Skills Classes (Ages 4 - 14)
(Fall and Spring sessions)

These classes introduce young actors and actresses to the fundamentals of theater: imagination, character development, and story, as well as the creation of basic sets, props and costumes. They focus on bringing characters to life through creative movement, improvisation, and text. Using stories from many cultures, they will explore dramatic structure as they create their own piece for performance for family and friends. In 2005-2006, the students created and performed short plays based on stories about Hansel and Gretel, Beauty and the Beast, Mouse Deer, Anansi, “fractured fairy tales,” Mexican folk tales and ghost stories.

With some of Houston's finest comedians and fight directors, students may enroll in additional classes in improvisation and stage combat, a course in the safety procedures and basics of armed and unarmed combat. Both culminate in a performance or demonstration for family and friends.

Rehearsal and Performance Classes (Ages 8 - 19)
(Fall, Winter, and Spring sessions)

We offer two levels of Rehearsal and Performance (R&P) classes—R&P Lab and R&P By Audition. Both are fully-produced shows directed by first-rate professionals. R&P Lab is for recent graduates of the Core Classes who are ready to apply their acting skills to a short fully-produced play for family and friends. R&P Lab does not require an audition, and all students are guaranteed a role. R&P By Audition is for advanced actors who are ready to audition for a part in a fully-produced large-scale show open to the public like last year's Number the Stars. They will put their acting experience to use in performances that are open to the public. Students in both types of R&P classes should be ready to commit to attending all classes and learning their lines outside of class. Students in R&P By Audition should be aware that it can be a major time commitment. In 2008, we produced Christopher Durang's The Actor's Nightmare and the Fifteen Minute Hamlet by Tom Stoppard.

Performing Arts Camps
(Winter and Summer sessions)

Our summer Performing Arts Camp is immensely popular. Under the direction of professional actors, dancers, and educators, students will be introduced to many aspects of theater production, including acting, playwriting, movement and stagecraft. Students let loose in dance classes as they explore styles from ballet to modern to hip-hop. To highlight all of their skills, students present a final showcase performance on a Main Street Theater stage. With four locations in 2009 (one in the Rice Village, one in the Museum District, one in the Bellaire/Meyerland area, and one in the Montrose area), Main Street offered more summer options than ever before!

Our weekly Winter Performing Arts Camp is a “mini-camp” where kids get introduced to acting, dancing, maskmaking, puppetry, storytelling and stagecraft. Each week has a different theme!

High School Workshops
(Summer and Winter sessions)

Kids On Stage is finally catching up with its alumni! Actors never stop learning, and this is a chance for older students to sink their teeth into techniques of characterization, script analysis, and scene study. These classes will select and develop scenes and monologues for a final presentation.

Satellite Classes
(Fall and Spring sessions)

We are pleased to offer arts enrichment classes at Houston-area schools. Click here for more information.

Audition Coaching

These one-on-one sessions with theater professionals and teachers help students improve audition techniques, find appropriate material, and prepare for auditions for HSPVA, magnet schools, our own Rehearsal and Performance classes, and special programs.