Expand Your Festival Experience: Enroll Now for Youth Summer Camps and Adult Courses for Teachers
Looking for a way to add to your Festival Experience? Or do you have a young theatre enthusiast in your life? Every summer the Festival offers a unique range of educational opportunities for patrons and their families to enjoy in addition to the daily options like seminars and orientations that focus on the plays.
For youth ages 5-17 there are various summer theatre camps where they can train directly with industry professionals and other theatre instructors. There are both day camps and sleep-away ones, depending on desired involvement. There are even scholarships available for those interested in participating that may need some extra financial assistance.
Beyond youth programs, the Festival provides specialized summer classes for educators to expand their Shakespeare and theatre knowledge. These onsite opportunities allow teachers to develop practical lesson plans and gain hands-on experience to enrich their classrooms and/or theatre productions while earning professional development credits.
FOR YOUTH:
Playmakers Summer Day Camp
June 8-20, 2026
Ages 5-17
From 2-4 p.m. Monday to Friday, students will have the opportunity to build theatre skills through movement, voice, improv, and more with a final Saturday performance. Tuition is $150 and includes a T-shirt and a ticket to one play.
Click here to register. Registration closes May 30, 2026.
Junior Actor Training
July 20-25, 2026
Ages 12-14
Taught by professional Festival actors, this week-long sleep-away camp is for young actors who want to train in scene work, stage combat, voice and movement, and more. Tuition is $1,200 and includes all meals, tickets to seven plays, and dormitory accommodations. There is also a payment option of $600, which includes all of the above excluding dormitory accommodations.
Click here to register. Registration closes July 4, 2026.
Actor Training
July 13-18, 2026
Ages 15-18
Taught by professional Festival acting and artistic company members, this week-long sleep-away camp is for all older teenage actors who want to train in scene work, stage combat, voice and movement, and more. Tuition is $1,200 and includes all meals, tickets to seven plays, and dormitory accommodations. There is also a payment option of $600, which includes all of the above excluding dormitory accommodations.
Click here to register. Registration closes July 4, 2026.
FOR TEACHERS:
Teaching Shakespeare
July 13-16, 2026
Specifically for English and Theatre educators, this in-person course provides active and engaging classroom approaches for any teacher of Shakespeare text - or really any classical texts. The course will teach how to explore connections to contemporary themes, characters, and stories that keep students’ attention and help them find relevance in classical literature texts. Tuition is $300 and includes a ticket to four plays and three Southern Utah University professional development credits.
Click here to register. Registration closes June 30, 2026.
Tech for Teachers
July 20-22, 2026
This is a great in-person professional development course for any educator or director. Festival technicians and experts create a hands-on learning experience for designing, building, and running a production. Participants will take home ready-to-teach tech theatre lesson plans and files of resources. Tuition is $300 and includes a ticket to four plays, the opportunity to watch post-production scenic changeovers, and three Southern Utah University professional development credits.
Click here to register. Registration closes July 4, 2026.
Questions for the Education Department? Call 435-865-8333 or email usfeducation@gmail.com.
Don’t forget to get your tickets for the 2026 season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. The 65th anniversary season includes Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, the musicals Something Rotten! and She Loves Me, the classic farce See How They Run, the bold reimagining of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and the contemporary satire The Book Club Play. Get tickets by visiting bard.org/about/education, or call the ticket office at (800) PLAYTIX.
