Summer Spotlight: A Teen's Stagedoor Manor Experience

I was slow to the summer enrichment game. That may be enough for a large proportion of ya'll to stop reading. But my husband and I were both raised outside of the competitive high-school/university scene, and our parenting philosophy was to try not to be helicopter parents. That changed quickly when our daughter got to high school and it seemed like helicoptering is necessary for kids to even have a chance of getting into a school they want. Maybe overreacting. Hopefully more on that later.

But for now, quick conclusion, our daughter went to Stagedoor Manor for 3 week camps during the summer after both her Freshman and Sophomore years in high school, and I think it is one of her favorite places ever, and for my husband and me, one of the highest ROI's for $ investment.

Now for practical the cons were minor. The food wasn't great, according to my daughter, but she's picky and an unreliable eater. The dorm-rooms weren't air conditioned, but it's upstate New York. The beds were uncomfortable, but at least it was a bed. My daughter went two years in a row, so the second year, we stopped at Walmart on the drive up and got a fan and an eggcrate mattress topper, and lots of snacks, and that solved the problems.

before going to stagedoor, our daughter had had a few disasterous sleepovers where we'd had to go get her in the middle of the night. she went to stagedoor for three weeks, and did amazing, not wanting to leave. So homesickness wasn't an issue at all.

One of the best things they do is ban phones for the first week, and then limit hours for the next two weeks. I think this really helped the kids bond. I'll write more on the actual classes and the production experience another time. Another big positive I want to mention is none of the drama she had the next year at USC acting intensive. Will compare and contrast another time, but for college applications, I was surprised to see that Stagedoor Manor is one of the summer acting programs from the Tisch application dropdown menu, so it's definitely known entity, and perhaps by implication, one that is known to offer substantive instruction, not just a theatre summer camp.