Classes

About Classes

CYT offers classes for students ages 8-18 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. At the end of a CYT session, your student will come away with a new or improved skill in the area of emphasis. Each session culminates in a high-energy showcase to demonstrate to family, friends, and fellow students the skills acquired.

Winter Class Registration is Open!

As a theater arts training program, our new students are required to take a beginning 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. 

Check out the Winter classes below!

Audition for a Show

Auditions for the Winter production, Fiddler on the Roof, will be held on Thursday, December 12th from 6pm - 8:30pm, at Bethany United Methodist Church.  Callbacks will be held on Saturday December 14th at the same location from 9am - 1pm.

Students ages 8-18 who are enrolled in CYT classes are invited to audition for our mainstage production. Auditions consist of a one-minute song performed for the Artistic Team, followed by learning and performing a short dance routine in a small group. Some students may also have a “callback” on the following Saturday, during which students are asked to read for a speaking role.

Our Winter 2020 show will be held at the Worley Barton Theater at Brentwood Christian School, located at 11908 N. Lamar, Austin, TX. Performances are on Thursday, March 12 at 7:30pm, Friday, March 13 at 7:30pm, and Saturday, March 14 at 1:30pm and 7:30pm. 

Interested in being involved in the show, but not onstage? Students ages 12+ may apply to be a member of our Backstage Crew!

Current Classes:

Class: Age: Chapter: Location: Day: Time: Start: End:
Acing The Vocal Audition! 8-12 Austin
(Winter 2020)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Jan 09 Mar 05
Acting 101 for Kids 8-12 Austin
(Winter 2020)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Jan 09 Mar 05
Acting Out! 8-12 Austin
(Winter 2020)		 Austin Ridge Bible Church Mon 5:00pm - 7:00pm Jan 06 Mar 02
Broadway Tap 10-18 Austin
(Winter 2020)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Jan 09 Mar 05
Improv I 11-18 Austin
(Winter 2020)		 Austin Baptist Church Mon 5:00pm - 7:00pm Jan 06 Mar 05
Michael Chekhov Acting Technique 13-18 Austin
(Winter 2020)		 Austin Ridge Bible Church Mon 5:00pm - 7:00pm Jan 06 Mar 02
Script Writing For The Young Actor! 10-16 Austin
(Winter 2020)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Jan 09 Mar 05
Swing & Ballroom Partner Dancing, The Essentials 13-18 Austin
(Winter 2020)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Jan 09 Mar 05
The Art of Shakespeare 13-18 Austin
(Winter 2020)		 Bethany United Methodist Church Thu 5:00pm - 7:00pm Jan 09 Mar 05

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:

Dawson MacLeod

Dawson is so excited to begin working with CYT Austin in their mission to bring inspiring, Christ-centered theatre to the young people in the Austin area. He credits Julie Novak for initially showing him the power of theatre and the arts, and ever since then he has committed himself to learn more about the form. Despite initially falling in love with musicals under the direction of Mrs. Novak, Dawson has since found a new love for the classic works, such as Greek theatre, Shakespeare, and Chekhov. When Dawson isn't involved in theatre, he spends his time combing the shelves at Half-Price Books, training to become a certified personal & business coach, and making digital art (including music) with his friends. - Graduate of Oklahoma City University. Recipient of a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in Acting (Magna Cum Laude) while also minoring in Directing, Sound Design & Engineering, and Interfaith Studies. - National Michael Chekhov Association (NMCA) Teacher Certification candidate. - Certified Basic Actor Combatant (Single sword, Quarterstaff, and Unarmed) through Fight Directors of Canada.

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 In January of 2015 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.

Kathryn Sterling

Kathryn Sterling is an Actor, Teaching Artist, Writer and Director from Hutto, TX. To her students she is known simply as Mrs. Kat. She teaches theatre all over central Texas, including Zach Theatre, The Georgetown Palace Theatre and Hutto Community Education. Having Trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, NY, and as a former AADA Company Member, Kat spent years studying the Meisner Technique, and now uses Meisner, coupled with her own personal elements, to teach actors of all ages through emphasis on strengthening empathy and focusing on truth. Most recently she has portrayed Rona Lisa Perretti in Hutto Arts Today's production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Agatha in Tristan Mercado's Trolls and was a special guest professional actor as Eleonor Dunbar in Georgetown Palace's Education PPC production of Footloose. She has directed numerous productions, including Spelling Bee, Amadeus, The Foreigner, and most recently, Aladdin, Jr., Goal!, and Rock of Ages: The Middle School Edition, all for The Georgetown Palace. "Those that bring light into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."

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”

Mike Topel

Member of ComedySportz, improv teaching assistant at ColdTowne Theater, Fallout Theater, ComedySportz, and a dance instructor for 25 years.

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.