-18 Austin
(Winter 2019)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Dec 13 Feb 28
Let's Act - Core Theater 8-18 Austin
(Winter 2019)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Dec 13 Feb 28
Let's Sing - Core Voice 8-18 Austin
(Winter 2019)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Dec 13 Feb 28
Let's Sing - Core Voice 8-18 Austin
(Winter 2019)		 Austin Baptist Church Mon 5:00pm - 7:00pm Dec 13 Feb 28
Our Gang 6-7 Austin
(Winter 2019)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Dec 13 Feb 28
Tap and Twirl - Core Tap & Ballet 8-18 Austin
(Winter 2019)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Dec 13 Feb 28
Tap and Twirl - Core Tap & Ballet 8-18 Austin
(Winter 2019)		 Austin Baptist Church Mon 5:00pm - 7:00pm Dec 13 Feb 28
The Actors Toolbox- Homework for Every Actor 10-18 Austin
(Winter 2019)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Dec 13 Feb 28

Teachers

A CYT Teacher’s mission is to train and instruct students in such a way as to promote the development of character, self-esteem, and confidence. CYT teachers are qualified and experienced in the area in which they teach. They have been trained in the CYT methods of instruction and agree with the CYT values and outcome goals. All CYT teachers have been background checked and adhere to our CYT Mission and Values. Our teachers truly care about their students and provide a constructive and fun environment for them to learn.

Current Teachers:

Chris Barfield

I have been dancing since the age of 9, and have trained in jazz, tap, hip hop, ballet, contemporary, modern, and salsa. I attended the Art institute of Orange County, in Buena Park, CA. While attending school in California I was the choreographer for a youth performance group. In my time there I choreographed 3 main stage performances (Guys and Dolls, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Tom Sawyer). I look forward to being on the CYT team!

Emily Calasopa

I am no stranger to CYT having been a student myself in WA State and going on to teach, direct, musical direct and choreograph over 50 classes, camps and shows! CYT is a huge passion of mine and I absolutely cannot wait to be involved in this amazing organization once more. I am now a mommy to two sweet little girls who love to sing and dance just like me!! I have travelled the World singing with The Continental Singers and been in many musical theater productions. I have formal training in Cabaret and belting, as well as acting for film and auditioning on Broadway. I truly believe that there is a place for everyone within the theater community. I was a shy, homeschooled introvert until my mom put me in CYT at 15. I credit all I learned through CYT with helping me find my voice. I so look forward to working with you all!

Julie Novak

Julie Novak has been teaching and directing theater in a school and community setting for over 20 years. While teaching at the renowned Valley Christian Conservatory, in San Jose, California, she developed her own theater arts curriculum for students 6-8 grades and a curriculum for students 6-12 grade while teaching and directing at Summit Christian Academy in Austin, Texas. Julie has directed plays, musicals, one acts, musical reviews, competition scenes, concerts and benefit shows too numerous to count! She has been trained in a multitude of acting techniques, such as the Wheeler Recording Method, On Camera Acting, Improvisational Acting, various vocal genres and public speaking. Outside of her teaching career she has worked as an acting coach, speaker, ghostwriter, vocalist and done voice over studio work. Her greatest love is working with young people in the arts and helping them develop confidence and belief in their personal gift set. Julie began CYT Austin a year and a half ago after she felt called to take her passion to speak life and encouragement into young people through the arts, outside the walls of a school and into her community.

Kelsey Kimble

Kelsey Kimble uses her vast experience in performing a variety of different genres to entertain and educate others. As a performer, Kelsey enjoys singing jazz music with her husband, Austin Kimble. She also writes and performs original music with their band, The Kimbles. Trained in classical voice technique from The University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Rose Taylor, Kelsey also enjoys acting in local theater productions. Recent roles include: "Louise/Eve" in Ruthless (City Theater, Austin), as well as "Regina" in Rock of Ages, "Calliope" in Xanadu, and several Theatre for Young Audiences Productions at the Georgetown Palace Theater. Aside from performing, Kelsey has a passion for educating voice students of all ages and experience levels. She offers private lessons and group classes at several locations in the Austin area. Kelsey also music directed Mary Poppins at the Georgetown Palace Theater in summer 2018, which recently earned a nomination for Best Music Direction in the 2018 Broadway World Awards.

Kimberly Hauser

Kim's love for the stage was sparked in high school where she took her first theater class. Her love for theater since then has only grown! She graduated from Abilene Christian Univeristy with a degree in Communications and had the amazing opportunity to study abroad- twice! Through learning more about the world, people and different cultures, her passion for theater and storytelling was only heightened. Immediately after graduation, she was a part of an education internship at ZACH in Austin. This internship taught her more about teaching others about the art of storytelling on stage and creating a conducive environment to explore, take chances and learn! She's involved with numerous community theater productions, film projects in Austin, and has been a teacher and child-superviser for productions and classes at ZACH. Over the past couple years, she has loved being a part of the CYT community through backstage managing for productions, being a camp counselor during the summers, and being the HYPE adviser for this season. She's looking forward to adding teaching to the list as well! She is passionate about the bravery and overall good that art cultivates in people's lives and loves to be a part of it whenever she can. Creativity is IN everyone and FOR everyone and she loves to help others grow in their creativity! She is excited to grow with the students in discovering and nurturing their creative instincts! Building the foundational skills needed to help bring stories to life is such an amazing gift! She can't wait to grow it with all of you!

Lauris Blackwell

Lauris Blackwell grew up singing and dancing! After high school she attended Austin College, and then went on to New York, where she was a scholarship winner to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She stayed in NYC for eleven years performing professionally on and off Broadway and on many National and European tours. Some of her favorite roles are the Narrator in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, Rose, in “Bye, Bye Birdie”, Amnesia, in “Nunsense”, Lily, in “Annie”, and Rhetta, in “Pump Boys and Dinettes”. She has performed at the White House and the Kennedy Center for both the Bush and Clinton Administration in conjunction with the Children’s Literacy Program. She performed in the Natchez Opera for ten years and was fortunate enough to be the soloist for then Governor George Bush’s Inauguration. Since moving home to Texas, she has performed and Choreographed with Waco Children’s Theater, Temple Civic Theatre, the Public Domain, and River City Pops and many others. She has choreographed for Buzz Productions, Akins High School, River City Pops, Austin Summer Musicals For Children, as well as served on the RCP and ASMC Boards. She teaches tap, ballet, jazz, and musical theatre to all ages. She is the dance instructor and Choreographer for Christian Youth Theatre. When not dancing about, she spends time with her husband, James, and their wonderful son Dustin. She is so grateful and blessed to be a part of all of her work “families”

Shawn Utterback

Shawn has performed and taught improv from coast to coast for two decades. Shawn began studying improv in California with Comedy Sportz and continued to hone his craft while training at Second City and the Improv Olympic in Chicago. He is the executive producer of Comedy Spartans /Comedy Sportz in Austin TX and the CEO of the Playstorming Group. He has been a teacher at the Palace Theatre in Georgetown, TX and is returning to CYT to teach Improv. He is the proud father of a 10 yr old girl.