POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — Intense. Amazing. Life-changing. These are just some of the words Powerhouse Theater apprentices use to describe their experience at Vassar.

Vassar College and New York Stage and Film are now accepting applications for the 2008 Powerhouse Theater Apprentice Training Program – one of the country’s leading theater immersion programs that exposes young artists to a wide range of theatrical experiences in order to help them develop their own voices.

Now in its twenty-fourth season, the Powerhouse Theater Program is a unique collaboration between a prestigious liberal arts college, Vassar, and an established professional theater company, New York Stage and Film. A nationally renowned program dedicated to new theater works, Powerhouse is committed to helping emerging and established artists develop new plays. Many of Powerhouse’s professional productions have gone on to appear on Broadway and off, and to win theater’s top honors – including several Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.

Apprentices in the six-week Powerhouse program choose a discipline: acting, playwriting, directing, technical theater, or stage management. Then, the program builds an apprentice company – including actors, directors and playwrights, stage managers, and technicians – that works within the larger framework of the professional company (New York Stage and Film). That means apprentices get the opportunity to work alongside some of the country’s leading and emerging theater artists such as John Patrick Shanley, Henry Krieger, Sarah Ruhl, Tomi Tsunoda, and Davis McCallum.

Throughout the summer, apprentices also work in their own theater company. They write, perform, and direct two-minute plays and site-specific work – and each week host table readings of works in progress by the apprentice writers. All acting apprentices are cast in one of three outdoor productions of adapted and abridged classical texts, which are attended by the public. Recent performances have included the works of Shakespeare, Chekhov, and Aeschylus, all presented under the direction of professional directors and writers.

APPRENTICE PROGRAM APPLICATION PROCESS

The Powerhouse Theater Apprentice Training Program will run from June 20 through August 3, 2008 on Vassar’s Hudson Valley campus. The program is available to rising high school seniors through college-age students. Applications must include faculty and professional recommendations, as well as personal statements. Aspiring playwrights need to submit a writing sample, directors need to submit a play analysis, and actors are asked to submit a DVD featuring two contrasting monologues. Applicants interested in stage management or technical theater are asked to call the Powerhouse administrative office at (845) 437-5902.

Applications are due April 18, 2008. For more information and how to apply, please visit our website, http://powerhouse.vassar.edu. Prospective applicants may also call Producing Director Edward Cheetham for more information at (845) 437-5902. Fee, room, and board (including daily breakfast and dinner) costs $3500.