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Musical Theater Summer Institute

Sing, dance, and act in a conservatory-style program

Program Overview

The UCLA Musical Theater Summer Institute is a three-week conservatory-style intensive for high school musical theater students grades 9 through 12 who seek discipline and training required for participation in a university musical theater program or a career in the performing arts. This institute focuses on developing artists’ talents and addressing areas of opportunity.

Students will rehearse and take classes daily in the areas of acting, dancing and singing and participate in weekend guest workshops. The tools gained from these experiences will culminate in a final performance that is open to invited guests.

Admission to the institute is by digital audition and instructor consent. As part of the application process, each applicant must submit a personal statement, a video audition of a song, monologue and dance, a letter of reference from a high school instructor and a resume.

*Please note that all levels are encouraged to apply and English language comprehension and proficiency is required for successful completion of this institute. 

 

Program Details

On-Campus (Commuter)

Commuter/Mandatory Residential 17 years of age and older)

Housing is ONLY available to students who will be 17 years of age or older by June 23, 2025. NO EXCEPTIONS are made to this eligibility requirement. All students under 17 will have to commute to campus.

Schedule

Musical Theater Schedule: July 13 – August 2, 2025

Grades and Transcripts

Program participants will earn units of credit on a letter-grading basis and will be recorded on an official University of California transcript. Please note that official transcripts are not automatically sent to students. To request a transcript, please contact the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

Coursework

Theater 50; 2 units, Theater 72; 2 units

Requirements

Applications are reviewed and admission to the program is granted on a rolling basis starting February 15th. Applying at your earliest convenience, prior to June 1st, is highly recommended.

Applicants who successfully submit all requirements will be reviewed and notified via email of an admission decision within ~3 weeks. Early application is strongly encouraged.

Applicants are required to provide the following during the online registration process:

  • In 500 words or less, how do you plan to impact the world through your storytelling?
  • Prepare a song from the standard musical theater repertory. Your selection should not be an entire song, 32 bars are sufficient. Your selection must be sung with accompaniment. Choose a song from a musical that you know extremely well and that shows off your voice.
    After singing your musical theater selection, demonstrate your vocal range by singing along with MTSI recorded vocal scales. For scales that go up, sing “eeee, eeee, eeee, eeee, ahhh, ahhh, ahhh, ahhh.” Stop singing when it goes out of your range. Use a chest/mix voice and sing as high as you can, and then flip into your head voice and keep going. For scales going down, sing “yah, yah, yah, yah, yah”. Submit your scales after your musical theater selection.

    • Scales Going Up
    • Scales Going Down
    • Your video can either be in one complete take OR edited together.
  • A video audition of 1 minute – 1 ½ minutes contemporary monologue.
  • A video audition of 30-60 second dance combination in the style of Musical Theatre Jazz that demonstrates your technical and performance ability. This dance can be self-choreographed, from a previous dance class or from a show that you were in. Please do your best to include technical elements such as jumps, turns, kicks, or whatever else may be in your movement arsenal.
  • A resume (if you do not have a resume, submit a brief description of your theatrical and/or artistic experience). The resume can be uploaded as a word or pdf file during the application process.
  • A letter of recommendation from a teacher, director, or someone similar that can attest to your theatrical ability, challenges, and areas for growth.

For the digital audition components, you will need to upload your video and make it private to YouTube, Vimeo, or a similar site, and paste the private link during the application process. See “Video Audition Guidelines” section below.

Register Online
Program Eligibility
  • 9th-12th grade
  • Ages 15-19
Grading Basis

Students will receive a letter grade upon completion. See University Credit, Grades and Transcripts for more information about academic credit.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

UCLA Summer Sessions Summer Scholars Support

Qualified students attending grades 8th-11th  in the state of California may be eligible for Summer Scholars Support, a need-and merit-based scholarship offered by the UCLA Summer Sessions Office. A limited number of full and partial scholarships are available to support enrollment in SCIP/eSCIP, one Summer Course, or a Precollege Summer Institute.

Important Dates and Deadlines

June 1, 2025

Application deadline

June 15, 2025

Enrollment Deadline

Sessions

July 13 – August 2, 2025