Advanced Theater Training
First Stage Young Company, the Theater Academy’s award-winning training program for advanced high school actors is open to students who want to take their work to the next level. Accepted students will complete college- and graduate-level training in Acting, Voice, Movement, and Shakespeare as well as electives such as Auditioning, Stage Combat, and Dialects.
Young Company members gain unparalleled professional exposure through master classes with renowned guest artists from across the country, a fully produced season of plays, and special excursions to the Utah Shakespeare Festival and American Players Theatre.
For questions, please contact Director of Young Company, Michelle LoRicco, at mloricco@firststage.org.
SAVE THE DATE
2026-2027 Young Company Auditions
August 6–8 & August 13–15, 2026
Virtual Submissions due August 15
AUDITION SIGN-UP COMING SOON!
what is young company?
For high school actors who want to take their work to the next level, First Stage offers the Young Company, the nationally renowned training program for high school-age actors. Meeting throughout the year, the Young Company is the college and graduate-level actor training program at First Stage Theater Academy.
Accepted students will complete coursework in Advanced Acting, Voice, Movement, Viewpoints, Shakespeare, and electives ranging from Auditioning to Stage Combat to Dialects. In addition, the Young Company hosts master classes with guest artists from across the nation, travels annually to compete at the Utah Shakespeare Festival High School Acting Competition, and hosts an overnight training program at American Players Theatre in Spring Green.
Classes are held on Saturdays from 9:30 AM – 12:15 PM throughout the school year, with additional workshops and rehearsals scheduled separately.
The Young Company also produces two to three performance projects each season.
Young Company Performance Projects
Young Company Performance Projects are actor-driven presentations using elemental production values. By stripping down to a nearly bare stage, the connection of actor to audience is enhanced, and the words of the play come alive in exciting ways, allowing our award-winning students to showcase their graduate level skills with full length material, from Shakespeare to American classics to pieces commissioned specially for them.
Young Company is supported in part by the Anthony J. Petullo Endowment for Advanced Theater Students