Our Theatre Arts Division is an immersive, hands-on exploration into stage performance and production. A rigorous combination of classes and rehearsals provide students with a challenging and inspiring learning environment every day for 5 weeks. Working with professional theatre practitioners from around the country, students receive extraordinary training in a collaborative and supportive environment.

Non-credit

Residential

Financial Aid

Final project

Application fee waiver

NHSI Theatre Arts Institute students can choose between a concentration in Performance or Stage Management & Design/Tech. All students will take a morning Acting/Voice/Movement class, and all students will have crew duties for productions they are not performing in or stage managing. In the afternoon, Performance students choose from a variety of electives, while Stage Management/Design-Tech students take stage management and design process classes. Evenings are spent rehearsing the productions that are produced at the end of the program.

The program is a Theatre Intensive, and the schedule does not allow for many outside activities. Be thoughtful in considering your interest in the rigorous schedule of the program. We hear from students every year that the program is both rigorous and rewarding.

**Students interested in the Musical Theatre Extension must participate in the 5-week program, spending a total of 7 weeks at Northwestern. Students remain in the same concentration for the duration of the 7 weeks and may not switch from Performance to SM/DT or vice versa for the extension.

Theatre Arts – Electives
Theatre Arts students choose 3 electives from a multitude of classes offered by the faculty in specialized areas of study. The elective workshops augment the Core classes and give students a chance to pursue particular areas of interest. Both Core and elective classes give students tremendous opportunity for individual instruction with a teacher-student ratio of approximately 1:8.

Design/Technical Theatre students will be enrolled in stage management and design Process classes in lieu of electives.

Musical Theatre Extension

The 2-week Musical Theatre Extension program begins after the 5-week Theatre Arts program has concluded and focuses on Musical Theatre training. The 5-Week program has minimal, if any, musical theatre curriculum, and so the 2-Week extension is an intensive deep dive into Musical Theatre that applies skills and principles learned in the first 5 weeks.

Students must participate in the 5-week Theatre Arts training before beginning their specialized training in Musical Theatre. Students may NOT just attend the 2-week extension.

Students will receive classes in Voice, Dance, Acting for the Song, and more from experienced NHSI and Northwestern faculty. At the conclusion of the 2-week program, students will perform a song cycle based on the work explored in their classes.

5-Week Programs - Performance

Jun 30 - Aug 03

5 weeks

Residential

7000 USD

5-Week Programs - Stage Management/Design-Tech

Jun 30 - Aug 03

5 weeks

Residential

7000 USD

Musical Theatre Extension (5 Week Program + 2 Week) Extension)

Jun 30 - Aug 17

7 weeks

Residential

9000 USD

Upon acceptance, we will create a student account for you and send your login information via email. A $1,000 non-refundable tuition deposit will be required within 1 week of receiving your account information to reserve your spot in the Theatre Arts program. If you are applying for Financial Aid from the NHSI, you will not be required to make a deposit until you have been notified of your aid award.

The full tuition balance is due by May 24, 2024. If the tuition balance is not received by May 24 and we have not heard from you, your spot will no longer be guaranteed and may be offered to someone on the waitlist.

If a student withdraws from NHSI before June 3, 2024, the University will refund 100% of tuition, including room and board charges, minus the non-refundable $1,000 deposit.

There will be no tuition refunds of any kind after June 3, 2024. In the unlikely event that a student is dismissed from the program, tuition payments are non-refundable.

Other Fees
$50 NHSI Application Fee for first application; $20 Application Fee for each subsequent application if applying to more than one concentration or program.
$40 FACTS Financial Aid Application Fee (collected directly through the FACTS application)

Financial Aid

Need-based Scholarships and Financial Aid are available.