Merrimack Repertory Theatre Young Company Goes Virtual With Online Theatre Classes Start July

Merrimack Repertory Theatre's professional training program for high school students, the MRT Young Company, goes virtual this year with classes online from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for three weeks, July 13-31. Renowned Chicago educator, director, and actor Robert Cornelius returns to lead the intensive.

The rate is $450 per person for the full course. Past Young Company participants may register for only $350. To register, visit www.mrt.org/youngcompany or call the Box Office at 978-654-4678. The program requires a laptop or tablet and internet access; if needed, MRT will provide technology support for any student.

Courtney Sale, MRT's Nancy L. Donahue Artistic Director, said, "We are excited this year to move Young Company online! The 2020 YoCo Virtual Summer Program for high school students will be focused on telling stories through monologues from published plays and original works the students create themselves."

Each day will be organized around three blocks of time: a morning session for warm-ups, ensemble building, and monologue coaching with the entire group; an early afternoon session for playwriting, with break-out sessions for writing and collaboration; and a later afternoon session for presentations, content development, and discussion with the full group. There will be time between these blocks for breaks and meals.

The MRT Young Company program offers a unique opportunity for teens (entering grades 9-12) to write and perform their own stories. Students will work with professional theatre artists from around the country, develop their own voices with playwriting, and learn about acting, auditioning, performing improv, musical theatre, and more. Young Company continues to meet during the MRT season, offering a window into the fascinating work of professional theatre artists. Opportunities include rehearsal and tech observation, workshop attendance, and master classes and artist talks.

A pillar of the Chicago theatre community for more than 30 years, Robert Cornelius served 11 years as the Arts Education Director at the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater. Like the MRT Young Company, the program he created there combined elements of both performance and writing. Students learned how to access their emotions through first-person stories, slam poetry, and the texts of established playwrights. During his tenure, Cornelius and his staff of teaching artists worked with more than 10,000 students at 37 different high schools, developed long-term partnerships with teachers and students, and earned the Illinois Theatre Association's annual award for Outstanding Children's Program.

Today he serves as a teaching artist for the same Victory Gardens program while pursuing his career as an actor for the first time in many years. Recent credits include Lottery Day at the internationally acclaimed Goodman Theatre and last season's The Total Bent with Haven Theatre, in association with About Face Theatre, for which he was nominated for the prestigious 2019 Jefferson Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Performance.

Lowell actor and director Kaitlyn Crockett (Macbeth and The Crucible this season) will serve as Young Company program assistant.