The Gateway Launches Children's Theatre Conservatory Program

The Gateway Performing Arts Center of Suffolk County recently created the Children's Theatre Conservatory program to produce more performance opportunities for students.

The Children’s Theatre Conservatory program is an audition-only class for children in third through 12th grades who want to learn beyond the classroom and perform on stage. The program recently launched its first session at The Gateway in Bellport in June.

The Children’s Theatre Conservatory program is a fully produced main stage production that includes full and more frequent rehearsals over a three-week period with a cast of approximately 30 members. Students are able to take acting classes that consist of exercises that support the students, despite their role in the performance, as well as special master classes with trained professionals and actors from New York City.

“We’re not just a camp. You are in an acting class and a Broadway actor comes in and talks to you. You are in the setting of The Gateway, where every single day during the summer there are Broadway actors walking around, going through rehearsals, learning their shows, and there is something to be said about that,” says Michael Baker, director of The Gateway School for the Performing Arts.