Tom Pacio

New York Stage and Film and Vassar College, this summer celebrating the 31st Powerhouse Season, have announced the first round of casting for their summer collaboration, which runs June 26 - August 2 at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie.

Vassar and New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater announces its 31st year of championing new works, with a full season of stories that take audiences from a South Sea island to center court at the US Open and beyond.

When they were still aspiring young artists Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, TV star Josh Radnor, and two-time Tony Award-nominated actress Melissa Erico each spent a transformative summer in the Powerhouse Theater Training Program. Now in its thirtieth year, the renowned annual program at Vassar College will run from June 20-July 27, 2014 and is currently accepting applications. Participants choose a curriculum focused on acting, playwriting, or directing, and together form an Apprentice Company that performs works for the public. The program is available to rising high school seniors through college-age students, as part of the prestigious Powerhouse Theater collaboration between Vassar and New York Stage and Film.

Intense. Amazing. Life-changing. These are just some of the words that former members of the Powerhouse Theater Training Program, one of the country's leading theater immersion programs, use to describe their experience at Vassar. Now, this nationally-recognized training program entering its 26th season is accepting applications for actors, designers, directors, and writers for the 2010 Powerhouse season.

Max von Essen, Vivian Nixon and more will star in West Side Story for Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, TX