Broadway Vets to Mentor Students at HLTC This Summer

Working Broadway professionals teaching their craft is what sets the Harbor Lights Theater Company's SUMMER INTENSIVE FOR YOUTH apart. Harbor Lights' faculty brings one of a kind Broadway experience and expertise; many of the program's alumni have been accepted to prestigious theater-focused high schools, colleges, and universities.

The Harbor Lights Theater Company, Staten Island's only professional Equity Theater Company, led by Founders and Artistic Directors Tamara Jenkins and Jay Montgomery, is pleased to announce this summer's two - week theater training course in Musical Theater. August 10-21, 2015, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Call 718-273-7516 or email info@hltc.org for more information. The cost of the program is 750 dollars.

The curriculum consists of daily classes in acting, vocal technique, theater dance, and song interpretation. Afternoon sessions includes Master Classes, taught by Broadway Master Teachers. The program ends with a showcase. Capacity is LIMITED.

"I will always cherish the experiences and knowledge that I have gained from being a part of Harbor Lights. I have not only learned valuable information from the nurturing training I received from Tamara and Jay but I have also been able to grow as an artist during my involvement in their wonderful shows, summer intensives, and master classes," says Melanie Molina, a graduate of LaGuardia High School and a student of dance and musical theater at Montclair State University. Melanie, a four year student of Harbor Light's Enter Stage Right Theater Program (which includes the summer intensive), was accepted and offered talent scholarships to Marymount Manhattan College and Muhlenberg College. She was also accepted into the Cap21/ Molloy College Theater Program, Wagner College, and the Boston Conservatory.

"We literally shepherd our students into college programs and careers. Seeing where they go after they leave us makes us forever proud of them. The summer intensive provides great value. We are a third the price of similar programs in Manhattan and offer a much more personal hands on approach with our students," says Ms. Jenkins.

The faculty for this year's Summer Intensive includes Jay Montgomery, Harbor Lights Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director, teaching acting; Valerie Hill, a NY Theater actress with extensive nation-wide credits, and Tamara Jenkins, Harbor Lights Co-Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Harbor Lights, teaching voice; Tommy Bracco, creator of the role of "Spot Colon" in Newsies on Broadway and a Staten Island native, teaching dance; and another life long Staten Islander, Emmy nominee Kathy Brier, best known for her roles as "Marcie Walsh" on ABC's One Life to Live, and on Broadway for "Tracy Turnblatt" in Hairspray, conducting the Master Class!

Two David Kasahara scholarships are available to minority youth who show exceptional talent and financial need. Tomas Matos, a previous recipient of a Summer Intensive for Youth David Kasahara scholarship, is now a student at LaGuardia High School and is regularly cast in Kidz Theaters Productions in NYC. He has also appeared in several Harbor Lights professional productions, including Amahl and the Night Visitors, The King and I, and The Bikinis.