Musical Theatre Intensive

Credit: Photo by Mark Halliday

Arts Club's Junior Musical Theatre Intensive

The Arts Club’s Junior Music Theatre Intensive program will not run in 2024. Please check back in 2025 for more information.

So Much More than Song and Dance

When you take the Arts Club's Junior Musical Theatre Intensive (MTI), you'll be guided by industry professionals in the kind of rigorous training typically found only at the post-secondary level.

MTI emphasizes process over product, guiding students through voice, dance, and acting techniques that can consistently be applied outside of the Intensive. MTI doesn't simply teach music and dance-steps; it gives students the skills to be authentic and expressive on any stage they play.

Alumni of the Arts Club Musical Theatre Intensive (Junior and Senior Programs) are studying at top theatre schools around the world, and have appeared on professional stages around the country. Founder and Program Director, Peter Jorgensen says “The artists…all had a spark of something inside them that was fanned at the Intensive. Our program encourages them to make theatre a lifelong pursuit.

What's in it for you

You will:

  • be taught by instructors who are industry professionals
  • explore how to be authentic and expressive on any stage
  • receive one-on-one voice coaching
  • learn a choreographed group number
  • attend Arts Club Theatre Company and/or Surrey Civic Theatres show/s
  • appear in a showcase performance for family and friends (followed by a reception) on the final day
  • gain insight into Vancouver’s musical theatre community
  • meet new people with similar interests and aspirations

See what performers like you were up to when they took the Intensive in Surrey.

How to Apply

Tell us about yourself

Determine if you have any two of the following:

  • dance training
  • private voice training
  • singing with a school or community choir
  • acting/drama classes
  • experience performing in a school or community musical

Fill out the application

Step 1: Put your information into the one-page application.

  • Download the application (you can type right into it, or you can print it and fill it in by hand),

Step 2: Send us your application (applications are reviewed as they are received).

  • Option A: by email to surreycivictheatres@surrey.ca. Subject line: MTI Application [insert your first and last names]
  • Option B: by fax to 604-501-5581

If your application is successful, you’ll be contacted with registration details. Please note, full payment will be required at time of registration.

Deadline

The Arts Club’s Junior Music Theatre Intensive program will not run summer 2023. Please check back in early 2024 for more information.

Questions?

Phone the Surrey Arts Centre at 604-501-5566 (press 0).

Don't take our word for it

We wanted to know what some of the alumni are up to, and how the Arts Club’s Musical Theatre Intensive (Surrey and Vancouver) helped them to get where they are today.

After taking the Junior Intensive in Surrey, some participated in the Senior Intensive in Vancouver. Then they moved on to higher education in musical theatre at places such as Capilano University (Vancouver), Sheridan College (Toronto), and Randolph College for the Performing Arts (Toronto).

Is there something specific about your experience at the Arts Club’s Junior Musical Theatre Intensive in Surrey that stands out in your mind?

  • Maighdlin (2010): It was very different from other musical theatre programs I had been doing at the time—it was the first time I felt like I was being treated like a would-be professional artist. That treatment definitely allowed for me to take myself more seriously and thrive in ways other programs hadn’t allowed.
  • Janelle (2014): It was my first exposure to how professional performers really work and prepare. I remember being in awe of the creative energy and focus in the room on the first day and feeling like I had finally found a community that I fit in to. I can honestly say that I would have had a very different journey if I had not started with the Surrey Musical Theatre Intensive, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. It created a foundation that has shaped how I continue to work as an artist. The skillset you develop is invaluable.
  • Katie-Rose (2010):  This was a big stepping stone for me getting into musical theatre. I had so much fun and I found myself hungry for more information. I think my love grew for theatre by seeing the instructors’ passion for what they were teaching, and seeing I could possibly make a career out of this. I was lucky enough to have tremendously supportive parents, and I had a lot of discipline and excitement for what I was learning. With discipline, you can achieve anything!

In this video, hear from alumni of the Vancouver Intensive. You can also read about what other alumni are up to.

What are you up to now?

  • Janelle: I have produced my own work, been in a band that has performed at places such as the TIFF Bell LightBox and the Soho House Toronto. As well, I am currently beginning training in the Second City Toronto's Conservatory program for sketch comedy creation, and this summer I am booked for my first professional short film.
  • Maighdlin: I have mostly focused on independently producing work, while acting and writing in those same projects. I most recently produced/wrote for/acted in NASTY, which played to sold out houses at the Toronto Fringe, winning Patron’s Pick.

In this video, Musical Theatre Intensive founder Peter Jorgensen chats with Beauty and the Beast castmates, who are all alumni.

Program Director

Peter Jorgensen has over twenty years of experience working in musical theatre as an actor, director, choreographer, producer, and educator. As Co-Artistic Producer of Patrick Street Productions (PSP) he has been the resident director for their multiple award-winning musicals such as Into the Woods, Bat Boy: The Musical, The Light in the Piazza, The Best Laid Plans: A Musical, and A Little Night Music. Outside of PSP favourite directing credits include Fiddler on the Roof (Persephone Theatre), Les Miserables (Chemainus Theatre Festival), Rock of Ages and Avenue Q (Arts Club Theatre).

Recent performances include Lumiere in Disney’s Beauty & the Beast (Arts Club Theatre), and the title role of Herringbone for PSP (a one person, two act musical in which he performed 11 different characters). Peter has been a passionate educator for over twenty years.

As well as being the founder and Program Director of the Arts Club Musical Theatre Intensive he runs professional performance master classes through Patrick Street Productions, has been a private voice and repertoire coach for over twenty years, and has adjudicated many music and drama festivals around the province. For more information, visit Peter online at www.patrickstreetproductions.com