The Old Song and Dance

Next Actors Returns to Form While Staying Fresh

The Next Actors: Summer Theatre for Teens program began in 1998 when Next Act Theatre absorbed the assets and program structure of the Schneider Arts Academy. The program was “briefly called Next Actors: Summer Theatre for Youth, until we found out that the acronym was NASTY,” says Education Manager Pia Russo.

The Next Actors program started with a focus on musical theatre and remained that way for many years. In fact, the program was originally led by Ray Jivoff, later the Artistic Director of Skylight Music Theatre.

Student agency has been at the forefront of Next Actors since the start: students have always been given the freedom to imagine, improvise, create, rehearse and perform their own stories. At the beginning of the program, this meant writing, composing and choreographing an original piece of musical theatre – with the guidance of Ray and other talented local theatre professionals. As the program grew, artists like Kelly Anderson, Dylan Bolin, Niffer Clarke, Karen Estrada, Steve Feffer, Lisa Gatewood, Keson Holt, Doug Jarecki, Dani Kuepper, Steven LaFond, Nat Miller, Richard Newman, Jason Powell, Eric Price, Brett Ryback, Nathan Wesselowski, Sarah Wilbur and others all contributed their talents and leadership to the program.

As the years went by, the Next Actors program continued to grow and evolve. In 2020, the Next Actors, unable to meet in-person, convened over Zoom under the leadership of Grace DeWolff to write, rehearse and record IS THIS JUST A GAME?, the program’s first non-musical offering.

Once able to meet in-person again, the Next Actors again wrote a non-musical play in 2021, and followed it up in 2022 with THE NEXT ACTORS VARIETY SHOW, a series of scenes, vignettes, poems and other performance pieces. This format of multiple, shorter pieces has proved popular for the program in the past few years. Last summer, we changed the format of the program from one four-week session to two two-week sessions, and students enjoyed being able to perform short works created by attendees of other sessions.
The 2025 Next Actors program has seen somewhat of a return to form, however: students in the first session are connecting strongly with dance, which they are making part of the work they are creating. “We’re working on a dance right now, two or three of them to incorporate into the play,” said one Next Actors student. She continued, “I have four years of dance experience before this; I did interpretive dance, contemporary, tap and jazz. When we were doing an activity to make a five-minute dance to a song, I took the lead on a couple of things and made an interesting, cool dance with the song. I like making art, and I feel like Next Actors allows you to do that and not feel judged. Everyone includes you in it because it’s an acting experience. I like expressing my art, and Next Actors gives you that ability.”

Another student had a different background with dance: “I personally don’t have that much experience with dance before this. I wasn’t very good at it. We had someone come and teach us a dance, and then one of the other students at Next Act taught us a dance as well. They were both really fun. It’s a lot more fun to do it in a place where you know you’re not going to be judged. You’re just doing it because it’s fun and you get to connect with the people around you.”

While the 2025 Next Actors may not be returning all the way to the program’s musical theatre roots, they are finding new ways to incorporate music and dance into the stories they want to tell, while also shaping the future of the Next Actors program.

Familiar and New

The inclusion of some music and dance alongside playwrighting and variety show elements is a mix of “old” and “new” Next Actors styles, and that mix makes perfect sense when you look at the 2025 team of Next Actors. About half of the program’s students are new this year, while the other half are returning from previous summers. We sat down with some of the Next Actors to find out how new and returning students are coming together to make theatre this summer.

“I’m trying to take risks and meet new people,” said one new Next Actor. When asked what drew her to the program, she said, “It’s theatre for kids my age. Usually, for theatre companies, it’s a lot more little kids or it’s really competitive. With Next Act, it’s just a fun environment where everybody’s your friend.”

“I’m really excited to have everybody’s creations on the stage, and I’m excited to see what we can do. It’s a new set of people, so I’m really excited for that,” said one returning Next Actor. “I came back to Next Act so I can really expand on my acting stuff. This year, I’ve been going to different acting companies so I can maybe go to college for it and get a scholarship, a full ride. [Last year taught me] To be more confident, because I was always nervous when I was on stage. When I was really acting and making my own plays, it helped me be more confident in what I was doing.”

A new Next Actor agreed that developing new skills was crucial to them: “I’m doing lights for one of our shows. I’ve never done lights or been on crew before. Also, I’m writing a script, I’m writing a play. I’ve never done that before, and I’ve definitely never had the guts to have people actually read it before, which is really amazing.”

‘It’s such a nice environment. I really do like all the people here. I feel like I found my place here just in one week.”

Join us on Friday, July 25, at 6:00 p.m. for the finale performance of Next Actors: Summer Theatre for Teens 2025! Purchase tickets online or over the phone (414-278-0765). Tickets start at $5 but, if you are able, we encourage you to add a further donation at checkout to support the future of our program.