Experiences For All Ages
The Center is excited to offer educational theatre courses, masterclasses, and programs for students of all ages looking to gain experience on-stage and behind the scenes! Scroll down to learn more about upcoming opportunities!
Thank you to everyone who registered for our Winter 2025 Youth Theatre classes! Check back soon for more opportunities.
Production Arts Program
The Production Arts Program (ProArts) - formerly Beginning Stages - is an exciting educational opportunity for young people to develop theatre skills through experiential learning. This program meets once per week during the rehearsal process of MATILDA JR, and is for students of all levels of experience. ProArts participants choose to focus on either the Performance Track or Technical Theatre Track. Anyone can participate in Beginning Stages without auditioning.
The ProArts Behind the Scenes Theatre Track is a hands-on experience for young minds looking to step into some of the important technical roles off stage that make a show come to life. Each week, a guest instructor introduces a different technical area, such as: lighting, sound, costumes, hair/makeup, props, scenic design, stage management, and directing. By the end of the ProArts Behind the Scenes Track, students will use their new skills as they step into crew roles for the production of MATILDA JR.
Click Here to View a Tentative Schedule
Instructors / Melissa Bornemann
ENROLL NOW
The ProArts On the Stage Track is an opportunity for students to develop and hone their performance skills, working with experienced and engaged mentors, to create a final showcase. This creative performance workshop meets weekly to explore various aspects of theatre performance such as improvisation, diction, vocal work, choreography, character work, and more. Students will apply these skills as they work together to create and share a final performance showcasing what they’ve been working on.
Click Here to View a Tentative Schedule
Instructors / Samantha Glasse
ENROLL NOW
Scholarships can be applied for via the Art From the Heart Scholarship Program. For more information and digital application forms, visit: midlandcenter.org/scholarships
Please contact the Education Department with any questions!
2024/25 Youth Theatre Season
Youth Theatre: Matilda Jr
WED, JAN 29 / Grades 3 - 6 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM / Grades 7-8 from 6:30 - 8:30 PM
THU, JAN 30 / Grades 9-10 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM / Grades 11-12 from 6:30 - 8:30 PM
Virtual Auditions Accepted on Request
PERFORMANCES / APR 10 - 13 (Buy Tickets)
Director / Gina Kearly
Choreographer / Yavaha Oglesby
Music Director / Colton Jordon
About the Musical / Matilda has astonishing wit, intelligence... and special powers! She's unloved by her cruel parents but impresses her schoolteacher, the highly loveable Miss Honey. Matilda's school life isn't completely smooth sailing, however – the school's mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, hates children and just loves thinking up new punishments for those who don't abide by her rules. But Matilda has courage and cleverness in equal amounts, and could be the school pupils' saving grace!
Book by Dennis Kelly
Music & Lyrics by Tim Minchin
Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical JR. Is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI.
Rising Stars: Freaky Friday
WED, JUN 25 - FRI, JUN 27, 2025 / 8 PM
AUDITIONS / DETAILS AVAILABLE IN 2025
When an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right again. When an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right again before mom’s big wedding. Disney’s Freaky Friday, a new musical based on the celebrated novel by Mary Rodgers and the hit Disney films, is a hilarious, heartfelt, and contemporary update of an American classic. By spending a day in each other's shoes, Katherine and Ellie come to appreciate one another's struggles, learn self-acceptance, and realize the immeasurable love and mutual respect that bond a mother and daughter. With a score by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composers of Next to Normal and If/Then and a book from the writer of TV’s Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, Freaky Friday is a delightfully entertaining new musical for anyone with a perfectly imperfect family.
The 2025 Rising Stars program is sponsored by 
Work with Broadway Talent!
Rising Stars Program
Every summer, Midland Center for the Arts searches for the top talent in the Great Lakes Bay Region for an intensive, professional-level acting or technical theatre experience and training from a Broadway Creative Team. This initiative is designed for Rising Stars, High School students (rising ninth graders through current graduating seniors), who will work through an intensive rehearsal process and star in a popular musical geared towards teens. Rehearsals will include a professional-level schedule.
Check back in spring 2025 for audition details and the creative team announcement for the 2025 Rising Stars Production, Disney's FREAKY FRIDAY!
The 2025 Rising Stars Program is sponsored by